[Closed] "The North" - where is it.

North of England?

Starts at the M62

For reference a proud Northumbrian here, anything from Watford to the 62 is the Midlands

The Tamar

My last regional role at work was to cover the north of the uk. Basically this seemed to be anything above a line drawn between bristol, oxford and cambridge and over to colchester. Pretty much about 9/10s of the UK.

I think Sheffield and above - coming from a Midlander living in London.

Watford...

roughly a straight line through Stoke is where the North starts, between there and The Watford Gap is the Midlands, below that is the South. Cue lots of enraged people arguing that they are not bloody Northeners/Midlanders/Southerners

M62's not a bad border. That or Yorkshire.

or another version

Still supporting my M62 line

The North isn't a place, it's a state of mind.

Anywhere North of Nottingham imho.

For me it’s anything North of Crianlarich.

It's up here! #waves

Rheged and Elmet define the start of Yr Hen Ogledd "the old North"

M62 is a good modern approximate, anything from Watford to 62 is the Badlands

According to the maps we get in Surrey, it's roughly the line from the wash to Gloucester- it's easier to be northern in the west.

Eventually you end up on the Moors, which as southern legend tells it is some sort of great wall, along the lines of the lord of the rings or the one in game of thrones, and after that the maps are just labelled 'here be dragons'

Severn-Trent line in my past life, prob Ullapool to Dornoch now.

Having just seen the face on David Gould at Huddersfield I'd have to say that is in the North, looked like he was getting very uncomfortable there!!

I get twitchy above the m25.

Incidentally, I had a discussion with a colleague who'd moved down from Liverpool on this and I think we agreed on one of the borders of the midlands- it was just that it considered it the northern border and he considered it the southern.

It's only fair to say where you are from while proclaiming the line, and if you would like a shandy or a cider

Where it's grim!

Anywhere south of Deansgate is basically suspect.

NOT the M62, it goes to Stockport, which is in the Midlands.

South Manchester is basically full of ****ers, send them all to Essex and everyone would be happier.

I have just traced the mouse around Google Maps. If I am looking at Scotland I would draw a rough line from Inverness to Ballater to Perth to Balloch to Campbeltown. Anything NW of that I would say is North. I know that some of that is not very far North. I would base it on a scenery change. In Scotland there is North, and there is North North.

I was once having breakfast in a Holiday Inn in the dizzy heights of Chester. I heard a 'Cockney' lady chatting to a guy at the next table. Chester amazed her as she admitted she had not been far afield in the UK. I literally heard her utter ''Oi didn't know there was anyfing Norf of Watford'!!

My inlaws have friends that once went to the Lake District in 1975. They found it too cold and have never been back since. They are the wettest couple I have ever met.

As has been said, the M62 is probably a good line, based on the history of the Saxon kingdoms, and how that has shaped the people of the land even to this day.

I was once having breakfast in a Holiday Inn in the dizzy heights of Chester. I heard a ‘Cockney’ lady chatting to a guy at the next table. Chester amazed her as she admitted she had not been far afield in the UK. I literally heard her utter ”Oi didn’t know there was anyfing Norf of Watford’!!

The irony there is Cheshire is a home county that got lost.

As far as England goes, seems to be accepted it's around the Severn across to The Wash (if you're in the south)?

Personally I'd say somewhere around the line from the Mersey across to the Humber.

(I differentiate between 'The North' and Scotland)

Anywhere north of Herne Bay pier.

NOT the M62, it goes to Stockport, which is in the Midlands.

Did you check your road atlas there?

That would be the M56 or the M60

Apologies Mike, you're right. I'm getting my 62 mixed up with the M60 ring of shame, which includes the goat blowing incestuous Southerners of Chorlton and Didsbury.

It moves. When I was at university in Reading I was the token northerners, being from Lincolnshire. I always thought somewhere around Darlington but now I've  moved I think of Pitlochry as where the north starts.

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I forget who said it but "You aren't  a proper northerner until you call a Sheffield  accent southern"

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seems to be accepted it’s around the Severn across to The Wash (if you’re in the south)?

Personally I’d say somewhere around the line from the Mersey across to the Humber.

So poor old Lincolnshire is in no-mans  land again? Even I don't  know what we are, I don't think of myself as northern but I'm definitely not a southerner!

Anywhere north of Herne Bay pier.

LOL.

The north?

Well it’s south of the NorthEast.

Just remember South Starts at Sheffield.

Sheffield to Leeds is midlands.

But bizarrely Harrogate is definitely in the south - as is Durham.

PS - when I was doing geography in Glasgow, the Tees-Exe line was generally accepted as the boundary between southern and northern England.

We didn’t really accept the concept of English midlands - not really a significant enough country to have three areas.

If the M62 is the boundary, then where is Manchester?

The Heptarchy, as alluded to earlier, remains resilient.

A wiggly line from the Mersey to the Humber.

Just South if Sheffield to Hadrian’s Wall is ‘The North’

Above that is foreignness

*Just South if Sheffield to Hadrian’s Wall is ‘The North’*

I appreciate it's late, but

What?

Anywhere north of Stoke for me especially places where people say words with a t in front of them.

Anywhere Norf of the M27 IMO.

But seriously, as soon as you hit that Yorkshyre.. I get “that” feeling like I’ve travelled back in time.

So, Yorkshire.. that’s the North.

The signs for The North stop after the angel of the north. There’s your answer.

Is there something north of Tottenham?

Sutherland

Scotch Corner..and a line across the A66..

If we are including Scotland and not just talking about England ..then I havent a clue ..but a reference point would be that Haltwhistle in Northumberland is geographically the centre of Britain ...

Haltwhistle being the center was abolished about 20 years ago.

A30/A303

but a reference point would be that Haltwhistle in Northumberland is geographically the centre of Britain …

It's Dunsop Bridge in the Forest of Bowland.

The North starts when I pass the Ram Jam Inn on the A1.

Is there a map showing the density of pie warmers in work canteens? That’ll show the true north.

M62 as the border is a little too far North. Places like Birkenhead, Warrington, Oldham, Stockport, Barnsley, New Mills are definitely Northern in my book. I'd put the border from the Dee to the Humber, and maybe pull it South a bit to include Sheffield.

For those using the River Mersey as the border between North and South, the Mersey starts where the River Tame meets the Goyt River behind Asda in Stockport town centre. Just saying.

By my reckoning this line should define the border between North and South

[IMG] [/IMG]

Anything south of Preston is the south.

Anything north of Perth is the north.

Anything in between is the Midlands*.

*I've just made myself a Midlander,  oh the shame. Hope I don't get one of those bloody accents!

Drac & ranos ..it really depends what you wish to believe ..the Military Road still has signs proclaiming Haltwhistle to be the centre of Britain ..and I found this online ..please note the date ( 2014) ..it doesn't look like anything has been " abolished "

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[url= https://www.flickr.com/photos/156204930@N03/30883686707/ ]Screenshot_20181111-083826_Google[/url] by [url= https://www.flickr.com/photos/156204930@N03/ ]Neil Hodgson[/url] - [url= https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.dariogf.flickr2BBcode_lite ]Flickr2BBcode LITE[/url]

M62 line makes sense to me, or Humber across to the Mersey, same difference.

Moved to Chesterfield years ago after living in the south and now work in Sheffield. Although Sheffielders consider themselves northern by virtue of just about being in Yorkshire, they're really middlanders. They don't seem to like it when you tell them that. Oh and Hendersons relish is just a pale imitation of Worcestershire sauce.

Edit: we're obviously talking about England here, Scotland is a separate country completely.

and I found this online ..please note the date ( 2014) ..it doesn’t look like anything has been ” abolished ”

Yeah click the link and read the story.

If you have to split England/Wales into 2 (ie North South) a Sheffield University study based on social/economic factors

https://thetab.com/uk/sheffield/2017/01/11/finally-someone-sheffield-uni-told-us-north-19761

Updated to include other regions

[IMG] [/IMG]

It's down South.

scu98rkr has it.   I’ve been to Lincoln where everything still seemed normal albeit a bit quiet - South, and Nottingham where people definitely put gravy on there chips - North

Now I'm totally confuggled... 🙂

Drac ..I did read the link ..so which part of Haltwhistle having strong claims to be the centre of Britain did you not understand ..

In case you are having problems digesting what the article actually says..the village mentioned much further south would only lay claim to being the centre of the UK ..if Scotland became an independent country ( therefore not part of the UK)..

Did you read & understand the article ?

Hope this clears it up for you 😁

1. 'The North' is a weird dreamscape devised by 'proud northerners' which begins approximately two miles to the south of wherever they happen to be. Mostly it's in their heads.

2. The above is superceded in any location roughly to the south of Stoke on Trent, which cannot under any circumstances be 'The North', once you get beyond that, it's a moveable feast.

3. Particularly charismatic northerners sit at the centre of a small sphere of 'northernness' which exists regardless of their geographic location and is sustained by them grumbling endlessly about how much better it is 'oop north'. This can happen anywhere in the world, except in 'The North'.

The true North is effectively defined then as the point where 'true northerners's stop grumbling about how much better it would be if they were up north because, in their heads they are already there.

Finally, you can cut through all the above by remembering the central tenet of northernness, 'It's grim oop north'. In other words, if it's grim, it's probably The North.

I do laugh at those who think Oxford is in the South, it’s in the Midlands...

Isn't it just where the working class live?

Did you check your road atlas there?

Probably used a map on the internet as we are no longer in 1982.

If it’s grim oop North then the North is this narrow corridor

[IMG] [/IMG]

In case you are having problems digesting what the article actually says..the village mentioned much further south would only lay claim to being the centre of the UK ..if Scotland became an independent country ( therefore not part of the UK)..

What on earth are you on about? Meriden claims to be the centre of England, not the UK. Dunsop Bridge claims to be the centre of the GB, and the OS agrees (actually a couple of miles down the road I think).

M62 is not a bad line but deviate south a bit because Sheffield is definitely in the North.

But south of that is not South. It's Midlands.

I'm from the Wirral and t'lass is from Manchester. She always says she's northern and I'm just posh, while I maintain I'm every bit as northern as she.

Is she right?.😄

I put the line above Sheffield as imo Sheffield isn’t (that) grim

I live in the west though lots of people who don't live here think it's the north. I have to travel north east to get to the north.If I travel east north east I can get to the north east. I can travel south to where I was born in the south west but if I go to far south I end up in the north again.

Easier to define the south as that area below a perceived line, after which, there's not really anything interesting? just south of peak district I'd say.

Anything south of the A66 is Southern

@Houns spot on, the so called Grim North is just a buffer zone to keep the southerners out by making them think it's all like that

Apparently Mischief Night is only "celebrated" in the north, so one definition would be that if you get a brick through your window, boot polish on your door handle, dog poo through the letter box, or the street signs are swapped around, on some date around hallowe'en/bonfire night, then you live in the north (of England, presumably).

Errr ranos ..what the hell are you on about? ..I'm on about the village in Shropshire ..

Did  I say anything at all about Meriden ?

Please get it right before blindly jumping in ..😂

I flip it the other way around - too easy to think bottom up. No one ever had aspirations to be from the midlands. The midlands might as well be called the beigelands. All the best bits of England in terms of geography are in the north or south (though admittedly the south is a coast specialist and the countryside is not all that). So the north starts as soon as you can reasonably get away with it. I'd put Chesterfield and Stoke-on-Trent as the first English city/towns that can get away with being northern. Same the other direction with maybe Oxford the last city in latitude that can call itself southern. Luton is a hole, the midlands can have it and Gloucester/Cheltenham are collateral damage to ensure Luton is the correct side of the boarder. Norfolk is neither southern or from the midlands but is in fact its own culture/race entirely.

Manchester and Sheffield are definitely northern. It's silly that people in the NE think everyone else is southern.<span style="font-size: 0.8rem;">  It's a bit like someone who is 7ft tall refusing to accept that a 6ft 9 bloke is also tall.</span>

Southerners on the other hand tend to get nosebleeds after Stansted and complain about the North but rarely go there, if ever.