The York Minster Screen

Description

Reprinted from the edition of 1937, this is “A Specimen of the Yorkshire Dialect, as spoken in the North Riding.”

On the night of February 1st 1829 a ‘lunatic’ set fire to the stalls of York Minster.  The resulting restoration plans caused some excitement, which had not died down by the time this narrative poem was printed in 1833.

Professor W.W. Skeat reprinted it as an example in a publication of the English Dialect Society (precursor to the Yorkshire Dialect Society) in 1896.  In the manner of Victorians he ‘corrected’ some punctuation, which this edition reverts.

Whilst a slim volume, its origin and date makes it noteworthy, especially so as the notes provided give further explanation of the particular dialect around Northallerton, and the author, George Newton Brown.