A Grammar of the Dialect of Adlington (Lancashire) is a bewk reet back from nineteen-oh-four by Alexander Hargreaves.

It landed in mi hands via the very modern route thamazon prime nought but aboot 100 years later at the start of the second millennium.

The bewk much like this writing is a proper gradely grammar o’ th’ Adlington talk.

Eh, what a find!

Th’ owd village were full o’ folk speakin’ reet broad, wi’ tongues twistin’ words like a weaver’s shuttle. Hargreaves had catched it all – th’ sounds, th’ grammar, th’ very way we shaped our sayin’s.

He wrote how we said “Ah’m gooin’” stead o’ “I’m going”, an’ “tha mun” for “thou must”, an’ them funny shortenins like “wheer’t” for “where art thou”. Aye, he put down th’ long ‘a’ in “bath” turnin’ sharp, an’ th’ ‘r’ rollin’ soft at word-ends.

This little book were like a key to mi own voice. Afore then, folk laughed at our Lancashire twang, callin’ it rough or common.

But Hargreaves showed it were old, proper English, wi’ roots deep as th’ coal pits round our way.

He explained th’ vowels shiftin’ – “stone” comin’ out “stooan”, “home” as “hooam” – an’ how we kept th’ old ways when posh folk in Lunnon had changed theirs.

It sparked summat in me. A few weeks back Ah launched th’ national talk dialect project at talkdialect.co.uk, hopin’ to gather words an’ phrases from every county.

Adlington’s where it started for me, thanks to yon 1904 gem. Folk can add their own sayin’s now, keepin’ th’ dialects alive afore they fade like smoke from th’ mill chimneys.

Aye yope Mister Hargreaves is proper proud that his bewk all these years later helped kick off,

His dedication and passion for detailing in high-level academic and linguistic detail how we truly spoke to each other

He showed me ussen talk’s worth preservin’.

It’s not just words; it’s who we are.