I was amused by an entry in the OED about gennel (ginnel). 1613- "Robert Charnocke has newly erected a privie, the ffilthe whereof ffalleth into a certen gynnel or gutter." The first published use of the word for a long, narrow passage is 1669. Of course, these are the earliest dates found by the editors; they could be much earlier. Any songs about gennels? I have heard a lot of dialect on the BBC lately. BBC English was very useful in the days when radio reception was poor, and it was also a link that bound the far-flung empire.