author
John Castillo
1792–1845
A self-taught Yorkshire dialect poet and stonemason, he became known as the “Bard of the Dales” for verses rooted in working life, faith, and the landscape around Whitby. His poems helped preserve the sound and character of North Yorkshire speech in the early 19th century.
1 Audiobook
About the author
Born in 1792 near Dublin, John Castillo spent most of his life in Lealholm, a village in the North York Moors. He worked as a journeyman stonemason and was also a Wesleyan local preacher, experiences that strongly shaped his writing.
Castillo is best remembered for poems in the North Yorkshire dialect, including work published in The Bard of the Dales. His verse often blends humor, storytelling, religion, and close observation of rural life, giving modern readers a vivid sense of the people and speech of his region.
He died on 16 April 1845. Later editions of his poems, including collections prepared with memoirs and glossaries, helped keep his work in print and introduced new readers to one of Yorkshire’s distinctive regional voices.