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Grasmere Dialect Plays @grasdialectplays.bsky.social · 05/10/2026

For those who can't come to see the #GrasmereDialectPlays in Grasmere on 10 Oct - & those who just can't wait! - here's a sneak preview from our rehearsal y'day. It's from the play-within-a-play in "Pace-Eggin' Time". The revived Turk is prevented from fighting St George by Tosspot's intervention

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Grasmere Dialect Plays @grasdialectplays.bsky.social · 27/09/2026

Only two weeks to go until the Grasmere Dialect Plays come home to Grasmere. Don't miss it! 7 pm, Sat 10 Oct, in the Grasmere Village Hall. Tickets from: ticketsource.com/grasmere-vil...

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Grasmere Dialect Plays @grasdialectplays.bsky.social · 21/09/2026

Tickets now on sale for the return of the Grasmere Dialect Plays to Grasmere, after nearly 100 years. Come & see for yourself how the plays are just as fresh and entertaining now as when first performed! Tickets from >Ticketsource.com/Grasmere-village-hall-co-ltd< or Barney's Newsbox, Grasmere

Poster fror Grasmere Dialect Plays at Grasmere Village Hall, 7 pm, Sat 10th October 2026

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Grasmere Dialect Plays @grasdialectplays.bsky.social · 19/08/2026

SAVE THE DATE! On 10 October 2026, the Grasmere Dialect Plays will come 'home' to Grasmere Village Hall - for the first time since 1937. Re-created for C21st by members of the Lakeland Dialect Society & accompanied by fiddler Carolyn Francis & folklorist Sue Allan - it'll be a night to remember!

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Grasmere Dialect Plays @grasdialectplays.bsky.social · 11/03/2026

YES - IT'S TONIGHT! Your rare opportunity to see & hear the Grasmere Dialect Plays brought to life! Wed 11 March, 6.15 in the Studio, @tbtlake.bsky.social Keswick. A few tickets left: phone the theatre box office on 017687 74411 (or visit the Words By the Water website).

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Grasmere Dialect Plays @grasdialectplays.bsky.social · 10/03/2026

It's tomorrow night! Still (just) time to get your tickets for our readings from the fabulous Grasmere Dialect Plays. theatrebythelake.com/event/the-la... 6.15, The Studio, @tbtlake.bsky.social, Keswick. See you there!

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Grasmere Dialect Plays @grasdialectplays.bsky.social · 06/03/2026

Curious about the origins of traditional Cumbrian customs like rushbearing and pace-egging? Want to know why proposing to a sweetheart was such a "teptious" matter? Come along to our Grasmere Dialect Plays event next week & find out! Wed 11 March, 6.15 in the Studio, @tbtlake.bsky.social

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Grasmere Dialect Plays @grasdialectplays.bsky.social · 04/03/2026

Just a week to go now until the Grasmere Dialect Plays hit the stage @tbtlake.bsky.social on the first night of the fab 'Words by the Water Keswick' Festival. Come join us for some fun (Wed 11 March, 6.15 in the Studio)!

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Grasmere Dialect Plays @grasdialectplays.bsky.social · 25/02/2026

Just 2 weeks to go until our Grasmere Dialect Plays event at 'Words by the Water', Keswick: 6.15, 11th March, in the Studio @tbtlake.bsky.social. Come and find out why the Plays were a sensation in the 1920s and 30s - & experience our recreation for a 21st Century audience. Good time guaranteed!

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Grasmere Dialect Plays @grasdialectplays.bsky.social · 09/02/2026

Why did tourists flock to Grasmere every January in the 1920s and '30s? (Clearly it wasn't for the weather ...) Come and find out @tbtlake.bsky.social, Keswick on 11th March at 6.15, in the Studio. Big clues in the photos below - and/or check out www.wordsbythewaterkeswick.com

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Grasmere Dialect Plays @grasdialectplays.bsky.social · 18/01/2026

Next outing for the Grasmere Dialect Plays: the opening eve of the fabulous 'Words by the Water' Festival @tbtlake.bsky.social, Keswick. Come & join us at 6.15, 11th March in the Studio. Guaranteed to be informative - and fun! Tickets/full programme: www.wordsbythewaterkeswick.com/events/

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Grasmere Dialect Plays @grasdialectplays.bsky.social · 22/12/2025

Remember my post about pace-egging in the #GrasmereDialectPlays? Over on X, (don't think she's on here) @sciencegirl posted a vid of Pysanka, the Ukrainian art of decorating eggs. Led to a wonderful thread on Eastern European egg decorating. Really worth checking out! Pic below from @queensowandsow

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Grasmere Dialect Plays @grasdialectplays.bsky.social · 04/11/2025

Given current watery conditions here in Cumbria, I'm enjoying Hardwicke Rawnsley's account of the Keswick floods of 25 Oct 1888: '...when it siles down reet gaily, every road becomes a sike, and every sike a beck, and every beck a river'. Apparently the sexton of Crosthwaite church was undeterred:

Extract from 'A North-Country Flood', in H.D. Rawnsley's 1902 book, 'A Rambler's Notebook at the English Lakes', page 115. The sexton of Crosthwaite Church tells how he got to the church, despite the floods, by walking along the railway embankment. (He speaks in Cumbrian dialect.)

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Grasmere Dialect Plays @grasdialectplays.bsky.social · 19/09/2025

Exciting news: I've got a 3-page article on the Grasmere Dialect Plays in the October 2025 issue of 'Cumbria Life' magazine! Really hoping this will bring them to a wider audience ... @drpennybradshaw.bsky.social @countrystride.bsky.social

Photo of first page of Cumbria Life article on the Grasmere Dialect Plays. 3 black-and-white images: a large one of pace-egging on stage, and two smaller ones: rushbearing on stage and a publicity postcard of two young lovers in a hayfield

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Grasmere Dialect Plays @grasdialectplays.bsky.social · 14/08/2025

Will Dinah marry Gawin, or his nephew, Kit? (Act IV, "On Second Thoughts") Another picture from yesterday's readings from the Grasmere Dialect Plays at the Armitt Museum, Ambleside. L to R: John Campbell (Gawin), Phillip Gate (Kit), & Jean Scott-Smith (Dinah). Watch out for the podcast!

Three costumed actors, reading from scripts, in front of bookcases. Older man on left, younger man in centre, older woman on right.

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Grasmere Dialect Plays @grasdialectplays.bsky.social · 14/08/2025

It's not every day you're given decorated bearings, hand-made with rushes from Wet Sleddale. Thank you so much, Jean Scott-Smith, President of the Lakeland Dialect Society The flower-decked sheafs are traditional in the Grasmere rushbearing, which features in the Grasmere Dialect Plays #LakeDistrict

Two traditional bearings - as used in the annual Grasmere rushbearing procession, which features in the Grasmere Dialect Plays. They're made of sheafs of rushes, bound with twine, and decorated with pink-and-white flowers and sprigs of bracken

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Grasmere Dialect Plays @grasdialectplays.bsky.social · 14/08/2025

I met Richard Hardisty, whose great-uncle, Johnnie Hodgson, played the fiddle in several of the Grasmere Dialect Plays. Here's Richard holding a photo (which he hadn't seen before) of his great-uncle (far left) - in the rushbearing scene from "On Second Thoughts" (1924)

Grasmere resident, Richard Hardisty, wearing a blue check shirt, holds up a photograph of the 1924 Grasmere Dialect Play, "On Second Thoughts". The photo shows his great-uncle, Johnnie Hodgson, playing the fiddle in a rushbearing scene, with children

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Grasmere Dialect Plays @grasdialectplays.bsky.social · 14/08/2025

Very many thanks to Jean Scott-Smith, John Campbell, Phillip Gate and Louise Green from the Lakeland Dialect Society for their superb readings from the Grasmere Dialect Plays. Thanks, too, to the Armitt Museum for hosting our event - & to the appreciative audience!

Members of the Lakeland Dialect Society, in costume, reading from the Grasmere Dialect Plays. They are in the library of the Armitt Museum, with bookcases and a projector screen behind them. Two men and one woman are standing, with scripts, and another woman is seated.

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Grasmere Dialect Plays @grasdialectplays.bsky.social · 14/08/2025

A fabulous afternoon at the Armitt Museum, introducing readings from the Grasmere Dialect Plays by members of the Lakeland Dialect Society. A great time was had by players and audience alike! And wonderful to meet Grasmere residents with relatives in the original plays.

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Grasmere Dialect Plays @grasdialectplays.bsky.social · 12/08/2025

Don't miss it! Tomorrow 2 pm at the Armitt, Ambleside Tickets: armitt-library-and-museum-centre.arttickets.org.uk/armitt-libra...

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Grasmere Dialect Plays @grasdialectplays.bsky.social · 09/08/2025

Just 4 days to go ... The fabulous Jean Scott-Smith and John Campbell star in Readings from the Grasmere Dialect Plays at the Armitt Museum, Ambleside at 2 pm on Wed 13 August. Don't miss it! Tickets here: armitt-library-and-museum-centre.arttickets.org.uk/armitt-libra...

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Grasmere Dialect Plays @grasdialectplays.bsky.social · 05/08/2025

Coming soon (13 August) at the Armitt Museum, Ambleside ...

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Grasmere Dialect Plays @grasdialectplays.bsky.social · 31/07/2025

Less than two weeks to go until THE event of the summer: the Grasmere Dialect Plays at the Armitt, starring Jean Scott-Smith & John Campbell Tickets from: armitt-library-and-museum-centre.arttickets.org.uk/armitt-libra... We were rehearsing today In Kendal:

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Grasmere Dialect Plays @grasdialectplays.bsky.social · 20/07/2025

Tickets now available for readings from the Grasmere Dialect Plays on 13 August, 2.00-3.30 at the Armitt Museum, Ambleside. I guarantee it will be an entertaining (as well as informative) event! www.armitt.com/event-direct... (scroll down to evvent)

Announcement of an event - readings from the Grasmere Dialect Plays - at the Armitt Museum, Ambleside, in 13 August, 2.00-3.30 pm. Illustrated with a photograph of a young man and woman in a hayfield, taken from one of the original productions of the plays

Details about the Grasmere Dialect Plays - which feature in an event to be held at the Armitt Museum, Ambleside, in 13 August, 2.00-3.30 pm. Illustrated with a photograph of a young man and woman in a hayfield, taken from one of the original productions of the plays

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Grasmere Dialect Plays @grasdialectplays.bsky.social · 01/07/2025

Come along to the Armitt Museum, Ambleside at 2 pm on 13 August! I'll be introducing readings from the Grasmere Dialect Plays by members of the Lakeland Dialect Society. Tickets: armitt-library-and-museum-centre.arttickets.org.uk/armitt-libra...

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Grasmere Dialect Plays @grasdialectplays.bsky.social · 27/12/2024

All 3 of my short podcasts featuring readings form the #GrasmereDialectPlays now available here: www.youtube.com/channel/UC6w...

List of 9 plays by Eleanor Rawnsley (nee Simpson), with an image of her + an image of the covers of 6 playtexts

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Grasmere Dialect Plays @grasdialectplays.bsky.social · 13/12/2024

Have been talking to @drfrond.bsky.social - expert on all things ferns & bracken Bracken-harvesting crops up in one of the #GrasmereDialectPlays, 'A Woman of Property', performed in 1914, 1922 & 1931. (Extract below from 1922, Act I, p.11) Was it still a widespread farming practice in the 1930s?

Extract of text from Eleanor Rawnsley's Grasmere Dialect Play, 'A Woman of Property' (1922), referring to the practice of bracken-harvesting. There are 3 speakers: Miss Postlethwaite and rival suitors William (a farmer) and Isaac (a joiner). Miss Postlethwaite asks William how things have gone on the farm that week, and he says the last load of bracken wasn't brought in before the storm (although a neighbouring farmer's was). Isaac retorts that it's a poor farmer who can't predict the weather - and William retorts that Isaac should stick to his joinery work and not meddle in farming business. Miss Postlethwaite sends them both packing!

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Grasmere Dialect Plays @grasdialectplays.bsky.social · 09/12/2024

The 9 #GrasmereDialectPlays written by Eleanor Rawnsley (nee Simpson) include *37* marriage proposals! They're a central plot device: despite clumsy suitors, meddling relatives, romantic triangles, & disparities of status, romance triumphs in the end. New podcast - 3 proposals - coming soon!

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Grasmere Dialect Plays @grasdialectplays.bsky.social · 07/12/2024

Here are the Slovenian eggs, traditionally decorated for Shrovetide

Six decorated eggs, in a linen basket (from museum in Bled, Slovenia)

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Grasmere Dialect Plays @grasdialectplays.bsky.social · 02/12/2024

Another treat! 2nd short clip from reading of 'Pace-eggin' Time' by members of the Lakeland Dialect Soc. Here, the Doctor (Jean Scott-Smith) boasts about what he can cure. St George (John Campbell), slayer of the Turk, then adjures him to 'bring that man to life again'. Full podcast in the works!

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Grasmere Dialect Plays @grasdialectplays.bsky.social · 01/12/2024

Here's what Grasmere rush-bearing looked like in the early 20th Century (when Eleanor Rawnsley, nee Simpson, was writing her #GrasmereDialectPlays): it's Frank Bramley's painting in Grasmere Village Hall. Eleanor & her mother both feature in it. (Ask for its cupboard to be unlocked if you visit!)

Painting of Grasmere villagers in the annual rush-bearing procession outside St Oswald's church. Green-pinafored girls carry rushes and a sheet laden with flowers, and they are surrounded by women wearing straw hats. The painting, by Frank Bramley, is owned by the National Trust, and is dispalyed (inside a cupboard) in Grasmere Village Hall.

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Grasmere Dialect Plays @grasdialectplays.bsky.social · 01/12/2024

Here's how the Grasmere rush-bearing was represented on stage in Eleanor Rawnsley's play, 'On Second Thoughts'. The children practise marching with their 'bearings' to the tune of Jimmy Dawson's March. The Simpson & Rawnsley families participated in rush-bearing, & bearings were made at their homes

Stage scene in which five children practise marching while holding 'bearings' made of rushes and decorated with flowers. A fiddler plays and an adult woman looks on. [Image with kind permission of the Wordsworth Trust, Grasmere]

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Grasmere Dialect Plays @grasdialectplays.bsky.social · 30/11/2024

Eleanor Rawnsley's #GrasmereDialectPlays showcased local customs as well as dialect. One of these was rush-bearing (still celebrated today in Grasmere & Ambleside). Here are some images from Grasmere 2023: of the 'rushmaidens' and the rush-covered floor of St Oswald's church

6 girls in green pinafores and straw hats, carrying rushes and holding an embroidered cloth; church interior with floor covered in rushes

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Grasmere Dialect Plays @grasdialectplays.bsky.social · 28/11/2024

Yep! Here's the version Eleanor Rawnsley incorporated into her play "Pace-eggin' Time" (1906). It's Hardwicke Rawnsley's adaptation of one of the more traditional versions. #GrasmereDialectPlays

Words of a "pace-egging" song, in two columns

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Grasmere Dialect Plays @grasdialectplays.bsky.social · 28/11/2024

Here's a real treat! Members of the Lakeland Dialect Society - Jean Scott-Smith & John Campbell - read an extract from "Pace-eggin' Time" (St George has just killed the Turk). This reading accompanied my talk on the #GrasmereDialectPlays at the Uni of Cumbria on 5 Nov. Podcasts coming soon ...

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Grasmere Dialect Plays @grasdialectplays.bsky.social · 28/11/2024

Yes, I believe so. Here's another dated 1886, showing St Oswald's church, Grasmere. [Image with kind permission of The Wordsworth Trust, Grasmere] Wordsworth Grasmere also has a letter from Dorothy Wordsworth dated 1832 describing egg-rolling (hope eggs as beautiful as these weren't rolled!)

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Grasmere Dialect Plays @grasdialectplays.bsky.social · 27/11/2024

As depicted in Rawnsley's 1906 play "Pace-Eggin' Time", actors were rewarded with decorated eggs, to be used in an egg-rolling contest. Wordsworth Grasmere has an egg collection - far too lovely to roll! [Pic by kind permission of the Wordsworth Trust] Norman Nicholson also describes the practice

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Grasmere Dialect Plays @grasdialectplays.bsky.social · 26/11/2024

Here's how pace-egging looked on stage in the #GrasmereDialectPlay "Pace-Eggin' Time" (1906). The parts - St George, the Turk, the Doctor, Mally Masket and Tosspot - were always played by children. Here, George has just killed the Turk. [Photo by kind permission of The Wordsworth Trust, Grasmere]

Five children, in costume, enact a pace-egging play, watched by three adults, in a parlour scene

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Grasmere Dialect Plays @grasdialectplays.bsky.social · 26/11/2024

One of the Grasmere Dialect Plays is "Pace-Eggin' Time" Pace (Pasche) Egging is the traditional Easter mummers' play: a central figure is killed, then resurrected Several versions exist across northern England. Here's a 2019 enactment, from furnessmorris.org.uk Would love to hear about others!

Scene from a traditional Easter mummers play: a purportedly-dead character lies on the ground, and another character bends over him, ready to revive him. Others players look on.

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Grasmere Dialect Plays @grasdialectplays.bsky.social · 25/11/2024

I've chosen one of the Grasmere Dialect Plays - Pace-Eggin' Time - for display by the Armitt Museum, Ambleside as its 'Book of the Season'. The original (1906) playtext is on display + I've written some explanatory text to accompany it. Pop in and take a look if you're in the area

Display of the playtext of 'Pace-Eggin' Time' (one of the Grasmere Dialect Plays) at the Armitt Museum, Ambleside. The playtext is accompanied by an explanatory poster on the wall above.

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Grasmere Dialect Plays @grasdialectplays.bsky.social · 25/11/2024

Hello BlueSky! Follow me to learn more about the Grasmere Dialect Plays I'm @suewilkinson.bsky.social, researching the Plays & sharing my work via podcasts, talks & exhibitions Would love to connect with others who are interested &/or have any further info about the Plays #GrasmereDialectPlays

Scene from 'The Mistress of Mosshead' by Eleanor Rawnsley - one of the Grasmere Dialect Plays. Shows two women and two men, in period costume and seated in a wood-panelled parlour with a fireplace. They're being served tea by the hostess and a maid. One man is drinking his tea from a saucer.

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