davieG Posted 12 January 2017 Posted 12 January 2017 Where does the north begin? It's a conversation most of us have probably had at one time and the answer often varies. Many southerners would probably argue that anywhere above the Watford Gap is classed as 'the north'. Others have vaguely said that Nottingham is on the border of the north-south divide. But now, thanks to the University of Sheffield, a detailed map – which you can view below - has been drawn which finally tries to answer where the fictional border is. The map splits Leicestershire in two, with Market Harborough, the city, Melton, Rutland and Charnwood all deemed as being in the south. However, Loughborough and Bosworth are over the border and both – apparently – are classed as the north. The line across the UK map lies above Gloucestershire, Warwickshire, Leicestershire and Lincolnshire. Interestingly, though, it runs below Worcestershire, Scunthorpe, Cleethorpes and Great Grimsby. Danny Dorling, former professor of Geography at the university, wrote: "The closer you look at it the more detail you see. "It weaves between fields and houses. "That such an exact line can be drawn is, of course, a fiction but it is also fair to say that moving from North to South is not that gradual an experience."
Mike Oxlong Posted 12 January 2017 Posted 12 January 2017 So the boffins have Worcester in the north and Lincoln in the south. And it isn't April 1st. Such an acutely diagonal line doesn't make much sense to me. Could only do so after a lot of pipe.
Voll Blau Posted 12 January 2017 Posted 12 January 2017 Load of shit. Never considered myself either growing up, a view confirmed by having lived in both the north and the south. In the south, I was viewed as a "northerner" for three years and, in the north I was a "southerner". Northern missus calls me a "southerner" when she wants to wind me up. Had to go down to Portsmouth for work the other week and locals were giving me "northerner" grief down there again. You can't win! According to that map, I'm from below the line but if you held a gun to my head, I'd say I've got more in common with northerners as do most Leicestershire folk.
pSinatra Posted 12 January 2017 Posted 12 January 2017 Meriden is the traditional centre of England, so I can see why the line would pass through there, but not at the angle it does. There is no way Skeggy is in the south. The boffins have obviously never been.
Vacamion Posted 12 January 2017 Posted 12 January 2017 It's as if the concept of "the midlands" didn't exist.
Guest MattP Posted 12 January 2017 Posted 12 January 2017 I think we are far more Northern than Southern, but the reality is we are neither. I think there is more a divide between London/Home Counties and the rest of the country now than just being specifically "North and South".
Richard Posted 12 January 2017 Posted 12 January 2017 Can we stop pretending the midlands doesn't exist please?
Innovindil Posted 12 January 2017 Posted 12 January 2017 We need a "i feel like a midlander" added please.
David Guiza Posted 12 January 2017 Posted 12 January 2017 Well the line goes exactly through where I grew up in Anstey and where I live now in Kenilworth. So, as I had always suspected, I am both and neither, like Schrodinger midlands.
davieG Posted 12 January 2017 Author Posted 12 January 2017 1 minute ago, Innovindil said: We need a "i feel like a midlander" added please. no we don't this is just to reflect on the article which doesn't mention the midlands. It's not that serious or binding.
Vacamion Posted 12 January 2017 Posted 12 January 2017 FWIW, I've always felt more Coronation Street than Eastenders.
Izzy Posted 12 January 2017 Posted 12 January 2017 I was born in Rugby but raised in Leicestershire and lived there until my early 30's. My Mums from Notts and Dad from Lancs so I always felt more 'Northern' in my early years. Then moved down South 15 years ago and my kids were born here so I probably feel more Southern now (which I'm not particularly proud of). Folk down here definitely still see the Watford Gap as the 'cut off' so would mostly class people from Leicester as northern I think.
yorkie1999 Posted 12 January 2017 Posted 12 January 2017 19 minutes ago, pSinatra said: Meriden is the traditional centre of England, so I can see why the line would pass through there, but not at the angle it does. There is no way Skeggy is in the south. The boffins have obviously never been. Ordinance survey calculated the true centre of England is in fenny drayton Leicestershire which i have found really narks the Cov lot off. Not only we are the centre of the football world, we are also the centre of England.
Barky Posted 12 January 2017 Posted 12 January 2017 Half of my family is from the south and I've lived in and spent more time in the south than the North, so i went for southerner out of the choice offered. I'm a midlander though in reality. The line needs shifting a bit so it's at less of an angle but the angle idea is right.
bovril Posted 12 January 2017 Posted 12 January 2017 I was born in East Anglia which I always see as a sub-section of the midlands. Kings Lynn is actually further north than Leicester but culturally it always feels like it belongs to Southern England and when I go to Leicestershire I'm always seen as a southerner. I wonder if it's accent that makes the difference, certain accents are just associated with the North and South.
stripeyfox Posted 12 January 2017 Posted 12 January 2017 It's all relative. Years ago, whilst working down in Devon, I went to a Torquay v Exeter game. The Torquay fans were chanting "you dirty Northern bstards" at the Exeter fans!
Itsthejoeker Posted 12 January 2017 Posted 12 January 2017 I thought the North began just above the Watford gap?
stevelcfc Posted 12 January 2017 Posted 12 January 2017 Was this map drawn by the gibbons at the FA who split the teams into North/South for the Checktarade pot?
Finnaldo Posted 12 January 2017 Posted 12 January 2017 Neither, both are a set of grease monkeys. It's the Midlands man
Guest Sharpe's Fox Posted 12 January 2017 Posted 12 January 2017 It says the map makes Loughborough in the north and I've always considered myself more northern than southern so it checks out imo
Great Boos Up Posted 12 January 2017 Posted 12 January 2017 So now I'm driving from the south down the M69 to Coventry which is T'up North. People get degrees for doing this.
BigFoxForYou Posted 12 January 2017 Posted 12 January 2017 I'd say midlander. When I went to the Middlesbrough game and was drinking at the counting house I couldn't understand a word and I was thinking "Christ what a bunch of northern monkeys", but then when I talk to people at work who are from Surrey or wherever I'm thinking "Christ what a posh twat". I guess I'm more into pie and mash than michelin star asian fusion with saffron foams, tweils and the like, so maybe I'm northern lite? Who gives a shit.
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