Peter’s Field

Epic musical chronicle by Sean Cooney, with folk musicians Rowan Rheingans & Sam Carter, telling the story of the Peterloo Massacre

Peter’s Field is an epic musical chronicle that tells the story of one of the most important days in working class history: The Peterloo Massacre of 1819.  The show is born from years of research and comprises nineteen original songs by Cooney, performed with folk musicians Rowan Rheingans (Lady Maisery, The Rheingans Sisters) and Sam Carter (The Magpie Arc & solo work), alongside a compelling spoken narrative derived from hundreds of eyewitness accounts.

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 until working people had the vote. This is their story.