Insular towns and villages

[Cactus1982]

Has anyone else ever lived or worked on of these places? By insular I mean fearful, mistrustful and in some cases down right hostile to ‘outsiders’? There’s a large village about fifteen minutes outside of the town I live in that has always had a reputation for being like this. Apparently, in non Covid times if you as an outsider walked into a pub there it would go quiet and everyone would stare at you. I always took this with a pinch of salt until I started working there this last week. I swear that as I walk from my car down the street people slow down and stare intently at me as though I’ve got three heads. I know we are living in strange times, but this is very unnerving. I was also asked by someone how far I’d traveled to get there and when I told them they said ‘oooooh that’s a long way’ as though I’d come from Mars or somewhere. It’s not a long way, it’s a fifteen minute drive! I’d never actually have believed it had it not experienced it with my own eyes!

Are there any other places like this in the UK?

There are definitely some villages in Shropshire like this! One village in particular, we walked into a pub there and got met with absolute silence.

But if villages in Europe are insular... people say it’s charming and call them “close knit” and “traditional”.

It would depend on who was saying it. If it was an English person saying it, I would assume it was quite possibly at least in part down to often very poor language skills.

North Staffordshire, parts of West Yorkshire, Cambridgshire....
Worst of all, they tend to think that they are friendly. Only to people who have lived there for at least 3 generations.

We didn't find a problem when we moved to Wales but I dare say that some villages there are insular.

"It happenned to me too in Bala. Very unfriendly shopworkers. I assure you it definitely goes on"

Oh, I believe that you THINK it goes on for the reasons I gave before, but I do NOT BELIEVE it goes on.

"@Zancah it's hilarious!
People wouldn't go to Spain and complain that people were speaking Spanish would they lol"

Some of the type of people who go to Spain would I'm afraid.

"funnily enough, English speakers can generally understand English when it's spoken, even as background noise. It has, like all languages, pace, cadence, particular tics, volume, emphasis."

I've been in Cardiff city centre with non-Welsh speaking friends who could definitely NOT pick up on the fact that a conversation somewhere near us was in Welsh. They would only 'hear' it from a closer distance. They don't hear the Welsh words as quickly as I do.

Welsh speakers also use a lot of English words in our informal conversations. I remember two women in M&S talking about 'handbags' and 'outfits'. I could tell straight away that the rest of the sentence was in Welsh, but a non-Welsh speaker might not be able to.
Also, as I've mentioned, you sometimes get mixed groups who code switch.

The other reason why this makes no sense is that it's just now how Welsh speakers behave. If every member of the group is a native Welsh speaker, talking about examples in places like Bala now and forgetting the code switching example for a bit, why the hell would they be speaking English to each other before you come in? It smacks of a total inability to understand that someone in the UK may choose to speak another language.

And then you think Welsh speakers go around speaking English to each other all the time EXCEPT when an English person (who we can instantly identify apparently) walks into the shop/pub? Just thinking about it for five minutes tells you that this is rubbish.

[quote Gwenhwyfar]"@Zancah it's hilarious!
People wouldn't go to Spain and complain that people were speaking Spanish would they lol"

Some of the type of people who go to Spain would I'm afraid.[/quote]
I'm reminded of this classic

www.mirror.co.uk/news/uk-news/british-woman-81-claims-benidorm-13075153

Grantham is one of these places. Insular and seems to be full of people who never moved away. As an incomer I was amazed to teach with middle aged people who were teaching at the school they attended as pupils. Blew my mind!

@Iamthewombat

Are you in North Yorkshire? If not, then the answer to your question is, “75% of North Yorkshire”.

I’m in North Yorkshire and it definitely is like this . We moved here from West Yorkshire almost 3 years ago and I still don’t think we’ve fully been accepted.

@MrsDThomas

I went to Wales and it was like this, started speaking in Welsh when they realised I was English

Oh that old one. 🙄 this does not happen. Fucking complete bollocks and something read in the Daily Mail

This does happen. It has happened to me personally several times.

The first time was in a small shop when I was on a school trip around 35 years ago, the lady working behind the counter and some other customers were all speaking in English as I browsed the shelves and then switched to speaking in Welsh as soon as I walked up to the counter to pay and spoke to the assistant!

I assumed it was a 'local' thing and a one off, until I lived in Gwynedd for four and half years... I was surprised to be greeted by 'GO HOME ENGLISH BASTARDS' spray painted across the road in front of the university in foot-high letters when I first arrived, and then the language switch happened several times during the years I lived there.

To be fair a lot of other Welsh people I met were lovely and switched the opposite way from Welsh to English when they realised that, despite my best efforts to learn the language, I really couldn't speak or understand very much Welsh at all!

As a PP said it's quite easy to notice a change in tone, cadence and rhythm when the spoken language changes, it completely different to the mixture of Welsh and English the passengers on the bus used, for example!

I also agree that there are a lot of similar, insular places in England, particularly in more rural areas, but as a born and bred Norfolkian I am used to it and don't really notice anymore...my husband is a 'blow in' though...even after being married to me for nearly 20 years .

I'm in South Yorkshire but I feel like the village we moved too could be a bit like that. Luckily the butcher has promised to take us to pub now they're open again, so we'll get introduced around.

I'm in Suffolk. Our village is like an island in middle of fields, and is like this

Loads of places like that in Cornwall, especially "down west" as some people call it.

Not stereotyping of course, but there are some real odd bastards down here. The type that would say "I'd like to introduce you to my wife and sister" and there would be only one woman with him!

A few years ago we were on holiday in the lake District and walked to the local village pub as wanted a change from the onsite caravan park restaurants.
They literally stared daggers at us when we walked in! Threw the cutlery on the table before they served the meal and tutted. Even my children who sometimes need to be reminded to be a bit more considerate when others are dining,were too subdued by the horrible atmosphere to misbehave! We had planned to stay for a couple of drinks but are up and left!

@PhilCornwall1

Loads of places like that in Cornwall, especially "down west" as some people call it.

Not stereotyping of course, but there are some real odd bastards down here. The type that would say "I'd like to introduce you to my wife and sister" and there would be only one woman with him!

Having spent most of my childhood in Cornwall, this made me howl

Luckily the butcher has promised to take us to pub now they're open again, so we'll get introduced around.

He's not called Hillary Briss is he?

I used to work somewhere like this. It took me years to get to understand how everyone was related and they pretty much all were. They would be astounded that I’d travelled so far to work there ( about 35 minutes). I would ask the elderly people if their families lived nearby and sometimes they’d say no . I’d expect them to have moved country but often they’d be 5-10 minutes away in the next village!

How weird! This thread is giving me the creeps. Reminds me of The Wicker Man.

@Bluesheep8

Luckily the butcher has promised to take us to pub now they're open again, so we'll get introduced around.

He's not called Hillary Briss is he?

Thankfully, no.

Yes - midlands town

Not quite as bad as stopping speaking to you when you walked in ashop/pub and actually there were some great people though can't think of any friednly ones who had been incommer like us or lived elsewhere but very much the feel of the place.

Found out later whole town and our surbub in particular were well known for it - found a few poster on pervious threads who'd lived there and found similar.

DH and I grew up in differnt parts of midlands - me not that far away but had no idea it woudl be like that.

In contrast despite us being English local welsh have been absolutely lovely and welcoming.

My grandparents' village is like this (Lancashire). They'll refer to "the newcomer from ". Turns out said newcomer moved round about 1964.

If you're not at least second generation, or can produce a direct link to a second generationer then you will not be accepted. An exception might be made if you work visibly in the village. However there's only 3 such jobs in the village: Vicar, pub and village shop, somewhat limiting your career prospects.

You might, at first glance think you are welcome. If you're seen outside a house up for sale you will have lots of people coming to say hello... to make sure if you are thinking of buying they can pressurise the owner to sell to a "respectable" (read inside) person. Once you move in, they'll never speak to you again unless it's to complain that you failed to cut your grass in neat lines, or they want you to sign a petition against something dreadful like a mini roundabout. That particular saga's been going since around 1986, in a place that is far better for having one, and they're still objecting because it "isn't in keeping with the ethos of the village".

My Dh village, the first time I walked into the pub all the women turned their backs to me, 30 years on I'm sort of considered a local, the pub still goes quiet if anyone non local walks in.

@Incognitool

Leicestershire. Large, prosperous village, not far from Leicester. I grew up in the country myself, but I’d never lived anywhere so insular. It wasn’t a ‘total silence when you walked into the pub’ situation, just an incredibly narrow outlook — no one who hadn’t always lived there really existed. No one interested in things, places or people not in the immediate vicinity really existed. No one with foreign friends, a ‘strange’ job, or who didn’t spend their money on understandable things really existed. Having a foreign accent, renting a house, being WOHM, having lived overseas, giving any intimation you might not still be living in the village at your death — all deeply suspicious.

I’m an open-minded person, and I did everything recommended — had child in baby groups, preschool, then village school, I volunteered, got involved in local events, ran a popular club, went to the pub, supported local businesses, litter-picked, campaigned for the retention of the bus service etc etc. After eight years we left.

Great Glen?

Herefordshire.

I remember some people who had never been beyond Hereford.

@DisappointedOfNorfolk

Happened to me in Gwynedd a number of times too, once speaking to me in English, then to their mates in Welsh with a "they don't speak English, sorry" a tinkly laugh. They were early 20s and went to Friars for secondary so I know they spoke English! I did not regret leaving Bethesda, it was awful for this kind of thing.