Barrovian

Barrovian (or Barronese) is an accent and dialect of English found in Barrow-in-Furness and several outlying settlements in Cumbria, England, historically in the county of Lancashire.

Up until the mid-19th century Barrow was nothing but a cluster of small villages with the Cumbrian dialect prevailing throughout, huge growth however occurred between 1860 and 1880 spurred on by the introduction of the railway to the Furness peninsula and the rapidly expanding steel and jute works.

[1] Large influxes came from elsewhere in Lancashire, Ireland (especially the counties of Antrim and Tyrone) and Scotland, with existing shipbuilding regions such as the Clyde and Tyneside providing a significant percentage of migrants in the early to mid-20th century.

[2][3] Barrow became a melting pot of accents and dialects and although it remains primarily Cumbria/Lancashire-orientated has strong influences from a wide geographical area.

[4] The list below contains common words and daily greetings in Standard English (in bold) and their Barrovian equivalent (in italics), and examples of use in a sentence or phrase (in parentheses).

The term 'Old Barrovian' was used in the 20th century to refer to alumni of the Barrow Boy and Girl Grammar Schools,[7] which through a complicated history has become Furness Academy.

A poll conducted by Travelodge in 2014 resulted in Barrovian being placed sixth 'least favourite' of regional accents in the UK behind Essex, Brummie, Cockney, Belfast and Highland respectively.