The North

[ckn]

So, where does “The North” starts for you?

Driving up the A1 yesterday, we got to the Wakefield junction, last main one before M62, and I said “ahh, the north” to the wife.  She said “I thought Doncaster was in the north?”

I was thinking about it and I consider Doncaster as the demilitarised zone for “the North”, keeping those pesky midlanders and southerners out but really still the “north”.

So, for me, my built-in perception is that the southern border of “the North” is almost a straight line from Grimsby to the south of Sheffield to Chester.

What about you?

[Kayakman]

2 minutes ago, ckn said:

So, where does “The North” starts for you?

Driving up the A1 yesterday, we got to the Wakefield junction, last main one before M62, and I said “ahh, the north” to the wife.  She said “I thought Doncaster was in the north?”

I was thinking about it and I consider Doncaster as the demilitarised zone for “the North”, keeping those pesky midlanders and southerners out but really still the “north”.

So, for me, my built-in perception is that the southern border of “the North” is almost a straight line from Grimsby to the south of Sheffield to Chester.

What about you?

Where I live the North begins when you look out over the vast expanse on a nice night and there are no lights whatsoever....the beginning of the North!

[Bearman]

50 minutes ago, ckn said:

So, where does “The North” starts for you?

Driving up the A1 yesterday, we got to the Wakefield junction, last main one before M62, and I said “ahh, the north” to the wife.  She said “I thought Doncaster was in the north?”

I was thinking about it and I consider Doncaster as the demilitarised zone for “the North”, keeping those pesky midlanders and southerners out but really still the “north”.

So, for me, my built-in perception is that the southern border of “the North” is almost a straight line from Grimsby to the south of Sheffield to Chester.

What about you?

For me it is crossing the Thelwell Viaduct (Manchester Ship Canal) on the M6.

I know there is another North South motorway to the East but as it doesn't go anywhere worthwhile it can be discounted.

[GeordieSaint]

I'd suggest for the old county borders of Lancashire, Yorkshire, Cumberland, Westmorland and Northumberland make up the north.

[gingerjon]

4 minutes ago, GeordieSaint said:

I'd suggest for the old county borders of Lancashire, Yorkshire, Cumberland, Westmorland and Northumberland make up the north.

I am very happy to exclude Durham for being uppity and Cheshire for being southerners.

[Bob8]

I fly south to the North. It is still The North, obvs.

[ckn]

9 minutes ago, gingerjon said:

I am very happy to exclude Durham for being uppity and Cheshire for being southerners.

Richmond. Geographically too far north by about 250 miles.

[graveyard johnny]

it used to be driving past the cooling towers at the side of the m1 near Sheffield but now they are gone so prob meadowhall 

[Northern Eel]

As a Yorkshire lad living in North Nottinghamshire, I would say we are sat right on the border of 'The North' of England.

We're categorized as East Midlands, yet, two miles up the road, we have Doncaster post codes, but still in Nottinghamshire County Council wards. For anyone who knows the A1, we are close to the Clumber Park turn off. Worksop, a nearby town, displays every trait of a former South Yorkshire pit town. Recently, there were moves to consider merging the Bassetlaw District it serves with an enlarged Sheffield Super- District. Those plans were scuppered pretty quickly.

I think where the M18 meets both the A1 and the M1, it is fair to suggest that The North has most definitely begun!

[Futtocks]

24 minutes ago, ckn said:

Richmond. Geographically too far north by about 250 miles.

You might want to specify which Richmond.  

[Futtocks]

I was driven up and down the country many times as a kid, and when you saw your first slagheap by the A1, that was it for me. The next landmark (heading North at least) was Ferrybridge, because that meant we were less than an hour from home.

[Wiltshire Rhino]

29 minutes ago, graveyard johnny said:

it used to be driving past the cooling towers at the side of the m1 near Sheffield but now they are gone so prob meadowhall 

When I used to drive north to visit my brother at Leeds University, I used to consider the towers as the start of the north too. 

[damp squib]

If you're from London I believe "The North" starts somewhere around Watford.

[silverback]

just after towers for me,we used to race at northampton every other week and it was a nice 2 hour run with trailor on back from batley, but my lads always said you knew it were start a yorkshire and the north with the size/length a barnsley M1 turnoff sliproad.

[ckn]

21 minutes ago, Futtocks said:

You might want to specify which Richmond.  

Both  

[Kayakman]

21 minutes ago, Futtocks said:

I was driven up and down the country many times as a kid, and when you saw your first slagheap by the A1, that was it for me. The next landmark (heading North at least) was Ferrybridge, because that meant we were less than an hour from home.

For most people from Toronto heading North to the cottage the actually demarcation line is a large burger joint on the 400 Highway called Webers....used to be the last place you could get a burger and fries for a long time...Ohh, the allure of fine Canadian culture (and some say we don't have alot to share with the world!).

[DavidM]

Going to barrow is the south

[GeordieSaint]

1 hour ago, gingerjon said:

I am very happy to exclude Durham for being uppity and Cheshire for being southerners.

Ooops... best hand back by geography degree certificate!  

[Northern Eel]

1 hour ago, Futtocks said:

I was driven up and down the country many times as a kid, and when you saw your first slagheap by the A1, that was it for me. The next landmark (heading North at least) was Ferrybridge, because that meant we were less than an hour from home.

I can't tell you how hard I am resisting the temptation.... 

[Farmduck]

Once you get past Gosford and the Central Coast and notice that most of the people still live in trees, you know you're in the Deep North.

Actually it's probably where the banana farms start.

[Oxford]

3 hours ago, ckn said:

So, where does “The North” starts for you?

In your head, son, in your head!

[ckn]

3 minutes ago, Oxford said:

In your head, son, in your head!

Probably the best answer so far!

[DavidM]

https://www.standard.co.uk/news/uk/this-is-where-the-north-of-england-officially-starts-according-to-new-research-a3684281.html

[Griff9of13]

For me driving home when working darn sarf it was the Cheshire sign on the M6 just north of the A500 turn off.

[Trojan]

We were talking about this yesterday. The weather forecast said the North, then the Far North.  In terms of the weather, is the "north" England or is the "north" Scotland? In that case where does that leave us in Yorkshire?  I used to work with a Geordie, his opinion was that Yorkshire and Lancashire were "the midlands" and it all used to belong to Northumberland anyway.

I reckon "the north" is an attitude of mind.  Robert Lindsay, born in Ilkeston so very much East Midlands, considers himself a northerner. Certainly as far as speech goes, there's not that much difference between the way we speak in West Yorkshire, Lancashire (inc. Manchester) and Notts and Derby.  The great north country comedian Frank Randel, born in Aspul, was not allowed south of Nottingham on the old Music Hall circuit, in the belief that they wouldn't be able to understand him.  Even in the 60's when the film Kes was first released, it was not shown south of Nottingham until someone made a fuss.

In the days when the national dailies had a Manchester edition, it was circulated not just in "the North" but also in Notts and Derbys. in the summer of 1991 I was working in Southwell, and the lads in the canteen were just as interested in Offiah's move to Wigan as they were in the soccer stories in the paper.  The end of the Manchester edition has certainly done TGG no favours.

So who knows where "the North" is.