From the Staithes Museum Newsletter, April 2026 As the "scented breeaze blows oot o' t' west," there is no more evocative way to mark the arrival of spring in Staithes than through the verses of its most famous dialect poet, Arthur Stanley Umpleby. In his 1935 anthology, A Bo’ddin o’ Cowls (A Bundle of Heather), Umpleby captured the unique beauty of the village during its most vibrant season. The Ballade of Staithes The opening stanza of his celebrated "Ballade of Staithes" s

As you enter the Staithes Museum, the first exhibit shows the tools of the fisherman’s trade - labelled, not in English, but in Staithes Dialect. It’s your opportunity to take a dip into the rich linguistic tapestry of our village, a local speech often considered more than just a dialect - a living language that has survived with "great tenacity". The isolation of Staithes before the arrival of the railway in 1885 allowed many ancient characteristics of its speech to persist.