....After establishing the details of (so far) fifteen of my sixteen great great-grandparents and where they came from, I had the one unknown, one English, one Greek, two Welsh and a dozen Irish forebears. Strange, I’d always “felt” a Lancastrian but history now made other lineal claims on me.
This, in total contrast to my longsuffering wife’s half of our tree, sixteen (again so far 15 found) great-great grand relatives who apart from the presence of a lone Irishwoman were entirely English, albeit from a variety of “Shires”. Almost a mirror image.
So, back to the site name. With my roots now firmly in the soil of Erin and the branches arching across the Irish Sea, that left me with a Welsh shrub, Greek seedling and an accumulation of ancestral windblown "Lancashire Leaves" to tidy!
Originally, this site was to be a platform for my monologues and other historical and “Lanky” witterings, developing as a repository for my reminiscences, local history and genealogical studies in time.
But as always in life circumstances dictate, so as they may say in these parts
“It is what it is an’ it’ll be what it will when it ‘appens”
For the poetry....
"Poetic licence" Is not what you require from t'council to write in rhyme.
I aim to be as historically accurate as possible when writing about the events and people of the past.
However, additional people and places, with relocation and embellishment on occasion may be required to tell the tale, so bear with me and I will try to make them as obvious and humorous as possible.
Trying to represent Lanky twang in written English presents its own problems as well, for writer and indeed the reader.
These are words and phrases passed down and retained in the main in “mi’yed”. I have read other wonderful writings in my mother “tong” and have been left amazed, enthralled and sometimes bemused by style and representation.
I claim no ownership of style as it is an amalgam of many I have read and enjoyed.
The ideas are of course my own and I reserve the right to “mess wi' t’hinglish” in order to “mek it fit”
Please enjoy it for what it is and good luck in the development of thi tricky glottal stops.
No'but a lad
