Did Thomas Telford trash two tongues?

July 05, 2023

Did Thomas Telford trash two tongues?

But not wilfully I hope. While sightseeing, or, preferably, sensitively seeing sites in Scotland, I saw an information board adjacent to the Crinan Canal, Argyll. I was immediately struck by the resonance between the fortunes of the Gaelic and Cymraeg languages, as we will see.

Telford (1757 to 1834) was of course the famed Scottish engineer, and [less well known] poet, responsible for so many projects during his career. Briefly, his work on improving communications between England and Cymru includes an early bridge across the Severn (1790), the Pontcysyllte Aquaduct 1805), the Menai Bridge (1826), and later the rebuilding of many sections of the old Roman route that is now the A5 Trunk Road to Holyhead. In Scotland, Telford is often described as being responsible for changing the face of the nation, particularly for building the Caledonian Canal. Among many such projects, the nine mile long Crinan Canal (1801) links Loch Fyne and Ardrishaig on Loch Gilp to Crinan on the Sound of Jura and hence the Inner Hebrides. Sailing and fishing boats, and latterly the “Clyde Puffers” would have a much easier and shorter jouney from the Clyde than the previously perilous path around the Mull of Kintyre.

The Gaelic language had been spoken there. But people from Ayrshire came to the canal for work in fishing and many stayed. These were primarily English speakers. Eventually Gaelic was banned in local schools. By the start of the 20^thcentury children were beaten for speaking it, and the language was forgotten. Thankfully there is some renaissance of Gaelic in various parts of Scotland, and it is now increasinlgy taught in schools. Around Loch Fyne I happily met people who are learning it for the first time as adults. The Gaelic poetry of local poet George Campbell Hay is enjoyed again 40 years after his death.

Interestingly, this area would, roughly between the years 550 and 800, have been part of Ystrad Clud (Strathclyde), a kingdom of Brythonic Celts who spoke the language of yr Hen Ogledd (the Old North), a close ancestor of modern Cymraeg (Welsh). It is believed that Brythoneg/Brythonic, the language of these “Ancient Britons” predated the Roman occupation.

Thanks to learning Cymraeg I have appreciated the parallel histories. The "Treachery of the Blue Books" is the name given to Reports of the Commissioners of Inquiry into the State of Education in Wales (1847), which suggested among other things that the Cymry were in need of the "civilising" influence of the English language. Even before this "The Welsh Not" (commonly a piece of wood hung around the neck) was used in schools from the late 18th century to the 1870s and later to punish those caught speaking Cymraeg. Some areas allegedly still used it as recently as the 1940s. The inherent linguistic imperialism has not gone unnoticed by commentators across Europe, where of course several countries too have examples of oppressed “minority” languages.

Just as Telford opened the doors of Argyll to an English language incursion, so too did his main road to Holyhead. The appreciation of wild mountain scenery seemed to have developed alongside, or because of improved road communications, and heralded the start of tourism. Have improved communication links over the past 200 years helped or hindered indigenous languages? The same question could be asked across the World, where both transport and more recently 'virtual' connections have played their part in standardising languages, dialects and accents [and while we're here, standardised restaurant menus, musics and much more, the focus of other blog posts]. Homogeneity under the guise of diversity.

I've probably given Telford a hard time. He didn't wilfully set out to undermine the two languages. There are plenty in the English [so-called “British”] Establishment who will do so at every opportunity today.

Natural rivers meander, like these blog posts, but canals and roads have been forced into straighter paths since Roman times even. In a post-corporate, post-industrial, post-tech, post-fossil-fuel world, a slower less “driven” pace will be required. At the Strachur Smiddy (smithy) museum on Loch Fyne, they are relearning and teaching old trades and skills, and relearning Gaelic too. In the early days of cars, the smithy developed low-tech ways of fixing problems in the absence of proprietary spare parts, just as Cuba learned to do from necessity after 1959. Just as the slate quarries of Gogledd Cymru had done, first forging the tools that then made the tools to do the job. Old languages and old skills may be the sustainable future.