I recognise the modern Sussex accent in it, only this is much more rural sounding. Think the London overspill after the war may of watered it down. Still as a Sussex man I feel humbled.
As a Child, I remember an old boy who spoke just like this. He was born in the 1870s and I remember him telling me that he remembers his Grandfather well..... and he was born at the tail end of the 1790s. He said to me that I would always be able to say I had spoken to a man who'd spoken to a man who was born in the 18th century......... and here I am in the 21st! I left Sussex 50 odd years ago and when I go home now, I always wonder where the accent has gone. I also lived in Stoke for some years and the same thing is true there .... Potteries dialect has all but disappeared.
I went to school in Battle and people from small villages in Sussex can still be found who talk in a watered down version of this accent. Generally places where Londoners or other outsiders haven't settled much.
So lovely to hear. I’m from a little village near Eastbourne on the South Downs and this sounds so similar to my Father, Grandmother and Great Uncle. So lovely to remember how they spoke. I sometimes here myself slip into this accent after a few pints of Harvey’s! :D
Exactly the same as me, My grandad passed last year and this so much reminded me of him...live in Oxfordshire now so bit of a trek to get back for some Harveys! but next time I'm down ill be in the wriggly tin in Ninfield appreciating it
My ex family is from Chichester and Runcton, he would say senit instead of seen it. I would wind him up and say. " you know that's two words " Sounds alot like People from the west indies,must be the Portsmouth Sailors influence.
All but disappeared now. I've been living in a village in the Sussex High Weald for the last 25 years and I can only think of two people alive in the surrounding that speak with a Sussex accent.
I've been living in the Sussex High Weald for the last 47 years and only ever came across 2 people who spoke this dialect. One of them, now sadly dead, used to pronounce "vase" as "vorze" and I still can't find out if "vorze" is authentic!
My grandfather spoke similar to this. I work in a nursing home and a couple of the old folks I look after have this accent. Some of my younger colleagues thought that these people were from the west until I explained to them- this used to be the common accent in Sussex until just after the war when an influx of people moved down from London and the accents merged.
Oh! That's interesting, Sussex does sound more like London now, Brighton become like little London by the sea! Although some parts in West Sussex like Haywards Heath/Alborne do sound a little more different, you often hear the "haitch" rather than "aitch" letter name there.
Fantastic. The older generation in Hailsham / Eastbourne area would often speak with this accent, lovely to remember how they spoke as so few now still do! Often referred to in school days as the ‘farmer’ accent. Great vid!
thank you so much for sharing this - I've been researching my family tree (don't start - its addictive) and, much to my shock as a proud londoner, I'm descended from a long line sussex farm help. Hastings, Rye and Icklesham to be exact and all agricultural labourers with 8+ children. its really hard to find examples of the old dialect but they must have talked something like this, and it's good to hear. very much appreciated.
My Dad was born in Ticehurst to a large family, they were farm workers so tended to move around from time to time. One particular word pronunciation I remember was music, pronounces “moosic” with little emphasis on the “u”. More like a “meu” than a “mew” My grandad in particular had a strong accent and I am lucky to have have a tape recording of him talking and singing when my cousins got him a bit pie eyed one day with a bit of drink. He lived over the Kent border in Sandhurst, Padock wood and spend the last of his days in a farm cottage in Goudhurst Kent with his eldest daughter and her family. Whilst not totally Sussex per se, their accents were a bit of a mix of East Sussex and West Kent I reckon. Other phrases I remember “Oi told ‘im to get his tackle and clutter orf” . Apples that were “splut” not split. Isn’t pronounced “baint” (I got no buttons on me trousers and me pins baint over strong - legs not strong). This was taken from a song he was singing called “it won’t take very very long” I believe one that Fred Cottenham used to sing. See this www.mustrad.org.uk/articles/cottenhm.htm Quite often the word ye was used rather than you. I can remember them speaking now, as a growing lad I found it all amusing but never ever took the mickey out of the way they all spoke. What a shame we have lost these accents, although we still use words in our daily lives with out us knowing it. Shame we can’t goo backards, reckon so it’s progress. Still, “we won’t be druv” Best wishes from Hove Sussex
My great great Grandfather arrived in South Australia from Horsham Sussex in 1838 so this is fascinating to me hearing the accent he probably spoke and how that influences the way Potters from South Australia speak... obviously watered down with German and Irish mix and whoever else married into the family... its "middlin' fascinatin'...an such like!"😂
This reminds me of my Granny's accent. She lived in Icklesham, I'm from Hastings. She worked the hop gardens and apple orchards in Kent and Sussex. I do say some words in the sussex dialect still, but didn't realise! Thank you for this!
im a born an bred rook from lewes, its such a shame this accent has dissipated, been thinking of studying these old recordings to recreate it...even though its all but gone, though you do sometimes hear a slight hint of it in the old timers. would be lovely to spend a winters evening in one of the local pubs listening to the old timers telling their stories in this lovely accent.
Some of my ancestors are from the Waldron parish in East Sussex. They came here to the United States in the late 1800s and I wonder if they sounded like this!
I was born in Worthing in 1966 and grew up in a village nearby. There were definitely a few of the older village folk who spoke like this in the 70s/80s and some of this dialect is still detectable in current residents.
I grew up in Battle and this accent sounds very familiar. My Grandad and great uncles sounded a lot like this, and they were from Rushlake Green. Funnily enough, their surname was Cornford.
I am from the South with a deep south drawl, the gulf coast to be exact. Holy crap, this sounds like some old people from around these parts...not exactly, but similar.
I'm from battle and I don't know many people who speak like this anymore. one chap who does I always thought was from somewhere up country until my parents corrected me!
I'm always astounded that Liverpool and Manchester accents are so very different even though they're barely 40 miles apart, but I listened to this a few times, expecting to hear my grandad's accent and this is quite different. Your record features a man from Battle, and my grandad was born (in the 1890s) and died in Cuckfield, some 30 miles to the northwest. I doubt if he ventured into East Sussex much, but I'm still surprised that the accents are so local.
Lovely to hear at the beginning - 2.52 - someone referred to as 'mey-ut'! I'm born and bred Chiddingfold, right on the border, t'other side of Cripplecrutch Hill up from Northchapel. I can just remember the old Surrey accent, similar but often spoken with a bit more 'drag' of the syllables. Seems a long time ago now....
1920s also had the new towns popping up like Crawley and it has a distinct impact on local accents neighbouring Horsham has a much less uptake of the London drawl but certain areas has thick London, those that have moved to ' quiet town life' for whatever reasons. I know that my grandad had a more Sussex accent and those of his generation retain more.
I guess so, but people talk about Southern states talking oddly, and here, the South (especially the SE, often known as "the home counties" as they're near London) is known as posher and more proper, and it sees it's the other way round in the US!
I find this fairly hard to believe--in 1920,especially.im from Sussex and we pronounce cast and path with an "ar" not like the northern or american "a", let alone the fact that this guy sounds like some blend of yorkshire and west xountry.....
I'm going to stick my neck out here - this doesn't sound too authentic to me. I grew up a very long time ago in Dial Post in West Sussex, and the old people I knew then, my grandfather and his friends, didn't sound like this. Maybe this presentation is more East Sussex (a foreign country to us), but some of the vowel sounds are distinctly suspect. The rythyms I'll go along with, but much of the delivery seems forced, more someone trying to sound like their idea of a Sussex accent than a genuine swedebasher.
No this is definitely West Sussex, some older residence of West Chiltington and Billingshurst still have this accent... Sadly these people are over 80 years of age.
I recognise the modern Sussex accent in it, only this is much more rural sounding. Think the London overspill after the war may of watered it down. Still as a Sussex man I feel humbled.
As a Child, I remember an old boy who spoke just like this. He was born in the 1870s and I remember him telling me that he remembers his Grandfather well..... and he was born at the tail end of the 1790s. He said to me that I would always be able to say I had spoken to a man who'd spoken to a man who was born in the 18th century......... and here I am in the 21st!
I left Sussex 50 odd years ago and when I go home now, I always wonder where the accent has gone. I also lived in Stoke for some years and the same thing is true there .... Potteries dialect has all but disappeared.
Thank you so much for uploading. I'm from Brighton, with very old roots in the Sussex countryside. No one speaks like this any more, sadly.
Such a great piece of history. I'm from Tennessee, and you can really hear the influence this had on our accent.
I went to school in Battle and people from small villages in Sussex can still be found who talk in a watered down version of this accent. Generally places where Londoners or other outsiders haven't settled much.
It's lovely to listen to the old accents of England. Thank you.
Sounds exactly like a Tangier Island (North Carolina) Accent. Amazing to hear the origins of some American dialects.
So lovely to hear. I’m from a little village near Eastbourne on the South Downs and this sounds so similar to my Father, Grandmother and Great Uncle. So lovely to remember how they spoke. I sometimes here myself slip into this accent after a few pints of Harvey’s! :D
Exactly the same as me, My grandad passed last year and this so much reminded me of him...live in Oxfordshire now so bit of a trek to get back for some Harveys! but next time I'm down ill be in the wriggly tin in Ninfield appreciating it
My ex family is from Chichester and Runcton, he would say senit instead of seen it.
I would wind him up and say.
" you know that's two words "
Sounds alot like People from the west indies,must be the Portsmouth Sailors influence.
All but disappeared now. I've been living in a village in the Sussex High Weald for the last 25 years and I can only think of two people alive in the surrounding that speak with a Sussex accent.
Herblay63 I’m one
It's sad to see accents go. It's like losing a piece of history.
I've been living in the Sussex High Weald for the last 47 years and only ever came across 2 people who spoke this dialect. One of them, now sadly dead, used to pronounce "vase" as "vorze" and I still can't find out if "vorze" is authentic!
My grandfather spoke similar to this. I work in a nursing home and a couple of the old folks I look after have this accent. Some of my younger colleagues thought that these people were from the west until I explained to them- this used to be the common accent in Sussex until just after the war when an influx of people moved down from London and the accents merged.
Oh! That's interesting, Sussex does sound more like London now, Brighton become like little London by the sea! Although some parts in West Sussex like Haywards Heath/Alborne do sound a little more different, you often hear the "haitch" rather than "aitch" letter name there.
Fantastic. The older generation in Hailsham / Eastbourne area would often speak with this accent, lovely to remember how they spoke as so few now still do! Often referred to in school days as the ‘farmer’ accent. Great vid!
thank you so much for sharing this - I've been researching my family tree (don't start - its addictive) and, much to my shock as a proud londoner, I'm descended from a long line sussex farm help. Hastings, Rye and Icklesham to be exact and all agricultural labourers with 8+ children. its really hard to find examples of the old dialect but they must have talked something like this, and it's good to hear. very much appreciated.
This has influenced the accent in US Southern coastal regions.
Some words reminds me of the Appalachians when senences are strung together mind you not accent.
Northern English and West Country accents also influenced the Southern United States accent.
My Dad was born in Ticehurst to a large family, they were farm workers so tended to move around from time to time.
One particular word pronunciation I remember was music, pronounces “moosic” with little emphasis on the “u”. More like a “meu” than a “mew”
My grandad in particular had a strong accent and I am lucky to have have a tape recording of him talking and singing when my cousins got him a bit pie eyed one day with a bit of drink.
He lived over the Kent border in Sandhurst, Padock wood and spend the last of his days in a farm cottage in Goudhurst Kent with his eldest daughter and her family.
Whilst not totally Sussex per se, their accents were a bit of a mix of East Sussex and West Kent I reckon.
Other phrases I remember “Oi told ‘im to get his tackle and clutter orf” . Apples that were “splut” not split.
Isn’t pronounced “baint” (I got no buttons on me trousers and me pins baint over strong - legs not strong).
This was taken from a song he was singing called “it won’t take very very long” I believe one that Fred Cottenham used to sing.
See this
www.mustrad.org.uk/articles/cottenhm.htm
Quite often the word ye was used rather than you.
I can remember them speaking now, as a growing lad I found it all amusing but never ever took the mickey out of the way they all spoke.
What a shame we have lost these accents, although we still use words in our daily lives with out us knowing it.
Shame we can’t goo backards, reckon so it’s progress.
Still, “we won’t be druv”
Best wishes from Hove Sussex
My great great Grandfather arrived in South Australia from Horsham Sussex in 1838 so this is fascinating to me hearing the accent he probably spoke and how that influences the way Potters from South Australia speak... obviously watered down with German and Irish mix and whoever else married into the family... its "middlin' fascinatin'...an such like!"😂
This reminds me of my Granny's accent. She lived in Icklesham, I'm from Hastings. She worked the hop gardens and apple orchards in Kent and Sussex. I do say some words in the sussex dialect still, but didn't realise! Thank you for this!
im a born an bred rook from lewes, its such a shame this accent has dissipated, been thinking of studying these old recordings to recreate it...even though its all but gone, though you do sometimes hear a slight hint of it in the old timers. would be lovely to spend a winters evening in one of the local pubs listening to the old timers telling their stories in this lovely accent.
Some of my ancestors are from the Waldron parish in East Sussex. They came here to the United States in the late 1800s and I wonder if they sounded like this!
I was born in Worthing in 1966 and grew up in a village nearby. There were definitely a few of the older village folk who spoke like this in the 70s/80s and some of this dialect is still detectable in current residents.
I grew up in Battle and this accent sounds very familiar. My Grandad and great uncles sounded a lot like this, and they were from Rushlake Green. Funnily enough, their surname was Cornford.
YAY! RUSHLAKE GREEN! I'm in Mayfield (about 2 miles away) and there's only a couple of people who still sound like this :(
@@oliverclarke9891 Since surnames are on this, my friend's surname is Mayfield, and we live in Sussex, I wonder if it comes from there!
I am from the South with a deep south drawl, the gulf coast to be exact. Holy crap, this sounds like some old people from around these parts...not exactly, but similar.
It sounds Virginian to me.
@@MeadeSkeltonMusic I agree, old people in the tidewater area specifically.
Thanks so much for uploading this!
I'm from battle and I don't know many people who speak like this anymore. one chap who does I always thought was from somewhere up country until my parents corrected me!
brilliant video. it's fascinating how much the dialect has changed in such a short space of time!
Was that person a DT teacher at Claverham?
This is my mother-in-law's accent. She lived in Etchingham all her life. She died many years ago and was born in 1921.
I'm always astounded that Liverpool and Manchester accents are so very different even though they're barely 40 miles apart, but I listened to this a few times, expecting to hear my grandad's accent and this is quite different.
Your record features a man from Battle, and my grandad was born (in the 1890s) and died in Cuckfield, some 30 miles to the northwest. I doubt if he ventured into East Sussex much, but I'm still surprised that the accents are so local.
Lovely to hear at the beginning - 2.52 - someone referred to as 'mey-ut'! I'm born and bred Chiddingfold, right on the border, t'other side of Cripplecrutch Hill up from Northchapel. I can just remember the old Surrey accent, similar but often spoken with a bit more 'drag' of the syllables. Seems a long time ago now....
This is so much like the current Newfoundland dialect where I grew up.
Many West Sussex residents left for Canada in the 18th century... Especially from the Petworth area
1920s also had the new towns popping up like Crawley and it has a distinct impact on local accents neighbouring Horsham has a much less uptake of the London drawl but certain areas has thick London, those that have moved to ' quiet town life' for whatever reasons. I know that my grandad had a more Sussex accent and those of his generation retain more.
Sounds similar to Virginian accents.
Maybe there is a link there!
It reminds me of the old Hollywood film American accents + Appalachian accents.
*Thanks for sharing. Sounds somewhat mid-atlantic, like Howard Hughes spoke back then or just as if taken from an old Cary Grant film.*
Thanks for sharing
So this is the root of the accent spoken in Southern states..
I guess so, but people talk about Southern states talking oddly, and here, the South (especially the SE, often known as "the home counties" as they're near London) is known as posher and more proper, and it sees it's the other way round in the US!
My Grandad sounded very similar to this, from Lewes.
Always thought that was only south west accent ..every body I know on Sussex coast sound London-y
Check out: The Disappearing American Dialect Of North Carolina
Check out: The odd accent of Tangier VA- American Tongues episode #3
This is cool.
I wanna ask to you, what's your dialect? sounds amazing
This accent is dying, bloody shame
Most houses in rural parts of Sussex now accommodate wealthy people who commute to work either London or Brighton. Very few people work on the land.
sounds almost American
I find this fairly hard to believe--in 1920,especially.im from Sussex and we pronounce cast and path with an "ar" not like the northern or american "a", let alone the fact that this guy sounds like some blend of yorkshire and west xountry.....
I grew up in horsham in the 1980s/90s no one spoke like that...the accent is distinct but has changed a lot, im glad i dont sound like that actually
Gatwick-land!
Sounds like a barbasian
I'm going to stick my neck out here - this doesn't sound too authentic to me. I grew up a very long time ago in Dial Post in West Sussex, and the old people I knew then, my grandfather and his friends, didn't sound like this. Maybe this presentation is more East Sussex (a foreign country to us), but some of the vowel sounds are distinctly suspect. The rythyms I'll go along with, but much of the delivery seems forced, more someone trying to sound like their idea of a Sussex accent than a genuine swedebasher.
No this is definitely West Sussex, some older residence of West Chiltington and Billingshurst still have this accent... Sadly these people are over 80 years of age.