“I want to git wed”: Readings from the Grasmere Dialect Plays, by Jean Scott-Smith and John Campbell

The Grasmere Dialect Plays, written and produced by Eleanor Rawnsley (neé Simpson), second wife of Canon Hardwicke Rawnsley (co-founder of the National Trust) are a remarkable part of Cumbrian history.

Staged in the Grasmere Village Hall between 1905 and 1937, the plays were a national – and international – sensation at the time.

Performed by Grasmere villagers in local (Westmorland) dialect, they have entertaining and improbable plots, featuring thwarted lovers, competing suitors and meddling relatives – all with happy endings.

The plays were never published: a few printed scripts still survive, together with some photographs and reviews of performances, held at the Wordsworth Trust and the Armitt Museum.

About the speaker
Sue Wilkinson is a committee member of the Lakeland Dialect Society, and graduated (with Distinction) from the University of Cumbria’s MA ‘Literature, Romanticism and the English Lake District’ in 2024. She’s made three podcasts about the Grasmere Dialect Plays, and curated the Armitt’s ‘Book of the Season’ in early 2025: the 1906 Grasmere Dialect Play “Pace Eggin’ Time”.

You may also like the following events from The Armitt : Museum, Gallery, Library:

• Next Thursday, 21st August, 10:00 am, Sensory Workshop with Jessica Emsley in Keswick
• This month, 26th August, 02:00 pm, Armitt Talk Series 2025: Neolithic stone axe production sites and their contexts in the central fell in Keswick
• Next month, 6th September, 12:00 pm, Armitt Fungi Walks: A Hunt for Fungi at Wray Castle in Keswick

Also check out other Arts events in Keswick, Literary Art events in Keswick.