Wider Welsh Revival across Britain

There have been a few random mentions of Welsh in various timelines of late and so I got to thinking, would it be possible to find some sort of POD where, hearkening to various other language revivals, Romanticism etc or the like, we could create a minor Welsh revival in say England at any point from the mid 19th century onwards.

Not quite sure how this would work, but would be interested to see any ideas, if just to see if it would be possible to create small pockets of Welsh speakers in England in contemporary times
 
There have been a few random mentions of Welsh in various timelines of late and so I got to thinking, would it be possible to find some sort of POD where, hearkening to various other language revivals, Romanticism etc or the like, we could create a minor Welsh revival in say England at any point from the mid 19th century onwards.

Not quite sure how this would work, but would be interested to see any ideas, if just to see if it would be possible to create small pockets of Welsh speakers in England in contemporary times
I think that is more likely to happen in Cumbria/Cumberland.
 
I always wonder if Welsh could become to the Kingdom of England what Gaelic became to the Kingdom of Scotland. Originally something from another ethnic group that became part of the dominant ethnic group's mythological identity.
 
I always wonder if Welsh could become to the Kingdom of England what Gaelic became to the Kingdom of Scotland. Originally something from another ethnic group that became part of the dominant ethnic group's mythological identity.
Already happened to some extent. King Arthur ring a bell? Though the English seem to ignore his Briton identity.
 
I always wonder if Welsh could become to the Kingdom of England what Gaelic became to the Kingdom of Scotland. Originally something from another ethnic group that became part of the dominant ethnic group's mythological identity.

That probably requires that present day Wales is conquered by the Saxons early on, rather than holding out and becoming identified as something 'other' to the English.
 
That probably requires that present day Wales is conquered by the Saxons early on, rather than holding out and becoming identified as something 'other' to the English.

It happened by 1300. That's certainly long enough before the romantic age for it to be forgotten. The Highlander-Lowlander split was still going in 1800.

You could have the English think of Cornish, Welsh and Cumbric as dialects of a single ancient Brythonic language, that was the source of their inner ancient noble.
 
Given that Welsh is spoken in Patagonia, the language has not died out.

If there was a Welsh speaking Romantic poet (a Welsh Keats prehaps) this may lead to a revival of all things Welsh in Victorian times, after all Boudica was given a similar make-over as the Brits looked for founder myths.
 
Given that Welsh is spoken in Patagonia, the language has not died out.

If there was a Welsh speaking Romantic poet (a Welsh Keats prehaps) this may lead to a revival of all things Welsh in Victorian times, after all Boudica was given a similar make-over as the Brits looked for founder myths.

That was along the lines of what I was thinking - a foundation myth
 
The big problem with having Welsh essentially become a romantic language for England as a whole, is that most of the Welsh myths are either uninspiring or already subsumed into the general English mythology at this point, and several of the Kings who were glorified at the time fought the Welsh themselves.

I mean, the most obvious foundation myth is the Arthurian legends, but that's already pretty solidly cemented in the English mythos.

This is not to say that the Welsh revival could be stronger than OTL, but I just don't see it achieving the status of Scottish Gaelic in the rest of England.
 
Given that Welsh is spoken in Patagonia, the language has not died out.

If there was a Welsh speaking Romantic poet (a Welsh Keats prehaps) this may lead to a revival of all things Welsh in Victorian times, after all Boudica was given a similar make-over as the Brits looked for founder myths.

This is Wales we're talking about - you can't throw a stick in a village without hitting a poet. In any case, there was such a figure - Iolo Morgannwg - who did indeed spark off a revival of interest in Welsh culture and poetry.

The problem with the likes of Iolo (apart from the numerous and brazen forgeries and other eccentricities) is that whereas they did indeed succeed in sparking a revival in interest in Welsh culture, it was largely Welsh culture as translated into English. Getting people in any numbers to learn Welsh in order to read poetry in the original is a very tall order indeed - especially in the 19th century, when the English government was actively trying to stamp out Welsh and would not have looked sympathetically on it expanding into England.

Frankly, rather than relying on culture you'd have a better chance by postulating an eccentric English mine owner importing an entire Welsh-speaking mining community into the Yorkshire coalfield or somesuch place and allowing them to set up a school and chapels. Though even then it would be a challenge to keep the community Welsh speaking for more than a couple of generations.
 
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