The Lancashire Society

Welcome to the website of a group who are set to preserve the literary heritage of Lancashire. It has become clear, in recent times, that the spoken and written heritage has been neglected by many inhabitants of this county and only enthusiastically promoted by a few. The Lancashire Society hopes to re-dress the balance with a series of initiatives, of which this website is a major force.

Through communication and connection with the community it is hoped that a greater understanding of this heritage will become apparent.

The Lancashire Society knows that there is a rich vein of literature ready to be presented to anyone interested . There is the poetry and prose of Waugh, Laycock, Brierley and others which is a bedrock of great reading and performance.

But beyond that there are the songs and stories of ordinary folk and these need to be recorded, if this has not taken place. In this way the Lancashire Society will not only present the work of past masters but will also record and present new work, wherever it is found. To assist this we have obtained funding from the Heritage Lottery Fund which will enable us to put the Society's work on a firm footing in order to deliver its' aims.

All this will take place in the form of concerts and dialect festivals as well as the archive of material found elsewhere on this website and in the recordings made by participants in the society. We hope that this desire of ours also stimulates you to join us in saving the Lancashire heritage - and developing it for the future with new work. If you would like to become a member you can download a membership form from the link in the Navigation column.

Palatine People

We now have our own Newsletter, full of interesting articles on all things Lancashire, contributed in the main by the members themselves. It is the first of a series of these publications reflecting the interests of the members.

We make this available as a download so the maximum number of people can access the content but you can obtain a paper copy for building into your own archive by contacting our Publicist, who we thank for its publishing preparation.

Hover over NEWSLETTER in the navigation above to read our editions. You will need Adobe Reader to do this.

The Notice Board

From: Anne Morris - abrownowl@aol.com

Do you know who owner Olive Mill, Olive Lane, Darwen in the late mid 1920's. My mother was in service to one of the brothers, think they were called Cattlow, lived off Bolton Road.

From: Brian Rigby

Can you help me find a Lancashire Dialect poem about a (Sailing?) boat built bu Bury Bridges by the canal, which was then sailed to America? I heard it in the 1950's. Is my memory playing tricks? I heard the tale as a senior scout during a sing song in the 50's which included a monolugue of Albert and the Lion and various other dialect ditties/poems, but the tail of the boat that sailed from Bury to America has somehow always stuck in my mind. Was it based on fact or was it Lanky leg pulling?