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John Castillo
1792–1845
A self-taught stonemason, Methodist lay preacher, and poet, he became known as the "Bard of the Dales" for lively poems that captured everyday life and speech in Yorkshire. His work is still remembered for preserving local dialect and turning ordinary people and places into memorable verse.
1 Audiobook
Awd Isaac, The Steeple Chase, and Other Poems
by John Castillo
About the author
Born in 1792 near Rathfarnham, close to Dublin, John Castillo moved back to Yorkshire with his family when he was very young and spent much of his life around Lealholm in Eskdale. He worked first as a servant and farm hand, then as a skilled stonemason, while also developing a gift for songs and poems rooted in local life.
Castillo converted from Catholicism to Methodism in 1818 and became a lay preacher, travelling widely while continuing his manual work and writing. He was especially drawn to the language of the Yorkshire dales, and many of his best-known poems use local dialect to tell comic, vivid, and deeply human stories.
His books included Awd Isaac, The Steeple Chase, and Other Poems (1843) and the posthumous The Bard of the Dales (1850). He died on April 16, 1845, in Pickering. No suitable confirmed portrait image was found from the sources checked during this search, so none is included here.