Cheshire Dialect

The Cheshire dialect has existed for centuries and is distinct from standard British English. The works of the 14th century poets; such as, Sir Gawain and the Green Knight and others supposed to be by the Gawain poet are written in this dialect. According to some, this also includes the religious poem St. Erkenwald, which dates from the late fourteenth or early fifteenth century.

Perhaps unsurprisingly many of the dialect words in Cheshire are farming terms, particularly those relating to dairy farming, such as "shippen" (or shippon) from the Old English scypen (cow-shed, stall).

Dialect Feastures
E;ements of dialect include pronunciation, word use and grammar, It can be influenced by socio-liguistics and may vary over a very short geographical distance and show changes on relatively short time-scales.

Pronunciation
What Middle and Old English sounded like is by definition speculative as only written records survive. In many cases spelling was phonetic, with a work being written as it sounded to the preson writing the text. And this can lead to some interesting spellings. In Dublin for example there is a Church of St Werburgh, but the street on which it stands is "Sráid Bharbra" which actually sounds quite like "Werburgh", the Irish alphabet does not include 'w' and the 'gh' combination is not used. Middle English had no silent letters, so "listen" was "list-en" and "warned" was "warn-ed". "Knight" would sound something like "Knicht" rather than "nite". The opening lines of Gawain and the Green Kight are written:


 * "Siþen þe sege and þe assaut, watz sesed at Troye, Þe borȝ brittened and brent, to brondez and askez, Þe tulk þat þe trammes, of tresoun þer wroȝt, Watz tried for his tricherie, þe trewest on erthe."

The sound would be something like:
 * "Sidden the say-ger and the assout, watz say-sed at Troyer, the borgh britten-ed and brent, to brondez and askez, the tulk that the trammez, of tree-zown there raw-te, watz tree-ed for his tretcheree-er, the trooest on erther" ("soon as the seige and assualt was ceased at Troy, the borough broken and burnt, to brands and ashes, the traitor that the trammels, of treason their wrought, was tried for his treachery, the truest on earth,")

Trap-Bath Split
The Cheshire accent does not have this feature. Unlike in the south of England, words like bath, laugh, etc. usually have the same vowel as words like cat, trap, man. The divide between the two dialect regions runs across the Midlands from the Wash to the Welsh border, passing to the south of the cities of Birmingham and Leicester.

L-W substitution
English frequently replaces the "l" after a vowel with the softer "w", such that "balk" becomes "bawk" and "talk" becomes "tawk". The Chester accent does not take this to the extreme seen in Lancashire where "talk" may be pronounced "torque", but it would change "old" to "owd".

Foot-Strut Split
This is also absent from the Cheshire dialect accent, although it is found south of a line from the Severn to the wash. To the north of this line "foot" sounds like "fut", and rhymes with "cut".

H-dropping
In the Cheshire dialect the "h" is often dropped. An example being "Cestrian" rather than "Chestrian". "Headland", uncultivated area left at the end of a furrow where the plough turns, becomes "adland". "Hounds" become "Ainds".

NG fusion
This is highly characteristic of the Cheshire and Lancashire accents. "Kingly" and "singly" rhyme in Cheshire but not in London.

Gawain


"Sir Gawain and the Green Knight" is a late 14th-century Middle English chivalric romance. The author is unknown; the title was given centuries later. Various clues suggest that the anonymous poet of Sir Gawain came from the vicinity of Wirral. The poem itself is written in the medieval dialect spoken in Cheshire, and it is noticeable that the topography of Arthur’s kingdom is vague until it reaches North Wales and Wirral. In 1925, J.R.R. Tolkien and colleague E.V. Gordon published a scholarly edition of "Sir Gawain and the Green Knight". The book, featuring a text in Middle English with extensive scholarly notes, is frequently confused with the translation into Modern English that Tolkien prepared alongside those of Pearl and Sir Orfeo, later in his life. Many editions of the latter work, first published in 1975, shortly after his death, list Tolkien on the cover as author rather than translator. It is therefore also amusingly common to see Sir Gawain erroneously ascribed to Tolkien as the original author.

It is one of the best known Arthurian stories, with its plot combining two types of folk motifs, the beheading game and the exchange of winnings. In Sir Gawain and the Green Knight, the Green Knight appears before Arthur's court during a Christmas feast, holding a bough of holly in one hand and a battle axe in the other. Despite disclaim of war, the knight issues a challenge: he will allow one man to strike him once with his axe, with the condition that he return the blow the next year. At first, Arthur accepts the challenge, but Gawain takes his place and decapitates the Green Knight, who retrieves his head, reattaches it and tells Gawain to meet him at the "Green Chapel" at the stipulated time. Unfortunately, the Green Knight does not mention where the Green Chapel is, placing Gawain in the awkward situation that he must not only search for it's location but expect to die there when he arrives.

The story later contains an account of Gawain's journey in search of the "Green Chapel".


 * alle þe iles of anglesay on lyft half he haldez and farez ouer þe fordez by þe forlondez ouer at þe holy hede til he hade eft bonk in þe wyldrenesse of wyrale wonde þer bot lyte þat auþer god oþer gome wyth goud hert louied (All the isles of Anglesey on his left side he holds, And fares over the ford by the forelands, Over by the Holy Head, until he again had the shore. In the wilderness of Wirral dwelt there but few, That either God or man with good heart loved.)

Several scholars have attempted to find a real-world correspondence for Gawain's journey to the Green Chapel. The Anglesey islands, for example, are mentioned in the poem. In line 700, Gawain is said to pass the "Holy Head", believed by many scholars to be either Holywell or the Cistercian abbey of Poulton in Pulford. Holywell is associated with the beheading of Saint Winifred. As the story goes, Winifred was a virgin who was beheaded by a local leader after she refused his sexual advances. Her uncle, Saint Beuno, put her head back in place and healed the wound, leaving only a white scar. The parallels between this story and Gawain's make this area a likely candidate for the journey. Chester has its own version of the Winifred legend see: Shoemaker's Row.



Few would suggest that Gawain is actual history. One explanation for its topographical references is that the author knew of places that had a reputation for mystery, danger or a mythical association and wove these into the tale.

Arrowe Park
The "Wilderness of Wirral" is one of the few locations of which the Gawain author has a specific description, with a reference to its possibly pagan inhabitants and/or outlaws. Gawain seems to reach it by a ford, which is possibly a reference to a ford across the River Dee.

One source of evidence for paganism in Wirral is to be found in place names and field names containing the element "harrow". This possibly derives from the Old English "hearg", meaning a pagan shrine, related to the Old Norse hörg. A harrowe hay is recorded in Heswall in 1293, while a group "harrow" field names is to be found not far from the apocryphal Thor’s Stone (often wrongly assumed to be the origin of Thurstaston). Possibly the best known occurence is "Arrowe Park", with its possible connections to the Gawain legend through nearby Woodchurch and perhaps more importantly, the mysterious stone circles of Overchurch. A ninth century stone found at Overchurch by the Victorians was for many years in the Grosvenor Museum.



Human activity in the Wirral is truly ancient, with with excavations near Greasby Copse between 1987 and 1990 by archaeologists from the Museum of Liverpool revealing a substantial settlement with stone floor, pits, large working hollows and a fireplace together with over 12,000 early stone tools. At that time, the site was dated at 7000 BC or earlier and ascribed to the Mesolithic period. Later work dates the site to around 8,500 BC.

Greasby was an Anglo Saxon settlement, as witnessed by the form of the name, Gravesberie, in the Domesday Book. Gravesberie derives from the Old English gräf (a grove) and burh (a fortified place). This has been recorded as meaning "grove farm/settlement", or alternatively, a "stronghold or fortification by a grove, trench, canal or wood". The name was Scandinavianised to Greasby, under the influence of Old Norse speakers in Wirral (gräf and býr, with býr meaning "settlement" or "farmstead"). The story of Viking settlement in Wirral is told elsewhere on this site, but it seems likely that at the time Gawain was written the area might well have been considered somewhat mysterious, especially if remains which would now be considered archaeology were still visible and if traces of the Vikings (such as family names) were still apparent.

Ludchurch
Gawain's journey does not end on the Wirral, although no placenames are mentioned after his departure from there. Many interpretations form a consensus and have him continuing to Ludchurch in the Staffordshire Moorlands north of Leek. This district was first suggested by Mabel Day (1940). Later work by R. W. V. Elliot built upon the idea that this was one of the key settings for the climax of the poem's story – "The Green Chapel" – in May 1958. Elliot went on to give a scholarly modern explication of most of the local landscape elements in a series of essays in scholarly journals. His general claim that "The Green Chapel" must be somewhere in that district was supported by other scholarly work suggesting the location as somewhere near "Thor's Cave", above the former railway station at Wetton Mill, to the east of Leek. Both of these locations are interesting to visit, but they are far enough apart that the author of Gawain may have taken some licence with his geography.

One connection with Chester is that nearby Dieulacres Abbey was a Cistercian monastery first established between 1153 and 1158 (under Ranulph De Gernon) at Poulton in Cheshire. It moved, under Ranulf de Blondeville, to the Dieulacres site at Abbey Green near Leek, Staffordshire in 1214, possibly in part as a result from raids at the former location by the Welsh. One issue that was current among clerics at the time was whether they could marry and all four of the poems touch on this issue or the related subject of clerical authority. The development of the society and the economy at the time meant that there was a great demand for clerics and notaries who did little religious work and were mostly concerned with tax and record-keeping. In Cheshire "chaplains" whose work was mostly administrative and could be described as "household scribes" outnumbered all other clerks, monks, canons, rectors and vicars combined. The tension between the spiritual and the worldly is one of the themes which is used both to ironic and comic effect in Chaucer's "Canterbury Tales" written between 1387 and 1400.



Cheshire in the time of Richard II
One major cause of religious, social, and economic upheaval, with profound effects on the course of European history was the "Black Death" a bubonic plague pandemic occurring in Afro-Eurasia from 1346-53. The Black Death hit the monasteries very hard because of their proximity with the sick who sought refuge there. This left a severe shortage of clergy after the epidemic cycle. Eventually the losses were replaced by hastily trained and inexperienced clergy members, many of whom knew little of the rigors of their predecessors. New colleges were opened at established universities, and the training process sped up. This undoubtedly fed the debate as to whether clerics should be celibate or not. At the same time the feudal order was slowly breaking down and middle-ranking figures rendered military, political, legal, or domestic service in return for money, office, or influence rather than for land.

Richard II (6 January 1367 – c. 14 February 1400), also known as Richard of Bordeaux, was King of England from 1377 until he was deposed in 1399. Richard's father, Edward, Prince of Wales otherwise known as the "Black Prince", died in 1376, leaving Richard as heir apparent to his grandfather, King Edward III. Upon the death of Edward III, the 10-year-old Richard succeeded to the throne. During Richard's first years as king, government was in the hands of a series of regency councils, influenced by Richard's uncles John of Gaunt and Thomas of Woodstock. England then faced various problems, most notably the Hundred Years' War. The king's dependence on a small number of courtiers caused discontent among the influential, and in 1387 control of government was taken over by a group of aristocrats known as the Lords Appellant. By 1389 Richard had regained control, and for the next eight years governed in relative harmony with his former opponents. In 1397, he took his revenge on the Appellants, many of whom were executed or exiled. The next two years have been described by historians as Richard's "tyranny". In 1399, after John of Gaunt died, the king disinherited Gaunt's son, Henry Bolingbroke, who had previously been exiled. Henry invaded England in June 1399 with a small force that quickly grew in numbers. Meeting little resistance, he deposed Richard and had himself crowned king. Richard is thought to have been starved to death in captivity, although questions remain regarding his final fate.

Richard built a considerable power-base in Cheshire, drawing his personal guard from the locals forming his own private military retinue, larger than that of any English king before him, and gave them livery badges with his White Hart (the possible origin of many pub signs). The climax of the campaign to depose him took place in North Wales and Chester, and possibly forms the basis of the legends that his Royal Treasure was hidden at Beeston Castle.

There is little evidence to tie Richard directly to patronage of poetry, but it was nevertheless within his court that this culture was allowed to thrive. The greatest poet of the age, Geoffrey Chaucer, served the king as a diplomat, a customs official and a clerk of The King's Works while producing some of his best-known work.

Authors
There have been many suggestions as to the identity of the "Gawain poet". All that is known for certain is that he (or she) used a Cheshire dialect and appears to have some familiarity with the area. The problem of authorship is complex as some of the "evidence" relates to the authorship of other poems which may have been written at the same time and are found in the same manuscript source. Its author appears also to have written the poems Pearl, Patience, and Purity.

St. Erkenwald is an another alliterative poem of the fourteenth century, thought to have been composed in 1386. It has sometimes been attributed to the Gawain poet. It takes as its subject Earconwald, the Bishop of London between 675 and 693. The story is somewhat peculiar depicting the discovery of an undecayed and speaking corpse beneath St. Paul's Cathedral in London by workmen digging new foundations. This corpse, belonging to an ancient pagan judge, prompts an investigation of the importance of the sacraments, particularly penance and the Eucharist, by noting that he led a virtuous life and made scrupulous, even-handed judgements, but reveals that his soul is condemned to hell because he lived before England was converted to Christianity. This poem was written during a period of controversy in the church regarding whether the sacraments were necessary for the salvation of souls, and the importance of the cleric in his role as the celebrant. It can be inferred from the events of the poem that the poet's sympathies lie with orthodox thinkers, who affirmed the importance of the Eucharist and the position of the cleric.

The theories about the identity of the poet are supported by two rather shaky pillars - one being the argument that three or perhaps all four have the same author, and the other that there are clues in some manucripts which suggest authorship. These clues have been put together so as to infer the authorship of one poem and hence of the others. However the subject has attracted much debate and some of the commentary on the works might favour one author without mentioning the others proposed.

The following have been suggested who have a particular connection with the area around Chester.

John Stanley


John Stanley has been suggested as the as-yet unidentified "Gawain Poet". The Garter motto "Honi soit qui mal y pense" appears at the end of Sir Gawain and the Green Knight (but in a different hand), and the poet exhibits a detailed knowledge of both hunting (he was Master Forester of Wirral - hence the stags on his arms) and armour. He is the same John Stanley who in 1405 was granted the tenure of the Isle of Man, which had been confiscated from the rebellious Henry Percy, 1st Earl of Northumberland. The garter connection has been used to support other candidates including John of Gaunt (who was also the 14th Baron of Halton), and Enguerrand de Coucy, seventh Sire de Coucy. De Coucy was married to King Edward III's daughter, Isabella, and was given admittance to the Order of the Garter on their wedding day. The garter motto has a rough equivalent in Gawain's exclamation "corsed worth cowarddyse and couetyse boþe" ("cursed be both cowardice and coveting", v. 2374).

Stanley was very agile in his politics. Having served Richard II as deputy to Robert de Vere, Duke of Ireland, he turned his back on Richard and submitted to King Henry IV, the first of the House of Lancaster. Stanley's fortunes were equally good under the Lancastrians. He was granted lordships in the Welsh Marches, and served a term as Lieutenant of Ireland. In 1403 he was made Steward of the Household of Henry, Prince of Wales, (later Henry V). Unlike many of the Cheshire gentry, he took the side of the king in the rebellion of the Percys. He was wounded in the throat at the Battle of Shrewsbury. In 1405 he was, as noted, granted the tenure of the Isle of Man. Henry IV appointed him a Knight of the Garter. His descendants were to prove equally agile, shifting sides deftly through the Wars of the Roses and after.

John Massey
John Massey of Cotton, was a retainer in the house of Lancaster. The surname of Massey, that of a prominent Cheshire family, is associated with St Erkenwald; the names of Thomas Massey (as Thomas Masse) and Elizabeth Booth (a member of the Booth family of Dunham Massey) are written in St Erkenwald's only existing manuscript. The manuscript was made in 1477, but the poem itself was probably composed much earlier, in the 1390s or the 1400s. Curiously, there is a Saughall Massey quite close to the supposed stone circle at Overchurch. However, the reference to Massey appears to have been added much later than the date of the original manuscript.

A further problem is that Cheshire had more than one John Massey, de Massey, or de Mascy. There were so many in fact that John de Mascy of Puddington fought for Henry IV against John de Mascy of Tatton who supported Henry Percy and both died in the Battle of Shrewsbury (1403).

Related Pages

 * Stanley Palace;
 * Three Hares;
 * Bishop Lloyd's House;
 * Royal Treasure: the politics of Cheshire at the time (under Richard II);

Glossaries

 * A glossary of words used in the county of Chester, Robert Holland (1886);


 * A Glossary of Words Used in the Dialect of Cheshire, Egerton Leigh (1877);


 * Old Cheshire Dialect;

Green Knight

 * on Wikipedia;
 * Original Text;
 * Overchurch at Megalithic Portal;
 * Hidden Wirral on ancient sites in the area;
 * Video of the remains at Overchurch;
 * THE SITE OF OVERCHURCH, UPTON, WIRRAL: A SURVEY;
 * OVERCHURCH AND ITS RUNIC STONE;
 * The Overchurch Stone;
 * The Overchurch Mystery: Book by David Gregg;
 * John de Mascy and the Pearl poems;
 * A "vetted" list of sources;
 * Is Ludchurch Sir Gawain’s Green Chapel?;

Other References

 * Some South Cheshire Dialect - mostly dairy farming terms;
 * From Cilgwri to Westernesse - Wirral in Medieval Legend;
 * Sir John Stanley (c. 1350-1414) and the Gawain-Poet, Arthuriana, vol. 14 no. 1, 2004, p. 15-30.
 * The Politics of Pearl: Court Poetry in the Age of Richard II by John M. Bowers