Poem Owdham

Owdham

This poem is taken from ‘A Lancashire Miscellany of Dialect Verse’ edited by James Bennett, published in 1960 by Hirst, Kidd & Rennie Ltd., Oldham. The writer is simply given as ‘H’. Who can this be? Very mysterious! Good poem though! There is an explanation of some dialect words and expressions below, of you can link to the Glossary.

Owdham

by 'H'

To some folk things are never reet,
But, as aw’ve awlus towd um,
They’d seech awhile afore they leet
On owt as grand as Owdham.
Aw’m down on that ill-manner’t lot
As conno speyk it fairly:
It mayno be a beauty spot,
But seems to suit um rarely.

We hanno monny flewers, it’s true,
An’ thoose we han need skowerin’
Eur skies are noan o’ th’ deepest blue-
They’re often grey an’ glowerin;
Aw’ll own we’re short o’ trees an’ grass,
But these we are no’ needin;
It’s "twist" an’ "weft" at addle th’ brass,
An theer o’ th’ world we’re leadin.

At garden stuff an’ farmers’ crops
We’re happen noan so famous,
But when it comes to spinnin cops
There’s nob’dy wick con shame us.
Eur "divi" doesno grow on plants,
So Owdham doesno mind um;
There’s lots elsewheer fur those as wants,
An time – at Wakes – to find um.

When folk are keen on "loan" an’ "shares"
Owd Nature’s soon forgotten,
An’ here in Owdham nob’dy cares
For owt but yarn an’ cotton.
For warkin folk, a warkin town
At winna spoil wi thrutchin;
So Owdham wears a homely gown
An’ doesno want it touchin.

Hoo needs no shade fra leafy trees,
Wi smook-clouds o’er her curlin;
Hoo never misses th’ hum o’ bees,
Wi countless spindles twirlin;
Her restless engines grind an’ pound
Like waves on shingle breakin,
An’ nob’dy wants a sweeter sound
Nor th’ songs her looms are makin.

Then here’s to Owdham as hoo is!
To Owdham’s rain at soaks us!
To Owdham roughyeds, mon or miss!
To Owdham’s smook at choaks us!
An’ here’s confusion to the crew-
That pack o’ stuck up scoffers-
As winna give a town her due,
Yet grabs at owt hoo offers!

Audio: You may need to allow ActiveX to listen.

Glossary (for those not brought up gradely):

Seech : seek

Leet : lit, lighted upon, found

Owt : anything
Skowerin : scouring – scrubbing clean
Own : admit

Twist : cotton yarn, usually warp
Addle : earn, make
Brass : money, of course
Cops : sort of bobbin
Wick : alive
Divi : dividend, payout (typically from the Co-Operative movement
Wakes : the annual holiday – in August

Warkin : working
Thrutchin : hustling and bustling, working hard
Engines : steam engines – every cotton mill had one (or more)
Hoo : she (yes, really)
Nor : than

Roughyeds : rough heads – the slang name for Oldhamers

Return to index of Lancashire dialect poems

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