Stanza Stones

Stanza Stones

The Stanza Stones Trail runs through the Pennine region, containing some of the most striking landscapes in England. Simon Armitage composed six new poems on his Pennine walks. With the help of local expert Tom Lonsdale and letter-carver Pip Hall, he found extraordinary, secluded sites, and saw his words carved into stone. This book is a record of that journey, containing the poems and the accounts of Lonsdale and Hall.

Covered in decades of soot and grime, the colours released by the carvings may never return to shades of black. Hence, they become a small reminder of the changes that our natural environment undergoes, and the marks of humankind.

Armitage knows the route well, because he grew up in Marsden, West Yorkshire. Consequently, the trail contains the personal aim of providing ‘beacons of inspiration, encouraging people to engage’ with the landscape.

Stanza Stones is a collaboration between Armitage, imove, Ilkley Literature Festival and Pennine Prospects.