Millstone Grit by Glyn Hughes

4 out of 5 stars

A copy of this was provided free of charge from the publisher in return for an honest review.

Millstone Grit is a coarse sandstone that can be found in Wales and across the North between Yorkshire and Lancashire. This block of rock is better known as the Peak District and the Pennines. The stone has been used for many things, including drystone walls, roofing and of course millstones.

The landscape that makes up this part of the country has come to define the people that live there. The region is surrounded by towns that once contained the textile industries that were an industrial force in their time.

When Glyn Hughes wrote this book in the 1970s, the region was beginning to change, globalisation was on the rise and big corporations were seeking the lowest labour costs that they could exploit and the mills were being closed. The life that the people knew would change forever and he captures that uncertainty about the future that they all have.

I thought this was a fascinating book about a part of the country that I know very little about. It is a glimpse of an era (still in my lifetime too) of a way of life that is now lost forever. He is a really good writer too. Like the rock that the region sits on, this prose glitters in all sorts of ways. I have found this with other poets, theirtheir skill in that type of writing makes non-fiction so good to read. I can strongly recommend this if you want to learn about this area of the north.