Evaluation Collaboration for Slaithwaite Moonraking and Shop project!
Dr Jenna Ashton, Senior Lecturer in Heritage Studies, is lending her expertise to support the evaluation of the 鈥淪lawit Shop and Moonraking鈥� project (2024-2026).
, Senior Lecturer in Heritage Studies (AHCP, SALC), is lending her research expertise on community place-based heritage projects and intangible cultural heritage to support the evaluation of the 鈥淪lawit Shop and Moonraking鈥� project (2024-2026) funded by the National Lottery Heritage Fund.
Moonraking Festival Committee Member and Project Organiser, Sky Burton-Smith says:
Dr Jenna Ashton鈥檚 involvement has been transformative for the project. Her expertise in heritage evaluation has helped us gather and shape community reflections that express why the Slaithwaite Moonraking Festival is so important to Slawit.
Through Jenna鈥檚 academic insight, we鈥檝e been able to articulate and evidence the festival鈥檚 cultural significance and value as intangible cultural heritage. Jenna鈥檚 support is helping us advocate for greater recognition and ensure that the Slaithwaite Moonraking Festival continues to thrive as a living, creative tradition rooted in community.
Slaithwaite (called 鈥淪lawit鈥� by locals) is a semi-rural Pennine village in the Colne Valley, West Yorkshire, with a rich history dating back to the Romans and Anglo-Saxons. The Industrial Revolution鈥檚 canals and railways brought mills, industry and textile workers.
Today it retains historic industrial buildings, including mills, churches, and stone cottages. The Huddersfield Narrow Canal remains a central feature, with scenic walking routes attracting tourists. The local economy has diversified, with independent shops, cafes and small businesses. The village is now a thriving community with traditions of creativity, ethical cooperatives and the handmade. We will tell this story of change in the project.
The 17-month programme focuses on participatory community heritage activities, researching, archiving, interpreting and celebrating local histories. It marks two significant anniversaries: 40 years of Slaithwaite Moonraking Festival in February 2025 (an extraordinary community light-festival based on a local legend) and 100 years of Slaithwaite鈥檚 Carr Lane central parade of shops. These anniversaries will bring people together, with shops and shopping as a theme for the programme exploring changing social and economic history.
The project aims to conserve and revitalise Slawit鈥檚 heritage through multi-generational learning activities, developing skills and increasing capacity to sustain heritage of local traditions and stories.
Slaithwaite Moonraking Festival was established in 1985 by Satellite Arts with Slaithwaite Community Association. It was run by Satellite Arts鈥� Gill Bond until 2023, and is now sustained by a dynamic committee of local residents and artists. The biennial festival retells a humorous legend of quick-thinking smugglers, illicit barrels of moonshine, the canal and outwitting authorities. It is renowned for its parade of candle-lit willow and paper lanterns, and the 鈥渞aking out鈥� of a giant moon from the Huddersfield Narrow Canal. Previous Moonraking Festival themes have included circus, forest, pantomime, mythical beasts, and space exploration - with shops this year鈥檚 festival theme.
The Carr Lane Parade of shops is in the centre of the village opposite the canal. They were built in 1925 in an art deco style by entrepreneur John Jagger after the council had demolished previous buildings to widen the road. This element of the project focuses on the story of the eight units in the centre and memories of a century of shopping.
The intangible cultural heritage is uplifted through a combined approach of uncovering cultural and commercial heritage together, exploring oral histories, accents and dialogue, and ephemera and memories. Plus, celebrating the folk traditions and craft skills of the incredible Moonraking Festival.
Jenna first met the Moonraking Festival Committee during research in the Colne Valley for the project, Creative Adaptive Solutions for Treescapes of Rivers (CASTOR). She says:
The Moonraking Festival is a brilliant example of contemporary artist and community-led ritual, myth-making, and craft practice that has survived four decades of social and political change.
It鈥檚 an honour to be involved for its 40th anniversary and to support the evaluation of the Festival and wider project, researching its relevance and impact for Slawit and local residents. It鈥檚 such an exciting and authentic community celebration
To find out more about the project and its activities, visit the .