Christopher Bennigsen

Over the past 12 months I have been taking long walks with my camera and trying to better understand the region of Elmet, a kind of hinterland that is best described as being east of Leeds, west of York, south of Wetherby and north of Castleford. I have lived in Leeds and York for ten years now and have spent much of my working life commuting between the two cities and as such I felt particularly drawn to the area, albeit transiently.

Within such a small geographic area I have discovered a rich historical and cultural vein, something I have sought to capture in my work. The pandemic put short shrift to most of my plans this year and so I began to write about the region from my home and then continued exploring when permitted. This led me to produce what is laid out here, a psychogeographic survey of the region for the Contemporary Otherworldly Gazetteers, a non-governmental research and publishing body specialising in works of interpretive reference.

The volume, soon to be published alongside a full map and gazetteer of Elmet, is laid out here chapter by chapter. Please click on each heading to view the full chapter.