INTRODUCTION

            It was back in 1995 that I chanced to attend a very well-organised exhibition of local history memorabilia in the Longtown Community Centre.

            Amongst the many interesting exhibits, was John Mason’s fascinating ‘Glossary of the Longtown Dialect’, which he had hand-written on the backs of sheets of wall-paper, nearly forty years earlier. As Editor of the ‘Journal’ of the Lakeland Dialect Society, I very quickly realised the importance of this document, but it was to be some time before I contacted Mr. Ivor Gray, to ask if he knew how the glossary had come to be in the exhibition, and if he knew where it was normally kept. It was then he told me that it had been on loan from the County Library. A visit to Carlisle made me decide that the Society really ought to publish this masterpiece. It faithfully records a version of Cumbrian speech which, though quite distinct from that of Carlisle, only eight miles to the South, yet has hardly a trace of Scots, though Gretna Green and Canonbie are even nearer.

Around that time, I made the acquaintance of Dr. Graham Shorrocks. Professor of English at the Memorial University, St John’s, Newfoundland;  he is a native of Lancashire and had just published his ‘Dialect of the Bolton Area’. By a strange coincidence he happened to mention his interest in John Mason’s work. Thus, for a couple of years, we worked at it together. Graham had obtained photocopies of the whole work, and we kept in contact by Email. I was able to help him with numerous words, either because of imperfections in the copy or on points of local syntax and pronunciation. This necessitated many trips to the Library and I am particularly grateful to the Librarian, Steven White, who always seemed able to produce the manuscript from the deepest recesses of the building at a moment’s notice.

            After working on the transcription, Graham felt he must listen to some of the words and expressions, so with the help of Mrs. Jean Carr, a native of Longtown, now living at Barnard Castle, we arranged a recording session. We recorded several people, whose names appear later in this book, and filled both sides of a tape cassette, one before ‘tea’ and one afterwards. While the result proved quite hilarious, several useful points did emerge!

            Then for some time Graham’s work has taken him all over the world. This, combined with pressure of work and, unfortunately, with his failing health,  meant that we lost contact for several years. At long last, we are able to complete the editing and proceed to publication

October 2011                                                                                                               Ted Relph.