Tom Twisleton

Click here to view Tom’s Facebook page  https://www.facebook.com/tomtwisleton100/?ref=bookmarks

Tom Twisleton 100 Resources Find out more about Tom Twisleton, his poems and how life was lived over 100 years ago.  Click  http://settlestories.org.uk/tomtwisleton-resources

Over 2017 Heritage Lottery Fund invested in the young people of Settle and its surrounds engaging their wisdom and work to honour the centenary of a local Craven dialect poet.  Tom Twisleton 100 Years On is edited by the project coordinator Hazel Richardson in tandem with Settle Stories, an energetic local charity helping bring voice to local people and empowerment to youth. What is striking about the book is the predominance of young contributors, their passion for heritage and the way they draw on material from the Museum of North Craven Life and the Twisleton family bringing a dynamic out of heritage. I write as one of a number of family members interviewed on Skype whose contribution is woven in. Family-friendly the book includes a challenge to re-create Victorian games, puzzles and colouring sheets. At the centre is a selection of Tom’s poems supplemented by 21 of them - half the total - on an accompanying CD recorded by local people in Craven dialect which is an unique reso

Christ the King   Holy Ascension, Settle 26th November 2017 The 22nd verse of the first chapter of the letter of St Paul to the Ephesians: God has put all things under Christ’s feet. Page 84 of Tom Twisleton’s poems in the Craven dialect: Come unto Jesus, all ye who are weary, Heavily laden, down-hearted, distress’d, If the journey be rough, and the pilgrimage dreary, Then come unto Jesus - He promises rest. On Life’s rugged path, toil unaided no longer, With your sorrows untold, and your sins unconfess’d; Cast the weight of your burden on One who is stronger, And come unto Jesus - He promises rest. He debars not the poor, He excludes not the lowly, All who earnestly seek, He will gladly receive; He is loving and merciful, truthful and holy; And His rest is for all who repent and believe. Amen - I could sit down!  My first cousin twice removed has preached in rhyme as good a sermon as you could preach on the Feast of Christ the King. I won’t si

Canon John Twisleton’s input at Tom Twisleton memorial service in Holy Ascension, Settle on 25th November 2017 Thank you, Hazel Richardson, for your contribution to Tom’s Centenary, with our young people, under the auspices of Settle Stories - a privilege to get to know you and to work with you over the last year! It’s good to be ‘Back in Settle’ this weekend, not just with 2400 members of the Facebook group of that name, but actually here right now with fowk signing off Tom Twisleton 100 before God. What a great centenary! A celebration of our Dales, our dialect, our farming, of Twisletons near and far in space and time, and an achievement for the young people who’ve shaped this year and this service. I’m Dalesman become Downsman. As plain speaking Yorkshireman I just fit in Sussex - they’re accommodating!  I’m Tom’s kin all right. I’m also lang like lang Tom - 6 foot 3 - they gave me the nick name   Fourth Peak at Giggleswick School!  Like Tom I’m a preacher man - I’m

Could you explain your connection to Tom Twisleton? I’ve know about Tom all my life. Greg my father, born in 1900 above his parents shop in Settle market place, was 48 when I was born, knew Tom and shared with me about him. One reason the centenary has so much energy is that one step away living link between Tom and I.  My father read me Tom’s poems, walked me up to Winskill as a child, and when he died in 1974 left me the graphic mid 19th century press cutting of Tom’s father, Frank, the Craven Giant.  Church involvement as a teenager helped me look at parish records in the 1970s where, in the-then manual searching, a rare name like Twisleton is an advantage. Being a writer I’ve set my mind in recent years, to publications linked to Twisleton’s in genealogical magazines: Family Tree Magazine July 2007 on Seeing the World as a Twisleton from which I built another article on A Religious Gene in Your Family Tree July 2007 . With my mother living in Settle up to 2010, I was reg

This room has a familiar feel though I’m more used to drinking round the corner than in this so-called function room.  It’s not got such great memories - my father’s and brother’s wakes were here - but today’s events are laying down some good memories with the connecting up of the Twisleton family under the auspices of Lang Tom from Winskill. Here’s the famous picture of his dad Frank so-called Craven Giant my father gave me which first got me going on Twisleton genealogy helped by local priests giving me access to their registers. Where’s my godson - Tom Twisleton - you’re a real reminder of Lang Tom and his dad the Craven Giant! Just for information, my mother, whom you’re going to hear from shortly, lived last in Settle behind this pub, or more precisely the Naked Man, at 5 Whitefriars. My father Greg was born above his parents’ shop near what’s now Car and Kitchen. Tom would visit there as he no doubt visited here to share about Temperance. Tom would also visit his cousins

The warmth and humour of Craven Dialect poet Tom Twisleton (1845-1917) provide a window into the best features and aspirations of Yorkshire. ‘Lang Tom fra' Winskill Rock’ was literally a giant among men who compensated in humility for his physical aloofness. ‘When a chap can't beear from others lips his faults to hear, it shows his want of sense’ he writes and his poems poke at self-importance. Tom Twisleton 100 is a welcome celebration of straight speaking in which Settle Stories has partnered the Twisleton family and the Museum of North Craven Life in working with young people to promote the Craven dialect and engage with social issues. Tom’s poems shine with refreshing integrity. They ‘speak truth unto power’ shake shackles of addiction and challenge hypocrisy in the name of Truth that sets free.  On behalf of the Twisleton family I am honoured to commend this Centenary publication which points beyond itself to web resources including that ‘must read’ fo

A century on and your words are still read for the truth that you tell is undying, of the beauty of Craven, our dialect, our farming, the power of speech and of rhyming. The untruths we live among, some of them new such as ‘post-truth’ bring misinformation so the call for integrity’s never been louder. We need such as you in our nation. The Truth that sets free was your inspiration. You spoke and folk saw their deceit. Many were freed from addiction and wrong as they willingly sat at your feet. Your humour and warmth shine out of your poems as you make yourself one with your fellows setting forth to them truth which has power in itself needing whisper or rhyme and no bellow. ‘Lang Tom’ you lived as a giant among men but your words are no truth spoken down to us rather the truth that flows up from the humble for you are one who lived his life close to us. Speaking truth unto power you shake off the shackles of bondage, vain though

My father’s uncle Tom Twisleton (1845-1917) was born a century before me. At the age of 22 he achieved lasting fame through publishing his poems in Craven dialect read to this day. ‘Lang Tom fra Winskill Rock’ penned his thoughts many a night under his lamp to friends from his settled existence ‘upon this rough hill-side, year after year, content…to mind the kye (cows) an’ sheep’. His first book was entitled ‘Splinters struck off Winskill Rock’, the promontory above Langcliffe from where his movements are restricted by his mother’s fret, ‘Now mind, an’ don’t stop lang, for whaa’s to milk au t’ beeas.’ This discipline of farming frames a contemplative life which overflows in his poems. Winskill is a platform for contemplation ‘to the north just turn yersel, whar Penyghent and Fountains Fell cock up their crests on high’. Tom describes in poems to friends how his writing is intermittent so that in the lambing season ‘hevin’ miss’d a deal o’ sleep, wi’ sittin’ up an’ watchin’ t’ shee