119-512: The Northern Hub was a rail upgrade programme between 2009 and 2020 in Northern England to improve and increase train services and reduce journey times between its major cities and towns, by electrifying lines and removing a major rail bottleneck in Manchester . It was predicted to stimulate economic growth in the region. The project had several elements but the prime objective was to eradicate
238-603: A Celtic culture, and had its own Celtic language, Cumbric , spoken predominately in Cumbria until around the 12th century. Parts of the north and east of England were subject to Danish control (the Danelaw ) during the Viking Age , but the northern part of the old Anglo-Saxon kingdom of Northumbria remained under Anglo-Saxon control. Under the Vikings, monasteries were largely wiped out, and
357-754: A Knave (1968). There are no recognised minority languages in Northern England, although the Northumbrian Language Society campaigns to have the Northumbrian dialect recognised as a separate language. It is possible that traces of now-extinct Brythonic Celtic languages from the region survive in some rural areas in the Yan Tan Tethera counting systems traditionally used by shepherds. Contact between English and immigrant languages has given rise to new accents and dialects. For instance,
476-728: A Northern dialect area, some correspond the area north of a line that begins at the Humber estuary and runs up the River Wharfe and across to the River Lune in north Lancashire. This area corresponds roughly to the sprachraum of the Old English Northumbrian dialect , although the linguistic elements that defined this area in the past, such as the use of doon instead of down and substitution of an ang sound in words that end - ong ( lang instead of long ), are now prevalent only in
595-631: A UK or Irish identity. 90.5% of the population described themselves as white, compared to an England and Wales average of 85.9%; other ethnicities represented include Pakistani (2.9%), Indian (1.3%), Black (1.3%), Chinese (0.6%) and Bangladeshi (0.5%). The broad averages hide significant variation within the region: Allerdale and Redcar and Cleveland had a greater percentage of the population identifying as White British (97.6% each) than any other district in England and Wales, while Manchester (66.5%), Bradford (67.4%) and Blackburn with Darwen (69.1%) had among
714-581: A distinctive coarse-grained rock used to make millstones , is widespread in the Pennines, and the variety of other rock types is reflected in the architecture of the region, such as the bright red sandstone seen in buildings in Chester , the cream-buff Yorkstone and the distinctive purple Doddington sandstone. These sandstones also mean that apart from the east coast, most of Northern England has very soft water , and this has influenced not just industry, but even
833-674: A further four trains per hour through the Castlefield corridor, however this was officially cancelled in May 2023. The refurbishment of Manchester Victoria station was completed in October 2015, this allowed it to become an east-west rail interchange and through station between Liverpool and Leeds. Trains from North-East England to Manchester Airport were planned to use the £85 million Ordsall Chord , between Manchester Victoria and Manchester Oxford Road , to access Piccadilly and would have continue to
952-507: A lineage of female realist writers from the North that later included Winifred Holtby , Catherine Cookson , Beryl Bainbridge and Jeanette Winterson . Many of the angry young men of post-war literature were Northern, and working-class life in the face of deindustrialisation is depicted in novels such as Room at the Top (1959), Billy Liar (1959), This Sporting Life (1960) and A Kestrel for
1071-563: A major target for Luftwaffe attacks during the Second World War . The Blitz of 1940–1941 saw major raids on Barrow-in-Furness , Hull , Leeds , Manchester , Merseyside , Newcastle and Sheffield with thousands killed and significant damage done. Liverpool, a vital port for supplies from North America, was especially hard hit – the city was the most bombed in the UK outside London and Hull, with around 4,000 deaths across Merseyside and most of
1190-845: A more modern occupation known as the Creswellian culture around 12,000 years ago. Kirkwell Cave in Lower Allithwaite , Cumbria shows signs of the Federmesser culture of the Paleolithic , and was inhabited some time between 13,400 and 12,800 years ago. Significant settlement appears to have begun in the Mesolithic era, with Star Carr in North Yorkshire generally considered the most significant monument of this era. The Star Carr site includes Britain's oldest known house, from around 9000 BC, and
1309-495: A new service running between Newcastle and Liverpool Lime Street , calling at Manchester Victoria was announced, and launched as part of the Northern Hub plan. When the franchise was re-tendered, FirstGroup and Keolis tendered separately. The franchise was awarded solely to FirstGroup, which traded as TransPennine Express . The TransPennine Express brand was launched in the early 1990s by British Rail , and maintained by
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#17330851213511428-488: A result of timetable changes in May 2014, five trains per hour instead of four operated on the core route between Manchester and Leeds on the Huddersfield Line . This was made up of the following services: Most services between Manchester Airport and Newcastle ran early morning/late evenings. Under Arriva Trains Northern , Newcastle services continued to Sunderland . When First TransPennine Express first took over
1547-460: A top speed of 100 miles per hour (160 km/h) with greater acceleration from stations. Network Rail has published target times from Manchester to be achieved after the completion of the Northern Hub projects. Network Rail's original aim was for all schemes - including electrification, station upgrades and track work - to be completed by the end of 2018, though this timescale will not be met for
1666-452: A £2.3 million upgrade before the reinstatement of a direct rail service to Victoria via the re-opened Todmorden Curve in 2015. Dore and Totley railway station will get a second platform and a footbridge for access. The single track will be doubled. Northern Hub plans include: Electrification for rail lines out of Manchester is underway or has been approved. While independent of the Northern Hub scheme, they complement it. Northern Hub
1785-588: Is a grouping of three statistical regions : the North East , the North West , and Yorkshire and the Humber . These had a combined population of 15.5 million at the 2021 census , an area of 37,331 km (14,414 square miles) and 17 cities . Northern England is culturally and economically distinct from both the Midlands and Southern England . The area's northern boundary is the border with Scotland , its western
1904-597: Is an increase from the 14,933,000 (and 6,364,000 households) counted in the 2011 census, and itself a growth of 5.1% from 2001. This means that Northerners comprise 28% of the English population and 24% of the UK population. Taken overall, 8% of the population of Northern England were born overseas (3% from the European Union including Ireland and 5% from elsewhere), substantially less than the England and Wales average of 13%, and 5% define their nationality as something other than
2023-606: Is expected most TransPennine Express services will pass through Victoria after the May 2018 timetable change after the opening of the Ordsall Chord in December 2017. Major stations will be improved to include new platforms, station layout re-configuration and redevelopment. Most improvements will be in Manchester aimed at alleviating bottlenecks that delay passing services and restricts routes. Victoria station will be re-configured as
2142-475: Is expected to deliver the following improvements: As part of the Northern Hub scheme; electrification of key lines will enable faster electric trains increasing capacity and lowering journey times. Typically, diesel trains that operated between Manchester and Liverpool such as the Class 142 and Class 156 had a maximum speed limit of 75 miles per hour (121 km/h). Following electrification, Class 319 trains reach
2261-597: Is reflected in its literature. On the one hand, the wild moors and lakes have inspired generations of Romantic authors: the poetry of William Wordsworth and the novels of the Brontë sisters are perhaps the most famous examples of writing inspired by these elemental forces. Classics of children's literature such as The Railway Children (1906), The Secret Garden (1911) and Swallows and Amazons (1930) portray these largely untouched landscapes as worlds of adventure and transformation where their protagonists can break free of
2380-923: The Chesterfield , North East Derbyshire , Bolsover , and Derbyshire Dales districts have joined with districts of South Yorkshire to form the Sheffield City Region , along with the Bassetlaw District of Nottinghamshire, although for all other purposes these districts still remain in their respective East Midlands counties. Some parts of northern Derbyshire (including High Peak), Shropshire and Staffordshire are served by BBC North West . Some areas of Derbyshire and Nottinghamshire are served by BBC Yorkshire (formerly BBC North), whilst eastern Yorkshire shares its BBC region with Lincolnshire and small parts of Nottinghamshire and north west Norfolk . The historic part of Lincolnshire known as Lindsey (in essence
2499-557: The Department for Transport awarded First TransPennine Express a contract extension until March 2015. Included was a clause to allow the end date to be brought forward to April 2014 to coincide with the end-date of the Northern Rail franchise. In March 2013, the Secretary of State for Transport announced the franchise would again be extended until 1 April 2016. Despite this announcement,
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#17330851213512618-625: The Great Depression the outer British unemployment rate was 16.1% and the Southern rate was less than half that at 7.1%. The weakening economy and interwar unemployment caused several episodes of social unrest in the region, including the 1926 general strike and the Jarrow March . The Great Depression highlighted the weakness of Northern England's specialised economy: as world trade declined, demand for ships, steel, coal and textiles all fell. For
2737-677: The High Peak borough of Derbyshire are included in the Greater Manchester Built-Up Area , as villages and hamlets there such as Tintwistle, Crowden and Woodhead were formerly in Cheshire before local government boundary changes in 1974, due to their close proximity to the city of Manchester , and before this the borough was considered to be part of the Greater Manchester Statutory City Region . More recently,
2856-506: The Irish Sea and a short border with Wales , and its eastern the North Sea . Its southern border is often debated, and there has been controversy in defining what geographies or cultures precisely constitute the 'North of England' — if, indeed, it exists as a coherent entity at all. Many Industrial Revolution innovations began in Northern England, and its cities were the crucibles of many of
2975-455: The Liverpool to Manchester line southern route , via Warrington Central and Manchester Piccadilly , to the more direct electrified Liverpool to Manchester northern route , via Newton-le-Willows and Manchester Victoria; this provides a fast route to and through Manchester. The original proposals included an additional two through platforms at Manchester Piccadilly station which would have allowed
3094-533: The Norman Conquest , and to put an end to the rebellion, William ordered the Harrying of the North . In the winter of 1069–1070, towns, villages and farms were systematically destroyed across much of Yorkshire as well as northern Lancashire and County Durham. The region was gripped by famine and much of Northern England was deserted. Chroniclers at the time reported a hundred thousand deaths – modern estimates place
3213-555: The North Sea coastline. The geography of the North has been heavily shaped by the ice sheets of the Pleistocene era, which often reached as far south as the Midlands. Glaciers carved deep, craggy valleys in the central uplands, and, when they melted, deposited large quantities of fluvio-glacial material in lowland areas like the Cheshire and Solway Plains . On the eastern side of
3332-611: The North of England , is a region that forms the northern part of England and mainly corresponds to the historic counties of Cheshire , Cumberland , Durham , Lancashire , Northumberland , Westmorland and Yorkshire . The region also coincides with the medieval era borders of Anglian Northumbria , the Anglo-Scandinavian Kingdom of Jorvik , and the Brythonic Celtic Hen Ogledd kingdoms . The North
3451-619: The Personal Rule period. By the time war broke out in 1642, King Charles had moved his court to York, and Northern England was to become a major base of the Royalist forces until they were routed at the Battle of Marston Moor . At the beginning of the Industrial Revolution , Northern England had plentiful coal and water power while the poor agriculture in the uplands meant that labour in
3570-681: The River Mersey (the line between the Humber and Mersey estuaries being a common boundary) and River Trent . The Isle of Man is occasionally included in broad geographical definitions of "the North" (for example, by the Survey of English Dialects , VisitBritain and BBC North West ), although it is politically and culturally distinct from England. Some areas of Derbyshire , Lincolnshire , Nottinghamshire and Staffordshire have northern characteristics and include satellites of northern cities. Towns in
3689-613: The Styal Line , Manchester to Preston Line , West Coast Main Line , Furness Line and Windermere Branch Line . These services were formerly operated by First North Western with the exception of the Scottish routes, which were previously operated by Virgin CrossCountry from Manchester Piccadilly . Following timetable changes in May 2014 the following services operated: With the completion of
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3808-460: The Wirral Peninsula to Doncaster , taking in the cities of Liverpool , Manchester , Leeds , and Sheffield , with a population of at least 7.6 million. Analysis by The Northern Way in 2006 found that 90% of the population of the North lived in and around: Liverpool , Central Lancashire , Manchester , Sheffield , Leeds , Hull and Humber Ports , Tees Valley and Tyne and Wear . At
3927-478: The ice ages , Northern England was buried under ice sheets, and little evidence remains of habitation – either because the climate made the area uninhabitable, or because glaciation destroyed most evidence of human activity. The northernmost cave art in Europe is found at Creswell Crags in northern Derbyshire, near modern-day Sheffield, which shows signs of Neanderthal inhabitation 50 to 60 thousand years ago, and of
4046-779: The local Celtic languages . They are a dialectal continuum , middle areas that have a crossover between varieties spoken, around the North. Traditional dialectal areas are defined by their historic county or combined historic counties; including Cumbrian (Cumberland and Westmorland), Lancastrian (Lancashire), Northumbrian (Northumberland and Durham) and Tyke (Yorkshire). During the Industrial Revolution urban areas gained some or further distinction from traditional dialects; such as areas Mackem (Wearside), Mancunian (Manchester), Pitmatic (Great Northern Coalfield), Geordie (Tyneside), Smoggie (Teesside), Scouse (Liverpool) and around Hull . Linguists have attempted to define
4165-711: The 1640 Treaty of Ripon King Charles I was forced to temporarily cede Northumberland and County Durham to the Scots and pay to keep the Scottish armies there. To raise enough funds and ratify the final peace treaty, Charles had to call what became the Long Parliament , beginning the process that led to the First English Civil War . In 1641, the Long Parliament abolished the Council of the North for perceived abuses during
4284-457: The 1950s reshaped Northern England once more, and there are now significant populations from the Indian subcontinent in towns and cities such as Bradford, Leeds, Preston and Sheffield. Deindustrialisation continued and unemployment gradually increased during the 1970s, but accelerated during the government of Margaret Thatcher , who chose not to encourage growth in the North if it risked growth in
4403-512: The 2011 census, 86% of the Northern population lived in urban areas as defined by the Office for National Statistics , compared to 82% for England as a whole. Due to differing definitions and city limits , the list of largest towns and cities may be misleading. For example while Manchester is ranked fourth as a city, the greater urban area it leads ( Greater Manchester Built-up Area ) is the largest in
4522-654: The Brigantes made the Romans wary, and they were conquered in a war beginning in the 70s under the governorship of Quintus Petillius Cerialis . The Romans created the province of " Britannia Inferior " (Lower Britain) in the North, and it was ruled from the city of Eboracum (modern York ). Eboracum and Deva Victrix (modern Chester) were the main legionary bases in the region, with other smaller forts including Mamucium (Manchester) and Cataractonium ( Catterick ). Britannia Inferior extended as far north as Hadrian's Wall , which
4641-476: The British railway infrastructure company Network Rail for period 7 of the financial year 2013/14 were down on the same period last year at 87.8% ( PPM ) and MAA up to 12 October 2013 stood at 90.5%. First TransPennine Express inherited a fleet of two- and three-car Class 158 Express Sprinter trains from Arriva Trains Northern . It also operated Class 175 Coradias on hire from Arriva Trains Wales . One of
4760-487: The Class 185s having a higher passenger capacity than two-car Class 158s, passengers were frequently left behind due to severe overcrowding around peak times. During 2007, a report produced by Transport for Greater Manchester stated that projected passenger numbers would likely necessitate the introduction of 100–125 mph (161–201 km/h) 8-car trains by 2014. At one point, it was planned to all services to be operated by
4879-483: The Lake District receive over 3,200 mm (130 in). Lowland regions in the more southern parts of Northern England (such as Cheshire and South Yorkshire) are the warmest with average maximum July temperatures of over 21 °C (70 °F): the highest points in the Pennines and Lake District reach only 17 °C (63 °F). The North has a reputation for cloud and fog – with the west's high average rainfall and
Northern Hub - Misplaced Pages Continue
4998-545: The North East and Cumbria, excluding the entirety, or at least the majority, of Lancashire and Yorkshire. Some settlements, including Sheffield, located in the far south of what would typically be defined as "the North", have been referred to as being in the " North Midlands " as opposed to "the North". Personal definitions of the North vary greatly. When asked to draw a dividing line between North and South, Southerners tend to draw this line further south than Northerners do. From
5117-533: The North East) or yous (common in areas with historical Irish communities). Many dialects use me as a possessive ("me car") and some treat us likewise ("us cars") or use the alternative wor ("wor cars"). Possessive pronouns are also used to mark the names of relatives in speech (for example, a relative called Joan would be referred to as "our Joan" in conversation). With urbanisation, distinctive urban accents have arisen which often differ greatly from
5236-589: The North emigrated, chiefly to the US, Canada, South Africa, Australia and New Zealand. The First World War was the turning point for the economy of Northern England. In the interwar years , the Northern economy began to be eclipsed by the South – in 1913–1914, unemployment in "outer Britain" (the North, plus Scotland and Wales) was 2.6% while the rate in Southern England was more than double that at 5.5%, but in 1937 during
5355-537: The North starts somewhere in North Yorkshire around the River Tees – the Yorkshire poet Simon Armitage suggests Thirsk , Northallerton or Richmond – and does not include cities like Manchester and Leeds , nor the majority of Yorkshire. Northern England is not a homogeneous unit, and some have entirely rejected the idea that the North exists as a coherent entity, claiming that considerable cultural differences across
5474-420: The North' and ' High Speed 3 '. In November 2015 Transport for the North (TfN) proposed a four-track trans-Pennine railway line that would link with the HS2 line to London, and a new Liverpool-Manchester airport-Manchester railway line also linked to HS2. A feasibility study of the west to east rail line and its branches into HS2 will be published in March 2016. Northern England Northern England , or
5593-406: The North. The Lake District includes England's highest peak, Scafell Pike , which rises to 978 m (3,209 ft), its largest lake, Windermere , and its deepest lake, Wastwater . Northern England is one of the most treeless areas in Europe, and to combat this the government plans to plant over 50 million trees in a new Northern Forest . Uniquely for such a large urban belt in Europe,
5712-401: The Northern England hub for east-west rail services. Once voted the worst station in the United Kingdom, it has received a £44 million transformation including a £20 million roof covering the concourse and four platforms. At Manchester Airport station a new platform was built creating extra capacity and access for direct services from other cities in Northern England. Construction of
5831-470: The Northern franchise and transfer the Nottingham to Liverpool portion of the Norwich to Liverpool service operated by East Midlands Trains to the TransPennine franchise. During August 2014, the DfT announced that FirstGroup , Keolis / Go-Ahead and Stagecoach had been shortlisted to bid for the next franchise. On 9 December 2015, FirstGroup was awarded the franchise in its own right with TransPennine Express taking over on 1 April 2016. As
5950-405: The North–South divide strengthened the distinct Northern English identity, which, despite regeneration in some of the major cities, remains to this day. The region saw several IRA attacks during the Troubles , including the M62 coach bombing , the Warrington bomb attacks and the 1992 and 1996 Manchester bombings . The latter was the largest bomb detonation in Great Britain since the end of
6069-404: The Norwegian king Harald Hardrada by the Anglo-Saxon Harold Godwinson at the Battle of Stamford Bridge near York marked the beginning of the end of Viking rule in England, and the almost immediate defeat of Godwinson at the hands of the Norman William the Conqueror at the Battle of Hastings was in turn the overthrow of the Anglo-Saxon order. The Northumbrian and Danish aristocracy resisted
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#17330851213516188-427: The Ordsall Chord, platform expansion at Manchester Airport and introduction of 138 new purpose-built trains for Northern and TransPennine Express. It has been superseded by the Great North Rail Project. Further projects included High Speed 3 which proposed an upgraded trans-Pennine railway line. A feasibility study of the west to east rail line and its branches into HS2 will be published in March 2016. The Northern Hub
6307-436: The Pennines, a former glacial lake forms the Humberhead Levels : a large area of fenland which drains into the Humber and which is very fertile and productive farmland. Much of the mountainous upland remains undeveloped, and of the ten national parks in England , five – the Peak District, the Lake District, the North York Moors, the Yorkshire Dales , and Northumberland National Park – are located partly or entirely in
6426-419: The Romans as Brigantia . Other tribes mentioned in ancient histories, which may have been part of the Brigantes or separate nations, are the Carvetii of modern-day Cumbria and the Parisi of east Yorkshire. The Brigantes allied with the Roman Empire during the Roman conquest of Britain : Tacitus records that they handed the resistance leader Caratacus over to the Empire in 51. Power struggles within
6545-430: The Roses , including the decisive Battle of Wakefield , although the modern-day conception of the war as a conflict between Lancashire and Yorkshire is anachronistic – Lancastrians recruited from across Northern England, including Yorkshire, even requiring mercenaries from Scotland and France , while the Yorkists drew most of their power from Southern England, Wales and Ireland. The Anglo-Scottish Wars also touched
6664-419: The Second World War, and damaged or destroyed much of central Manchester. The attack led to Manchester's ageing infrastructure being rebuilt and modernised, sparking the regeneration of the city and making it a leading example of post-industrial redevelopment followed by other cities in the region and beyond. At the 2021 census , Northern England had a population of 15,550,000, in 6,659,700 households. This
6783-403: The South. The era saw the 1984–85 miners' strike , which brought hardship for many Northern mining towns. Northern metropolitan county councils, which were Labour strongholds often with very left-wing leadership (such as Militant-dominated Liverpool and the so-called " People's Republic of South Yorkshire "), had high-profile conflicts with the national government. The increasing awareness of
6902-419: The Southern perspective, Northern England is sometimes defined jokingly as the area north of the Watford Gap between Northampton and Leicester – a definition which would include much of the Midlands . Various cities and towns have been described as or promoted themselves as the "gateway to the North", including Crewe , Stoke-on-Trent , and Sheffield . For some in the northernmost reaches of England,
7021-457: The Tees, Deira corresponded roughly to the eastern half of modern-day Yorkshire, Rheged to Cumbria, and Elmet to the western-half of Yorkshire. Bernicia and Deira were first united as Northumbria by Aethelfrith , a king of Bernicia who conquered Deira around the year 604. Northumbria then saw a Golden Age in cultural, scholarly and monastic activity, centred on Lindisfarne and aided by Irish monks. The north-west of England retains vestiges of
7140-423: The Transpennine electrification. The historic first passenger railway station, Manchester Liverpool Road , a Grade I listed building , is threatened by the plan. After this project is completed, it will no longer be possible to run trains into or out of the station. The Manchester Museum of Science and Industry management objected to the scheme and an inquiry was set up in 2014 to investigate potential damage to
7259-527: The UK's potash . Northern England has a cool, wet oceanic climate with small areas of subpolar oceanic climate in the uplands. Averaged across the entire region, Northern England temperature range and sunshine duration is similar to the UK average and it sees substantially less rainfall than Scotland or Wales. It is cooler, wetter and cloudier than England as a whole, containing both England's coldest ( Cross Fell ) and rainiest point ( Seathwaite Fell ). These averages disguise considerable variation across
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#17330851213517378-422: The Yorkshire-based Pilgrimage of Grace , all against Henry VIII . His daughter Elizabeth I faced another Catholic rebellion, the Rising of the North . The region would become the centre of recusancy as prominent Catholic families in Cumbria, Lancashire and Yorkshire refused to convert to Protestantism. Royal power over the region was exercised through the Council of the North at King's Manor , York, which
7497-650: The absence of the FOOT – STRUT split (so put and putt are homophones ), the reduction of the definite article the to a glottal stop (usually represented in writing as t ' or occasionally th ' , although it is often not pronounced as a /t/ sound) or its total elision , and the T-to-R rule that leads to the pronunciation of t as a rhotic consonant in phrases like get up ( [ɡɛɹ ʊp] ). The pronouns thou and thee survive in some Northern English dialects, although these are dying out outside very rural areas, and many dialects have an informal second-person plural pronoun: either ye (common in
7616-450: The airport without reversing at Piccadilly. The Manchester Hub Study, outlining the project, was released by Network Rail in February 2010. Costs were estimated at £530 million, subsequently reassessed to £560 million. Chancellor George Osborne approved expenditure of £85 million for the Ordsall Chord in his budget on 23 March 2011 and other aspects of the scheme were reviewed to ensure best value. A further £130 million
7735-420: The area overwhelm any similarities. The Pennines , an upland range sometimes referred to as "the backbone of England" run through most of the area defined as northern England, which stretches from the Tyne Gap to the Peak District . Other uplands in the North include the Lake District with England's highest mountains, the Cheviot Hills adjoining the border with Scotland, and the North York Moors near
7854-484: The area was cheap. Mining and milling, which had been practised on a small scale in the area for generations, began to grow and centralise. The boom in industrial textile manufacture is sometimes attributed to the damp climate and soft water making it easier to wash and work fibres, although the success of Northern fabric mills has no single clear source. Readily available coal and the discovery of large iron deposits in Cumbria and Cleveland allowed ironmaking and, with
7973-409: The blends of tea enjoyed in the region. Rich deposits of iron ore are found in Cumbria and the North East, and fluorspar and baryte are also plentiful in northern parts of the Pennines. Salt mining in Cheshire has a long history, and both remaining rock salt mines in Great Britain are in the North: Winsford Mine in Cheshire and Boulby Mine in North Yorkshire, which also produces half of
8092-428: The booming industrial cities, some were escaping poverty, some were servants or slaves, some were sailors who chose to settle in the port towns, some were Jews fleeing pogroms on the continent, and some were migrants originally stranded at Liverpool after attempting to catch an onwards ship to the United States or to colonies of the British Empire . At the same time, hundreds of thousands from depressed rural areas of
8211-496: The bottleneck in Manchester and allow trains to travel through the city at speed without stopping. The project was announced as the Manchester Hub in 2009. The project's steering partnership involved Network Rail , Deutsche Bahn , First TransPennine Express , Northern Rail , East Midlands Trains , CrossCountry , Freightliner , the Department for Transport , Transport for Greater Manchester and Merseytravel . Services from Liverpool to Leeds and beyond were diverted from
8330-522: The cities in this region are all as recent as the Industrial Revolution – most of them previously scattered villages. Vast urban areas have emerged along the coasts and rivers, and they run almost contiguously into each other in places. Near the east coast, trade fuelled the growth of major ports and settlements ( Kingston upon Hull , Newcastle upon Tyne , , Middlesbrough and Sunderland ) to create multiple urban areas. Inland needs of trade and industry produced an almost continuous urbanisation from
8449-418: The city centre destroyed. Hull, the worst bombed city outside of London suffered damage to 98% of all buildings, the highest percentage of any town or city. The rebuilding that followed, and the simultaneous slum clearance that saw whole neighbourhoods demolished and rebuilt, transformed the faces of Northern cities. Immigration from the " New Commonwealth ", especially Pakistan and Bangladesh , starting in
8568-569: The conquest, which likely populated much of the desolated regions of Cumbria, and which was persistent enough that the town of Beverley in the East Riding of Yorkshire still had an ethnic enclave called Flemingate in the thirteenth century. During the Anarchy , Scotland invaded Northern England and took much of the land north of the Tees . In the 1139 peace treaty that followed, Prince Henry of Scotland
8687-718: The desert". Monastic orders such as the Cistercians became significant players in the economy of Northern England – the Cistercian Fountains Abbey in North Yorkshire became the largest and richest of the Northern abbeys, and would remain so until the Dissolution of the Monasteries . Other Cistercian abbeys are at Rievaulx , Kirkstall and Byland . The 7th-century Whitby Abbey was Benedictine and Bolton Abbey , Augustinian . A significant Flemish immigration followed
8806-491: The discovery of grave goods in Northern churchyards suggests that Norse funeral rites replaced Christian ones for a time. Viking control of certain areas, particularly around Yorkshire, is recalled in the etymology of many place names : the thorpe in town names such as Cleethorpes and Scunthorpe , the kirk in Kirklees and Ormskirk and the by of Whitby and Grimsby all have Norse roots. The 1066 defeat of
8925-686: The earliest evidence of carpentry in the form of a carved tree trunk from 11000 BC. The Lincolnshire and Yorkshire Wolds around the Humber Estuary were settled and farmed in the Bronze Age , and the Ferriby Boats – one of the best-preserved finds of the era – were discovered near Hull in 1937. In the more mountainous regions of the Peak District, hillforts were the main Bronze Age settlement and
9044-472: The east coast experiences a distinctive sea fret . Smog in urban areas was prevalent from the beginning of the Industrial Revolution; sunshine duration has increased in urban areas in recent years with the Clean Air Act 1956 and the area's heavy industry in decline. The English spoken today in the North has been shaped by the area's history, and some dialects retain features inherited from Old Norse and
9163-524: The extent of the historical Northumbria , which excludes Cheshire and northern Lincolnshire, though the latter formed the Kingdom of Lindsey, which was periodically under Northumbrian rule. The Redcliffe-Maud Report (1969) proposed that southern Cheshire be grouped with north Staffordshire as part of a West Midlands province as opposed to a North West England one. Occasionally, "Northern England" may be used to describe England's northernmost reaches only, broadly
9282-592: The first stage of the North West electrification programme, the Scottish services were operated from 8 December 2013 by newly arrived Class 350 electric units and rerouted to stop at Wigan North Western after joining the West Coast Main Line close to Newton-le-Willows. Most stops at Bolton and Chorley were withdrawn as a result. With a number of peak services still operating via Bolton/Chorley or Bolton/Wigan North Western. Official performance figures released by
9401-623: The fourth platform began in February 2014 and it opened in Autumn 2015. Piccadilly's through platforms, 13 and 14, were to have been modernised and two through platforms (15 and 16) built over Fairfield Street to alleviate congestion. Oxford Road's platforms were to have been lengthened and a footbridge built. The Grade II listed timber grid-shell roof would have been incorporated into the new station design. The surrounding site could be redeveloped with office, residential and leisure space. These elements of
9520-600: The franchise it extended the Manchester to Hull service to Bridlington , a decision later reversed. In May 2014, an hourly service between Liverpool Lime Street and Newcastle Central was introduced. It ran non-stop between Liverpool and Manchester Victoria and onward to Newcastle via Leeds reducing journey times between Liverpool and Manchester by 15 minutes and Liverpool to Leeds by 25 minutes. An hourly service operated from Manchester Airport to Cleethorpes via Manchester Piccadilly, Stockport , Sheffield , Doncaster and Scunthorpe . TransPennine North West used sections of
9639-788: The historic structure. The Northern Hub may be merged into or superseded by a larger project being called High Speed 3 . David Higgins, chairman of the HS2, stated in March 2014 that the Northern Hub scheme is incremental and the benefits of the High Speed 2 will not be fully felt if rail links between Northern cities are not improved. In June 2014, George Osborne, Chancellor of the Exchequer stated his vision to see improved transport links between Liverpool, Manchester, Sheffield and Leeds to increase economic productivity. Osborne's proposals were referred to as 'Crossrail of
9758-412: The historical accents of the surrounding rural areas and sometimes share features with Southern English accents. Northern English dialects remain an important part of the culture of the region, and the desire of speakers to assert their local identity has led to accents such as Scouse and Geordie becoming more distinctive and spreading into surrounding areas. The contrasting geography of Northern England
9877-518: The invention of the Bessemer process , steelmaking to take root in the region. High quality steel in turn fed the shipyards that opened along the coasts, especially on Tyneside and at Barrow-in-Furness . The Great Famine in Ireland of the 1840s drove migrants across the Irish Sea , and many settled in the industrial cities of the North, especially Manchester and Liverpool – at the 1851 census , 13% of
9996-502: The locals were most likely pastoralists raising livestock. Roman histories name the Celtic tribe that occupied the majority of Northern England as the Brigantes , likely meaning "Highlanders". Whether the Brigantes were a unified group or a looser federation of tribes around the Pennines is debated, but the name appears to have been adopted by the inhabitants of the region, which was known by
10115-546: The long term future of the franchise remained uncertain; local transport authorities and consultancies proposed merging Trans-Pennine services into other franchises, speculating that this would increase efficiency on the rail network. Specifically, the Manchester Airport to Scotland service could be transferred to the InterCity West Coast franchise after the electrification of lines around Manchester by 2018, while
10234-850: The lowest proportions of White British outside London. First TransPennine Express First TransPennine Express was a British train operating company jointly owned by FirstGroup and Keolis which operated the TransPennine Express franchise. First TransPennine Express ran regular Express regional railway services between the major cities of Northern England as well as Scotland . The franchise operated all its services to and through Manchester covering three main routes. The service provided rail links for major towns and cities such as Edinburgh , Glasgow , Liverpool , Sheffield , Hull , Leeds , York , Scarborough , Middlesbrough and Newcastle . Previously, all services called or terminated at Manchester Piccadilly , but, as of May 2014,
10353-692: The more northern parts of the region. As speech has changed, there is little consensus on what defines a "Northern" accent or dialect. Northern English accents have not undergone the TRAP – BATH split , and a common shibboleth to distinguish them from Southern ones is the Northern use of the short a (the near-open front unrounded vowel ) in words such as bath and castle . On the opposite border, most Northern English accents can be distinguished from Scottish accents because they are non-rhotic , although some Lancashire and Northumberland accents remain rhotic. Other features common to many Northern English accents are
10472-428: The most part, Northern factories were still using nineteenth-century technology, and were not able to keep up with advances in industries such as motors, chemicals and electricals, while the expansion of the electric grid removed the North's advantages in terms of power generation and meant it was now more economic to build new factories in the Midlands or South. The industrial concentration in Northern England made it
10591-665: The most prominent commitments of the franchise was the replacement of the entire fleet. Various requirements of this new fleet of diesel multiple units were stipulated, such as the ability to operating at speeds up to 100 mph (160 km/h), comparable acceleration to the Class 180 , the presence of air conditioning and two toilets per vehicle (one of which being suitable for reduced-mobility passengers), gangways between individual carriages, space for storing both luggage and bicycles , internal CCTV coverage, provision for wheelchair passengers, and first class seating. During September 2003, contract for supply and maintenance of 56 trains
10710-442: The network while the Class 170 multiple units were used on services from Manchester to Cleethorpes, Hull and York. During May 2014, the Class 350/4s electric multiple units commenced operation on services between Manchester and Scotland. This arrangement enabled the diesel trains previously used on the Manchester to Scotland services to be transferred to other TransPennine Express services. The Manchester Airport to Blackpool route
10829-558: The new Class 185 Desiros ; however, weight restrictions on the Micklefield to Hull line restricted the Class 185s to 65–75 mph (105–121 km/h). To resolve this issue as well as to create extra capacity, First TransPennine Express leased eight Class 170 Turbostars from late 2006 that were surplus to South West Trains ' requirements, and in November 2007 a ninth was transferred from Central Trains . The Class 185 fleet operated across
10948-447: The new Northern franchise in April 2016. First TransPennine Express's franchise agreement required the establishment of two new depots equipped to handle the new rolling stock that it was to operate. The primary depot was to be sited in Manchester while a secondary depot suitable for both stabling and maintenance activities was to be based at York. In addition, an existing depot at Cleethorpes
11067-583: The northern half of the county) is considered by many to be northern, or at least a larger part of Lincolnshire than merely the north and northeast Lincolnshire districts. The geographer Danny Dorling includes most of the West Midlands and part of the East Midlands in his definition of the North, claiming that "ideas of a midlands region add more confusion than light". Conversely, more restrictive definitions of Northern England also exist. Some are based on
11186-416: The political changes that accompanied this social upheaval, from trade unionism to Manchester Liberalism . In the late 19th and early 20th centuries, the economy of the North was dominated by heavy industry . Centuries of immigration, invasion, and labour have shaped Northern England's culture, and it has retained countless distinctive accents and dialects , music, arts, and cuisine. Industrial decline in
11305-692: The population of Manchester and Salford were Irish-born, and in Liverpool the figure was 22%. In response there was a wave of anti-Catholic riots and Protestant Orange Orders proliferated across Northern England, chiefly in Lancashire, but also elsewhere in the North. By 1881 there were 374 Orange organisations in Lancashire, 71 in the North East, and 42 in Yorkshire. From further afield, Northern England saw immigration from European countries such as Germany, Italy, Poland, Russia and Scandinavia. Some immigrants were well-to-do industrialists seeking to do business in
11424-543: The privatised operator Northern Spirit and its successor, Arriva Trains Northern . In 2000, the Strategic Rail Authority announced that it planned to reorganise the North West Regional Railways and Regional Railways North East franchises operated by First North Western and Arriva Trains Northern . A TransPennine Express franchise would be created for the long-distance regional services while
11543-465: The rail network in Northern England to "where it should have been a decade ago". The scheme had a benefit-to-cost ratio (BCR) of £4 for every £1 invested - double that of Crossrail in London and the proposed High Speed 2 project which in October 2013 had BCRs of £2.10 and £2.30 respectively. The Northern Hub project was completed in 2020 after the modernisation of Manchester Victoria station, completion of
11662-496: The region and larger than Leeds's urban area ( West Yorkshire Built-up Area ) despite Leeds being the largest as a sole city. The table below shows the urban areas in the region with a population of at least 250,000. Peat is found in thick, plentiful layers across the Pennines and Scottish Borders, and there are many large coalfields, including the Great Northern , Lancashire and South Yorkshire Coalfields . Millstone grit ,
11781-608: The region, and in just 400 years, Berwick-upon-Tweed – now the northernmost town in England – changed hands more than a dozen times. The wars also saw thousands of Scots settle south of the border, chiefly in the border counties and Yorkshire. After the English Reformation , the North saw several Catholic uprisings, including the Lincolnshire Rising , Bigod's Rebellion in Cumberland and Westmorland, and largest of all,
11900-626: The region, due chiefly to the upland regions and adjacent seas. The prevailing winds across the British Isles are westerlies bringing moisture from the Atlantic; this means that the west coast frequently receives strong winds and heavy rainfall while the east coast lies in a rain shadow behind the Pennines. As a result the coast north of the Humber are the driest parts of the North, the Tees basin has 600 mm (24 in) of rain per year while parts of
12019-484: The remaining services were to be operated by a new Northern franchise. In July 2003, the TransPennine Express franchise was awarded to a joint venture between FirstGroup and Keolis , and the services formerly operated by Arriva Trains Northern and First North Western were transferred to First TransPennine Express on 1 February 2004. The franchise was originally scheduled to end on 31 January 2012; however, in August 2011,
12138-471: The restrictions of society. Modern poets such as the Poets Laureate Ted Hughes and Simon Armitage have found inspiration in the Northern countryside, producing works that take advantage of the sounds and rhythms of Northern English dialects. Meanwhile, the industrialising and urbanising cities of the North gave rise to many masterpieces of social realism . Elizabeth Gaskell was the first in
12257-483: The scheme were cancelled in May 2023. Salford Crescent station will be redeveloped at a cost of £12 million and further development could occur should extra capacity be required. At Leeds Station two platforms will be built at a cost of £13.6 million to alleviate congestion. Huyton and Roby stations will have two new tracks through the stations to allow faster trains to pass and provide two additional platforms. Burnley Manchester Road station will receive
12376-469: The second half of the 20th century damaged the North, leading to greater deprivation than in the South. Although urban renewal projects and the transition to a service economy have resulted in strong economic growth in parts of the North, the North–South divide remains in both the economy and culture of England. For government and statistical purposes, Northern England is defined as the area covered by
12495-569: The south Trans-Pennine route between Manchester and Cleethorpes could be transferred to East Midlands Trains , who operated an hourly service on the Manchester to Sheffield section. In June 2014, the DfT confirmed that there would be two separate franchises in the north of England, one focused on delivering intercity rail services and the second to provide local rail services. At the time, proposals were made to transfer services including York to Scarborough and Doncaster to Cleethorpes services to
12614-400: The three northernmost statistical regions of England: North East England , North West England and Yorkshire and the Humber . This area consists of the ceremonial counties of Cheshire , Cumbria , County Durham , East Riding of Yorkshire , Greater Manchester , Lancashire , Merseyside , Northumberland , North Yorkshire , South Yorkshire , Tyne and Wear and West Yorkshire , plus
12733-486: The total somewhere in the tens of thousands, out of a population of two million. When the Domesday Book was compiled in 1086, much of Northern England was still recorded as wasteland, although this may have been in part because the chroniclers, more interested in manorial farmland, paid little attention to pastoral areas. Following Norman subjugation, monasteries returned to the North as missionaries sought to "settle
12852-458: The unitary authority areas of North Lincolnshire and North East Lincolnshire within the ceremonial county Lincolnshire . Other definitions use historic county boundaries, in which case the North is generally taken to comprise Cumberland , Northumberland, Westmorland , County Durham, Lancashire and Yorkshire , often supplemented by Cheshire. The boundary is sometimes drawn without reference to human borders, using geographic features such as
12971-427: The variety of English spoken by Poles in Manchester is distinct both from typical Polish-accented English and from Mancunian. At a local level, the diversity of immigrant communities means that some languages that are extremely rare in the country as a whole have strongholds in Northern towns: Bradford for instance has the largest proportion of Pashto speakers, while Manchester has most Cantonese speakers. During
13090-426: Was also electrified, allowing further diesel trains to be cascaded on to other TransPennine Express services. However, this work was not completed until after the end of the former TransPennine Express franchise. In February 2012, the Department for Transport announced that 10 four-car electric Class 350 Desiros had been ordered to operate services from Manchester to Scotland via Wigan after electrification. It
13209-497: Was committed in Osborne's budget of March 2012 and approval for the full scheme was confirmed by the government on 16 July 2012. The first train ran on the chord on 10 December 2017 and the project was completed by 2018. Support for the scheme was vociferous from civic and business leaders, due to the high benefit-to-cost ratio , and from politicians, such as George Osborne; but was also criticised for being incremental and only improving
13328-512: Was confirmed Chiltern would take five of the Class 170s from May 2015 and the other four from February 2016. First TransPennine hired Class 156 Super Sprinters (which were originally intended to be used for extra capacity on Northern Rail services) from Northern Rail to work in pairs on the Manchester Airport-Blackpool North route, ahead of that route's transfer (along with the services to Barrow-in-Furness and Windermere) to
13447-399: Was confirmed that all the existing rolling stock would remain with the franchise to boost capacity. However, in March 2014, it was announced that the nine Class 170 Turbostars would move to Chiltern Railways . MP Stephen Hammond revealed on 12 March 2014 that all of the Class 170/3s would remain with First TransPennine Express until the May 2015 timetable change. In January 2015, it
13566-638: Was founded in 1484 by Richard III. The Council existed intermittently for the next two centuries – its final incarnation was created in the aftermath of the Pilgrimage of Grace and was chiefly an institution for providing order and dispensing justice. Northern England was a focal point for fighting during the Wars of the Three Kingdoms . The border counties were invaded by Scotland in the Second Bishops' War , and at
13685-452: Was made Earl of Northumberland and kept the counties of Cumberland, Westmorland and Northumbria, as well as part of Lancashire. These reverted to English control in 1157, establishing for the most part the modern England–Scotland border. The region also saw violence during The Great Raid of 1322 when Robert the Bruce invaded and raided the whole of Northern England. There was also the Wars of
13804-633: Was proposed in February 2010 to resolve problems around Manchester city centre that restricted route capacity and caused delays. Network Rail concluded that no single intervention would unlock the bottlenecks but that greater efficiency and enhancement to services was possible. A proposal to use Piccadilly primarily for north-south services and Victoria for east-west services was agreed as the most effective course of action. The re-alignment of services commenced in May 2014 when First TransPennine Express services between Liverpool and Newcastle were routed through Manchester Victoria rather than Piccadilly. It
13923-475: Was signed between First TransPennine Express and the rolling stock manufacturer Siemens . During early 2004, the new train requirement was reduced from 56 to 51 units by the Strategic Rail Authority (SRA). These trains were specifically designed to traverse the steep hills encountered on the TransPennine routes and thus had a relatively high power output compared to other DMUs; however, as this level of power
14042-645: Was the northernmost border of the Roman Empire . Although the Romans invaded modern-day Northumberland and part of Scotland beyond it, they never succeeded in conquering the reaches of Britain beyond the River Tyne . After the end of Roman rule in Britain and the arrival of the Angles , Yr Hen Ogledd (the "Old North") was divided into rival kingdoms, Bernicia , Deira , Rheged and Elmet . Bernicia covered lands north of
14161-455: Was unnecessary for most of the train's routes, it incurred relatively low fuel efficiency. During 2006, First TransPennine Express acquired two static simulators from Corys TESS to better facilitate driver training ahead of the introduction of new rolling stock. The Class 185 trains proved popular with off-peak travellers, although these satisfaction levels decreased for passengers undertaking long-distance journeys and at peak times. Despite
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