John Castillo (1792 – 16 April 1845), often referred to as the "Bard of the Dales", from his first published book - "The Bard of the Dales - Poems by John Castillo" was a poet who lived for much of his life in the village of

Lealholm Lealholm is a small village in the Glaisdale civil parish of the Borough of Scarborough, in North Yorkshire, England. It is sited at a crossing point of the River Esk, in Eskdale which is within the North York Moors National Park. It is by r ...

. Castillo's work is treasured as having rescued the ancient language of the dales from oblivion. John's father, a traveller, met his spouse in Eskdale and they both returned to Ireland where John was born in 1792 near the small village of

Rathfarnham Rathfarnham () is a Southside suburb of Dublin, Ireland. It is south of Terenure, east of Templeogue, and is in the postal districts of Dublin 14 and 16. It is within the administrative areas of both Dún Laoghaire–Rathdown County Council a ...

, close to Dublin, today a suburb of the city. At the age of two, the family decided to return to Lealholm and moved to the site that now bears the name Poets' Cottage. At the age of 12 he moved to

Lincolnshire Lincolnshire (abbreviated Lincs.) is a county in the East Midlands of England, with a long coastline on the North Sea to the east. It borders Norfolk to the south-east, Cambridgeshire to the south, Rutland to the south-west, Leicestershire ...

and began work as a servant on a country estate and soon became note for his talent as a poet, singer / songwriter. Later returning to Eskdale, he began work as a farm hand, and soon turned his skills to stonemasonry.

Methodism Methodism, also called the Methodist movement, is a group of historically related denominations of Protestant Christianity whose origins, doctrine and practice derive from the life and teachings of John Wesley. George Whitefield and John's br ...

was popular across the Dales, and John converted from Catholicism in 1818. Following thoughts of suicide he became a lay preacher, but continued his stone work and poetry. He often wrote using local dialect and is most well known for the poems "Aud Isaac" and "The Steeplechase" although he also used standard English. Very few of his works have been published since the early 1900s. He died in the town of Pickering aged 53, and is buried at the Methodist Chapel in Hungate. His gravestone reads an epitaph of his own creation :

SACRED
TO THE MEMORY
OF
JOHN CASTILO

Author of
Auld Isaac, The Steeplechase ,
and other Poems
In the Yorkshire Dialect.

HE LIVED FOR OTHERS

He was an original and successful local preacher
among the Wesleyan Methodists for many years.

"Bud noo his eean's geean dim i' deeath
Nee mare a pilgrim here on earch ;
His soul flits fra' her shell beneeath
Tee reealms o' day
Whoor carpin' care an' pain, an' deeath
Are deean away."

References

External links

* at

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* * 1792 births 1845 deaths English male poets 19th-century English poets 19th-century English male writers {{UK-poet-stub