PUB SIGN PHOTO STUDY THE EDWIN WAUGH HEYWOOD

10-12 Market Street

Heywood,

Rochdale, Lancashire

OL10 4LY

Waugh (1817-1890) was undoubtedly the most famous of the Lancashire Dialect poets, often compared to Sir Walter Scott and Robbie Burns. Waugh was also a keen collector and editor of other Lancashire poetry and ballads, and a great friend of fellow wordsmiths, Sam Bamford and Ben Brierley.

Not all Waugh’s work was in dialect. He also penned a great deal of prose. He captured a strong sense of Lancashire mill life and the effects of the terrible Cotton Famine. His work is of immense importance to all.

It is no surprise that Rochdale’s Heywood would honour its favourite son with a pub, and this Wetherspoons bar does the job admirably. Waugh was a heavy drinker himself, which made his married life difficult. There is also a commemorative statue to him and other Rochdale poets, near Rochdale Public Library.

Waugh worked in printing for much of his life and founded the Manchester Literary Society, though he had little love for Manchester He later moved to New Brighton, near Liverpool for his last few years and died a very cruel death for a poet – cancer of the tongue. Ben Brierley wrote his obituary in verse.

The pub is very easy to miss, being tucked aside from the main road on a bus turning zone, but it is worth looking for this lovely portrait print, probably copied from one of Waugh’s books. His heavy beard gives a sense of his Victorian life and there is a twinkle of humour and wisdom in his eyes.

Arthur Chappell