Writing Peterloo: An Erasure Poetry Workshop

  • DATE

    14 August 2025

  • TIME

    12:00 pm to 2:00 pm

  • AGES

    All ages welcome

  • PRICE

    Free

The Peterloo Massacre was a pivotal moment in our history.

On August 16th 1819 around 60,000 peaceful protestors took to St Peters’ Field in Manchester to demand parliamentary democracy, improved economic and working conditions while hunger and poverty raged through the shock city. Protestors were violently suppressed by the yeomanry, killing 18 and injuring 700 innocent people.

How can poetry approach this brutal event over 200 years on? In this interactive workshop with Manchester Cathedral’s writer-in-residence Tom Branfoot we will create poems using witness statements from Peterloo and consider how archival documents can provide a new way into historical events, unearthing emotions, details and language often obscured from the authoritative version.

Where: Manchester Cathedral Library

How: This workshop is free but please register on Eventbrite