Northern Ireland

James Fenton: Father of Ulster-Scots revival and its outstanding poet

James Fenton died aged 89. Picture from BBC
James Fenton died aged 89. Picture from BBC James Fenton died aged 89. Picture from BBC

JAMES Fenton was the father of the Ulster-Scots revival of recent decades as well as its outstanding poet.

His 1995 book The Hamely Tongue, a labour of love over more than 30 years, is considered the definitive record of Ulster-Scots spoken in Co Antrim.

His aim was to "compile an authentic, comprehensive record of a living language: its vocabulary, idiom, characteristic turns of phrase and modes of expression, its aphorisms and its humour".

James had been immersed in Ulster-Scots while growing up on farm a few miles south of Ballymoney.

Fearful that the distinctive words and phrases he loved would be lost, he began writing them down in the early 1960s and over time recruited a network of native speakers around the county as the project expanded.

The Hamely Tongue won international recognition for its scholarship and has been re-published in several editions, although its author always remained modest about his remarkable achievement.

James also wrote two acclaimed books of poetry - Thonner an Thon: An Ulster-Scots Collection (2000) and On Slaimish (2009).

Arts Council chief executive Roisín McDonough said he was as “a poet of cultural importance, whose legacy reached beyond the Ulster-Scots his work so eloquently documented and enriched, to wider society - he was an advocate for community respect and understanding”.

A teacher and school principal by profession, James Fenton lived in Glengormley and was also a member of the Ulster Wildlife Trust and Royal Society for the Protection of Birds.

He died aged 89 on February 3 and is survived by his wife Pam, son Roger and a granddaughter.