 How to Spake Salop | |
|  | | Is the Shropshire dialect a thing of the past? |
| | There isnÂ’t a Shropshire accent or, indeed, a Shropshire dialect. There are several. ThatÂ’s the conclusion Georgina F. Jackson came to when she compiled her exhaustive Shropshire Word Book in 1879. |
| | WEBLINKS | | Shropshire Tourism
A comprehensive website detailing where to go and what to see in Shropshire.
Virtual Shropshire
A site full of up to date information about what's on in Shropshire with plenty of colourful images.
The BBC is not responsible for the content of external websites. | | | SEE ALSO | | A Sense of Place
Programmes:
That Wrekin Feeling
Everybody loves The Wrekin. It is the spiritual heart of Shropshire. YouÂ’re not a true Shropshire man unless youÂ’ve climbed through The NeedleÂ’s Eye.
Lost Property
Imagine that, due to a freak (but benign) earthquake, Shropshire disappears. That is the basic premise of the first programme in our Sense of Place series, which aims to identify just what it is that makes the county distinct.
A Curlew over the Mall
The very best way to represent the true essence of Shropshire on the radio is to record and broadcast those sounds that make the county what it is - the unique and typical sounds of Shropshire.
Penguin Jumpers and Polo Necks
This programme contrasts Salopians' renowned generosity and enthusiasm for off-the-wall projects with their apparent reluctance to face up to the harsh realities of modern society. |
| | How to Spake Salop
Part One 12.05 pm Sunday May 5th 2002
Repeated 6.30pm Wednesday May 8th 2002
Part Two 12.05 pm Sunday May 12th 2002
Repeated 6.30pm Wednesday May 15th 2002
In 11 years of travelling the county Georgina F. Jackson noted 11,000 Shropshire words, and their pronunciation, for posterity. A century later Valerie Kilford of Trench in Telford conducted a similar exercise. She was then a student travelling to Kidderminster College everyday by bus.
One day - without thinking - she used the Shropshire phrase "to go all around The Wrekin" to describe the circuitous route the bus took and was surprised to discover her fellow students didnÂ’t understand her. So she too set about collecting words and phrases which seemed to be in common use in Shropshire, but not elsewhere.
 | Richard Beaumond |
About the same time, retired railwayman Ken Jones of Little Wenlock was busy with an aged recorder, taping the true sounds of Shropshire dialect and accents from people whoÂ’d been born in the county in the 19th century and who still spoke proper Shropshire.
Using these three sources - and new recordings of modern day Shropshire voices – presenter Richard Beaumond and actress Val Littlehales (both born and bred in the county) explore the true sounds of Shropshire speech, then and now.
Contrary to popular belief, speaking Shropshire is still going strong. So much so that Margaret Thatcher used it quite recently to criticise the Labour Party!
And according to William Caxton - the father of English Print – everyone in The Realm should speak just like we do in Shropshire. | | | |
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