Crichton Porteous

Crichton Porteous

Leslie Crichton Porteous (1901–91) was an author (writing under the name of Chrichton Porteous) of fiction and non-fiction – books, articles and short stories – many of them about life in the Peak District of northern England, and often set in specific Peak locations (Toad Hole and Broken River, for example, are set in the Derwent Valley). Born in Leeds, he grew up near Manchester, but spent a lot of time in the Peak during holidays as a child, and later moved to live there, firstly to Combs, Derbyshire, near Chapel-en-le-Frith, and later to Darley Dale, near Matlock, where he lived until his death, aged 89.

As a boy, Chrichton Porteous had a great interest in both reading and writing, and from the age of fourteen he kept a daily journal; these later proved a useful reference for his work. After an initial period of time working on farms, he moved into newspapers, working his way up to become assistant editor of the Northern Daily Mail. As a freelance writer, his first book, Farmer's Creed was published in 1938. This book recounted his memoirs about his time as a farm worker on Werneth Low.

Today his work has been opened to a new audience through the show entitled In the Footsteps of Crighton Porteous, which toured widely in England, and particularly in the north-west. The show used his books to retrace some of the locations featured.