With its roots in Old English the Lancashire dialect gathered unique words and phrases due to centuries of relative isolation. The oral tradition finally came to be written down in the 18^th century when in 1746 the earliest significant piece of Lancashire dialect was published A View of the Lancashire Dialect, or, Tummus and Mary by John Collier (1708-1786) aka Tim Bobbin.

Lancashire dialect writing became popular in the middle of the nineteenth century. A combination of access to cheap print and hard times brought about by the Lancashire Cotton Famine (1860-65) created a very fertile period for dialect poems, prose, and song, often with a humorous nature. A good example is Failsworth born Ben Brierley (1825 – 1896). Largely self-educated he took to journalism writing in dialect and publishing his　Chronicles of Waverlow (1863),　The Layrock of Langley Side (1864), and Ben Brierley's Journal (1869–1891).

Lancashire dialect was also used for radical and social messages. Allen Clarke (1863 – 1935), aka Teddy Ashton became known as a radical campaigner for workers welfare and to end child labour. He was born in Bolton his father having emigrated from County Mayo, Ireland during the potato famine of the 1840s to find work in Lancashire. Starting work in the mill at an early age as a little piecer, he was a 'half-timer' working on the spinning floor in the morning and going to school in the afternoon.