Peter’s Field
By Sean Cooney
with Rowan Rheingans & Sam Carter
Presented by Manchester Folk and supported by Sound Roots and Rochdale Development Agency
Peter’s Field is an epic musical chronicle that tells the story of one of the most important days in working class history.
On 16th August 1819, 60,000 people gathered in the centre of Manchester. Many had walked miles to be there from all across Lancashire. They went to hear the famous radical speaker Henry ‘Orator’ Hunt who called for working people to have the vote. They were unarmed and peaceful. Local magistrates sent in the yeomanry cavalry and 15th Hussars to disperse the crowd and arrest Hunt. At least 18 people were killed and hundreds injured in the murderous scenes that followed. Women were deliberately targeted. It became known as the Peterloo Massacre. The magistrates and military were completely exonerated and it would be 100 years til working people had the vote.
Peter's Field is born from years of research and comprises 19 original songs by Cooney performed with Rowan Rheingans and Sam Carter alongside a compelling spoken narrative derived from hundreds of eyewitness accounts.
Peter’s Field performing at Manchester Folk Festival 2025
Photo by Mike Ainscoe
Peter’s Field March 2026 UK Tour
10th March 2026 Wiltshire Music Centre, Bradford On Avon - TICKETS COMING SOON
11th March 2026 The Fire Station, Sunderland - TICKETS
12th March 2026 Champness Hall, Rochdale - TICKETS
13th March 2026 Upper Chapel, Sheffield - TICKETS
14th March 2026 Conway Hall, London - TICKETS
15th March 2006 The Music Room, Liverpool Phil, Liverpool - TICKETS
THE HISTORY OF THE PROJECT
Peter’s Field was commissioned by Sound Roots and Rochdale Development Agency (Rochdale Creates), funded by Arts Council England in 2024. The piece is a further development of work Sound Roots and Sean Cooney first worked on in 2019 as part of the commemorations around the 200-year anniversary of the Peterloo Massacre.
Rising Up premiered at Manchester Folk Festival in 2019 at HOME before touring to London, Gateshead, Bristol and Liverpool. A theatre piece with song, written by Debs Newbold based on songs by Sean, the theatre piece retold the story of the massacre in the context of democracy in 2019.
In 2024 Sean revisited the project working with Touchstones Archives and Voltalab Studios in Rochdale - further researching individual stories of the people who walked from Rochdale to demand the reform of parliamentary reform.
13 songs came out of that work which were premiered at Folk East then Feelgood Folk (Rochdale) and performed to sold out audiences at the Old School Rooms Middleton and Halle at St Michaels as part of Manchester Folk Festival 2025. The work was recorded by Sean, Sam Carter, Eliza Carthy and Jennifer Reid set for release alongside a book in November 2025.
In March 2026, Peter’s Field will be toured by Sean Cooney, Sam Carter and Rowan Rheingans.