Events for William Martin's Marratide
'Somehow his poems feel ancient and modern at the same time, inhabiting both the past and the present at once. For me his masterpiece is his long sequence Marra Familia with its spare and beautiful descriptions of the natural world and the spiritual world beyond.' – Ian McMillan, Yorkshire Post, on Marratide: Selected Poems
William Martin (1925-2010) was a poet of extraordinary vision and musicality. Thoroughly grounded in his native North-East England, its pit communities and industry, his song-like poems nevertheless traverse a vast geographical and historical landscape ranging from deep Celtic and Anglo-Saxon sources to the mythology and sacred sites of India, via a passionate political engagement that never limits song to mere rhetoric. He also drew on children’s games, ballads and street songs in poems showing both political anger and a wider concern for a society losing its common ground, its rituals and rites of passage. His posthumous retrospective, Marratide: Selected Poems, edited by Peter Armstrong and Jake Morris-Campbell, was published by Bloodaxe in May 2025.
Marratide: Selected Poems brings together poems from William Martin’s four collections: Cracknrigg (1983) and Hinny Beata (1987) from Taxus Press; and Marra Familia (1993) and Lammas Alanna (2000), from Bloodaxe Books. Two comprehensive introductory essays by editors Peter Armstrong and Jake Morris-Campbell discuss the life and poetry of William Martin. A QR code links to archive audio recordings of poems from the book read (and sung) by William Martin.
Peter Armstrong was born in 1957 at Blaydon-on-Tyne. His work has appeared in four main collections: Risings (Enitharmon Press, 1988), The Red-Funnelled Boat (Picador, 1998), The Capital of Nowhere (Picador, 2003) and The Book of Ogham (Shoestring Press, 2012), together with pamphlets Madame Noire (2008) and Two Ceremonies at the Border (2023), both from Shoestring. He worked full-time in the NHS as a mental health nurse and CBT specialist, contributing to research papers and text books. He was joint author, with Stephen Barton of CBT for Depression: an Integrated Approach (SAGE, 2019). Jake Morris-Campbell was born in South Shields in 1988 and is the author of Between the salt and the ash: a journey into the soul of Northumbria (Manchester University Press, 2025). His poetry collection Corrigenda for Costafine Town (Blue Diode Press, 2021) was longlisted for the RSL Ondaatje Prize and Highly Commended in the 2022 Forward Prizes.
Marratide: Selected Poems was launched at the Lit & Phil in Newcastle on 21 May 2025, with editor Peter Armstrong and poet Gillian Allnutt reading from the book. Archive audio recordings of Bill Martin reading and singing his poems were played - all of which and more are included in the book and accessible via the QR code. A joint launch with both editors and Gillian Allnutt was held in the St Chad's College Chapel in Durham on 27 May.
A review of Marratide: Selected Poems went online on North East Bylines on 23 May 2025. Read in full here.
‘Martin’s poetic world is a multi-layered place. Ancient pilgrim paths are overlaid with colliery wagonways; ritual can mean the incantation of childhood games or the grand procession of banners. [...] Martin’s vision may be firmly rooted in home soil, but it ranges widely through time and space.’ – Andy Potts, North East Bylines, on Marratide: Selected Poems
FORTHCOMING EVENTS
Saturday 21st June 2025 (Summer Solstice)
Annual Marratide pilgrimage walk
From Maiden Paps (Tunstall Hills, Sunderland) to Cuthbert’s Crypt at Durham Cathedral, following in the footsteps of William Martin and Gordon Brown.
More details TBC
Saturday 12 July 2025
Remembering William Martin at Durham Miners’ Gala
This includes a screening of the Durham Beatitude film, which combines footage of past Gala gatherings with William Martin reading his poem ‘Durham Beatitude’ which mourns the 83 lives lost in the Easington Colliery Disaster of 1951. There will also be a short interview with Graham Martin, who will introduce the film.
Copies of Marratide: Selected Poems will be for sale at The People’s Bookshop stall.
More details TBC.
13/14 October 2025, Durham Miners' Hall
Redhills, Flass Street, Durham DH1 4BE
Premiere of Ben Lunn's setting of 'Durham Beatitude', part of his Durham Diptych for Durham Miners’ Association Brass Band
Sunderland-born composer Ben Lunn was commissioned to write a setting of a poem by William Martin for Durham Miners’ Association Brass Bands. Premier at Redhills on 13/14 October 2025.
Ben writes on facebook: 'In his centenary year, I am very excited to have two settings of his poems premiering - 'Margins' in the Hague in June & 'Durham Beatitude' as part of my Durham Diptych for Durham Miners’ Association Brass Band and Paul Carey Jones'
More details TBC.
Durham Beatitude by William Martin
First screened at the 2022 Durham Miners' Gala, this film combines footage of past Gala gatherings with William Martin reading his poem ‘Durham Beatitude’ which mourns the 83 lives lost in the Easington Colliery Disaster of 1951, remembered at the Gala in 1980. It was first published in William Martin’s collection Cracknrigg (Taxus Press, 1983) and later included in his final collection from Bloodaxe, Lammas Alanna (2000). An extract from the poem is included in Marratide: Selected Poems (Bloodaxe Books, 2025), edited by Peter Armstrong and Jake Morris-Campbell, along with archive audio of William Martin reading the entire poem.
[09 April 2025]
