Filmpoem 44 / The Black Delph Bride

Liz Berry’s ‘The Black Delph Bride’ took her back to Dudley in the Black Country, after the discovery of an original Victorian canal map, with its dark and sinister-sounding placenames. ‘Enchanted by the feeling of ghostliness that lingers across the network’, Berry was ‘inspired by canal songs and murder ballads where a beloved girl all too often meets a sorrowful end in water.’

This film is a Filmpoem production for the Poetry Society in partnership with the Canal and River Trust as part of the Canal Laureate project. 

The Black Delph Bride premiered in the Clore Ballroom at the Royal Festival Hall on London’s South Bank on National Poetry Day. 

It has also been screened at the Cork Poetry Festival and StAnza, the Scottish Poetry Festival.