''Our peculiar northern antiquity of speech': Mary Powley of Langwathby (1811-1882), the Vikings in England, and Local Dialect'

York Medieval Lecture Series

Mary Powley was a remarkable pioneer in the study of local dialect and the Vikings in the north of England. Living in the small village of Langwathby (near Penrith in Cumbria), she contributed articles to the transactions of her local antiquarian society (the first woman to do so), published a fascinating volume of poems and translations (Echoes of Old Cumberland, 1875), and worked tirelessly to record and celebrate local dialect and local culture. This lecture will explore the connections between Powley's dialect studies and her role in the re-discovery of the Vikings in Cumbria, paying especial attention to her contributions to the three great projects of Victorian dialectology: the English Dialect Society (1873-96), Alexander Ellis' The Existing Phonology of English Dialects (1889), and the English Dialect Dictionary (1898-1905). As we will see, in the nineteenth century the study of local dialect was a thoroughly medievalist endeavour, and it played a central role in uncovering the history of the Vikings in England.