In Newcastle’s Ouseburn Valley, tucked between modern housing and old industrial units, sits an open green space. There is nothing unusual until a closer inspection reveals that the paths are made of old gravestones. This is the Ballast Hills Burial Ground.
There were periods during the 18th and 19th centuries when more people were buried at Ballast Hills than in all of the other Newcastle burial grounds combined. When it was closed in 1853, an estimated 40,000 people had been laid to rest there.
Using newly created poetry and fiddle tunes, this collection of words and music begins to tell their story.
To enquire about performance, please contact us at music@phoenixfolk.co.uk.
Beneath This Ground: Written and performed by musicians Marina Dodgson & Maurice Condie, and poet Harry Gallagher
To find out more about the wider work relating to Ballast Hills Burial Ground, please click here (external link).
“They have been able to take factual fragments and transform them into something remarkable, which can be heard, read, and felt. This collection does more than recount history; it breathes life into it. Their words and music do more than interpret history—they breathe it. They take what was lost and give it shape again, turning silence into song, absence into presence. Through poetry and tune, Ballast Hills Burial Ground speaks.”
Myra Giesen
