Gritstone Publishing, the UK’s first author-owned publishing co-op, has launched a book on the South Yorkshire and Derbyshire countryside at Sheffield’s first community-owned pub.
The release of The South Yorkshire Moors by Christopher Goddard was celebrated at the Gardeners Rest in Neepsend. The pub has been community-run since October 2016 and is owned by the Gardeners Rest Community Society, whose 400 members raised more than £230,000 to buy and improve the pub.
The South Yorkshire Moors is an original cartographic guide to the moorlands of South Yorkshire and parts of northern Derbyshire. It features hand-drawn maps that cover the moorland of Howden, Derwent, Stanage, Kinder Scout, Bleaklow and the Eastern Moors. It also includes notes and sketches on local history, wildlife, geology, etymology and the long fight for access to these wild spaces.
Over 20 suggested routes are in the book, seeking out less-travelled approaches to the high points and remote corners of the Dark Peak.
Born in Sheffield, Christopher Goddard now lives in Hebden Bridge and has previously published The West Yorkshire Moors and The West Yorkshire Woods: Part 1.
Related: Outdoor leisure co-op unveils plan to protect 5,000 miles of rivers
“As soon as I finished my book on the West Yorkshire moors, people were asking when the South Yorkshire moors was coming,” he said. “It has taken a few years, but it’s been a pleasure rediscovering all the places I used to explore as a boy and learning more about the landscape and history of the area.”
Gritstone Publishing Co-operative, made up of five writers from Yorkshire and Derbyshire, specialises in books on the countryside, landscape and the outdoors. As well as enabling members’ books to be marketed more successfully, the co-op encourages informal support and solidarity between its members.
The co-op, which launched in 2016, offers a collective platform for its writers and has published six titles. Several more are due in 2019, including a social and historical account of pubs in the Peak District by Andrew McCloy, chair of the Peak District National Park Authority.
