Thursday, April 5, 2012

Wirelect - the book!

As I posted on the Wirelect Facebook page earlier today, I have now started writing the book based on this blog and the Warrington dialect itself.

From time to time I will post snippets of the text on here as a taster.

Now is the time to tell your friends and post your comments, dialect words, sayings, anything related to the Warrington dialect - it will most probably end up in the book!

Also, as you will have noticed, we now have a new picture for the blog. I took the picture on my visit to Warrington in November 2011, the afternoon of Guy Fawke's Night, to be precise. I want to keep the bridge over the Mersey as the central theme of the blog because the crossing point over the river has been so central to the development of the town over the past two millenia, and quite possibly for much longer.

In keeping with this theme, are there any dialect words for the river itself?

6 comments:

  1. The books a great idea.Didnt the British Library idea come to anything?
    Its a good photo.Ive seen old photos in history books taken in the 12th. century of the river,what a difference!
    One word that comes to mind which used to be a common name for the Mersey was the "cut".

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Unfortunately, the British Library never got back to me. But never mind, we can do this without them.
      The course of the river has changed quite a lot over the years. It seems two major cuttings have been made to ease navigation. The first is from around Sankey Bridges to Crosfields, and the second is the stretch that runs parallel to Chester Road. The area around Latchford has also changed, but I'm not clear on exactly how. Latchford is reported to be the site of the original crossing point on the river from ancient times.

      Delete
    2. There is an artist impression of the river (of course there not photos,Imust have had a rush to the head when I said that)done 100's of years ago which is hanging in the Warrington Library history room. I will have a look at it next time Im in there.At a glance everything on the Latchford end just looked very flat and the river hardly had any bank.

      Delete
  2. Hiya Wirelector. Just after my last comment I went on to lan-opc.org(Im researching my family tree)this is an extract taken from the home page.
    The main road to the north and a road from Chester met at Latchford(600s)and led to a ford by which the Mersey was crossed at a point opposite the Parish church and Wash Lane.A ferry then began to be used and they served for many centuries as the only means of crossing the Mersey between Lpool and Manchester.

    Its hard to imagine that the Mersey had a ford.

    ReplyDelete
  3. Here are a few snippets about Warrington bridge between 1813 - 1816. i thought they were interesting because they were taken from a diary written at the time by R.R Pickmore a wine and spirit retailer in Bridge St.

    March 15th. 1813: Began of taking Warrington Bridge down this day.
    June 24th. 1813: The Foundation Stone of Warrington Bridge laid this day at 1 O Clock by Richard Gwillyam Esq, Bewsey Hall.
    Oct 31st. The new Wooden Bridge at Warrington almost finished, insomuch that the the Chester Mail went over it in the afternoon drawn by six horses.

    I wonder why it was only made of wood.Price maybe.

    ReplyDelete
  4. Im sure a lot of Warringtonians have seen old photos/drawings of old Warrington but if your interested theres a great enlarged drawing of the River mersey as it was in 1783.Its portraying the river from the south bank at Latchford and shows three of the towns churches.Go to the Warrington Library,its hanging in the history room.

    ReplyDelete