# let's draw that imaginary boundary



## John Quays (Sep 28, 2005)

Is Retford in the north?

Just wondered, I'm from there, well, between there and Worksop anyway.

Me and friends never knew tbh.


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## Supine (Sep 28, 2005)

I have no idea where it is!!!


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## oneflewover (Sep 28, 2005)

Sorry, Retford definately Southerner.

The North - anywhere above (but including) places on  a jiggly line from Liverpool, Warrington, Macclesfield, Sheffield, Rotherham, Doncaster, Scunthorpe, Immingham and finally Grimsby. Anyone below that, just southern softies and neer done hard days graft in your lives or had a hapeth of struggle.

5 mins research gone into this!

_edited to include those on line_


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## chio (Sep 28, 2005)

move that line south of Macclesfield or else


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## oneflewover (Sep 28, 2005)

chio said:
			
		

> move that line south of Macclesfield or else



Edited - now includes all places mentioned and on the line. i like Macclesfield has good mild and a nice football club.


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## dessiato (Sep 28, 2005)

John Quays said:
			
		

> Is Retford in the north?
> 
> Just wondered, I'm from there, well, between there and Worksop anyway.
> 
> Me and friends never knew tbh.


Yes.


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## reallyoldhippy (Sep 28, 2005)

"The North" includes all the coalmining areas. Including the one that was in Kent! I'll give you softy southerners,


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## upsidedownwalrus (Sep 29, 2005)

I think Stoke is the true start of the North and end of the midlands... It's not that far from either Leicester, which is Midlands, or say Congleton, which is soft-North


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## Spion (Sep 29, 2005)

RenegadeDog said:
			
		

> I think Stoke is the true start of the North and end of the midlands... It's not that far from either Leicester, which is Midlands, or say Congleton, which is soft-North



hehe, 'soft-north' - I like that. Does the whole of cheshire come into that category?

Where else in the north is 'soft-north'?


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## oneflewover (Sep 29, 2005)

Spion said:
			
		

> hehe, 'soft-north' - I like that. Does the whole of cheshire come into that category?



Only those when asked where they live say "Cheshire" and not Warrington, Widnes, Ellsemere Port or the like 




			
				Spion said:
			
		

> Where else in the north is 'soft-north'?



Harrogate


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## Spion (Sep 29, 2005)

oneflewover said:
			
		

> Harrogate



Spot on. Ilkley too.


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## belboid (Sep 30, 2005)

John Quays said:
			
		

> Is Retford in the north?
> 
> Just wondered, I'm from there, well, between there and Worksop anyway.
> 
> Me and friends never knew tbh.


damn right it is.

Just say the name to yourself - where else could it be?


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## Roadkill (Sep 30, 2005)

I'd say that Nottinghamshire falls just south of the North/South divide, meaning that places like Retford, Newark (an anagram of Wanker, appropriately enough) and Nottingham are definitely in the Midlands, not the north.


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## chio (Sep 30, 2005)

RenegadeDog said:
			
		

> Congleton, which is soft-North



I'll give you soft-North


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## LostNotFound (Sep 30, 2005)

this is my somewhat crude polygonal first-take on the issue :







(edited re post #16)


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## Roadkill (Sep 30, 2005)

I'd lead the southern boundary of The Norf around the top of Cheshire - don't want any of the Cheshire Set counting themselves as authentic Northerners, do we?


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## LostNotFound (Sep 30, 2005)

Roadkill said:
			
		

> I'd lead the southern boundary of The Norf around the top of Cheshire - don't want any of the Cheshire Set counting themselves as authentic Northerners, do we?



totally right.. it was like that to begin with, but when i moved the left down to include yorkshire in the north i didnt notice cheshire getting included. oops !


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## Roadkill (Sep 30, 2005)

That looks right now.  It just about includes Macclesfield, which I'd say was very definitely north, but cuts out all the rah-rah south Cheshire bits.


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## aqua (Sep 30, 2005)

but doesn't have withernsea as the north 

its next to hull ffs


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## Roadkill (Sep 30, 2005)

That's true actually, socks.

In fact, really the boundary of 'Midlandz' and 'Norf' should go through northern Lincolnshire, a good 20 miles or so south of the Humber.  I'd say that Grimsby is definitely north, whereas Lincoln is more Midlands.


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## chio (Sep 30, 2005)

Roadkill said:
			
		

> That looks right now.  It just about includes Macclesfield, which I'd say was very definitely north, but cuts out all the rah-rah south Cheshire bits.



I'd have south Cheshire and Macclesfield included in the North, as well as Stoke. (Crewe's up there with Burnley for Northern, erm, Northern-ness.)

However, I'd like to see a Kaliningrad-style Southern enclave created to surround such places as Knutsford, Alderley Edge, Wilmslow and Bramhall.


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## chio (Sep 30, 2005)

And the Welsh can have Chester.


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## oneflewover (Sep 30, 2005)

LostNotFound said:
			
		

> this is my somewhat crude polygonal first-take on the issue :



Excellent, the poor glowing folk of Sellafield might winge as will the McD chip making centre that is Scarborough, but it does it for me.


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## Roadkill (Sep 30, 2005)

oneflewover said:
			
		

> the poor glowing folk of Sellafield...


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## Spion (Sep 30, 2005)

chio said:
			
		

> And the Welsh can have Chester.



Heard from the home fans at a Brentford v Chester match once. "You're Welsh and you know you are". Hehe


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## belboid (Sep 30, 2005)

Spion said:
			
		

> Heard from the home fans at a Brentford v Chester match once. "You're Welsh and you know you are". Hehe


bizarre conversation wih a mate last night:

"Yes, I know Chester was Welsh, and that there were and are fileds in Wales, but that doesn't mean that _Chesterfield_ was ever Welsh"

he meant it too....


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## reallyoldhippy (Sep 30, 2005)

belboid said:
			
		

> ........but that doesn't mean that _Chesterfield_ was ever Welsh"....


Yes, but is Chesterfield, crooked spire and all. northern? South of Retford!


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## belboid (Sep 30, 2005)

reallyoldhippy said:
			
		

> Yes, but is Chesterfield, crooked spire and all. northern? South of Retford!


yes


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## Rocket Romano (Sep 30, 2005)

Saw some Brummie claiming to be Northern today

Fuck off you funny talking cunt


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## John Quays (Oct 1, 2005)

LostNotFound: it's a beautiful map but Retford falls into the diagonal gap...

Anyway, I've got a neutral middle-class accent so no fucker would believe I'm from anywhere in particular anyway. Now there's another factor, perhaps.


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## WouldBe (Oct 1, 2005)

reallyoldhippy said:
			
		

> Yes, but is Chesterfield, crooked spire and all. northern? South of Retford!



Course it is. We can't afford proper spires up 'ere.


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## chio (Oct 1, 2005)

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/North_West_England says the whole of Cheshire is in the North West and _not_ the Midlands!


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## Snolly (Oct 2, 2005)

That spire is ace. Always makes me giggle when I drive past.

Also, I got called a 'Northern shandy drinker' the other day.

Wtf?


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## LostNotFound (Oct 2, 2005)

chio said:
			
		

> http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/North_West_England says the whole of Cheshire is in the North West and _not_ the Midlands!



interesting boundaries on that map chio. cheshire in the north eh.. !


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## JTG (Oct 2, 2005)

LostNotFound said:
			
		

> this is my somewhat crude polygonal first-take on the issue :
> 
> 
> 
> ...



Oh great, someone else who's managed to abolish the West Country as a seperate entity and lumps us in with nearby places like Norwich and Dover 

Draw a line from Gloucester to Weymouth - the South stops here.


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## JTG (Oct 2, 2005)

Spion said:
			
		

> Heard from the home fans at a Brentford v Chester match once. "You're Welsh and you know you are". Hehe



At Rovers we get that all the time. Our witty retort to the assorted Essex boys and Londoners is that they are Dutch/French and they know they are.

Surprisingly this always causes outrage amongst the home support, proving that Southerners have no sense of irony, self deprecation or humour whatsoever.


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## Roadkill (Oct 3, 2005)

JTG said:
			
		

> Draw a line from Gloucester to Weymouth - the South stops here.



That would basically be along the boundary of the old Southern and Great Western railways, then.

</anorak>


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## Spion (Oct 3, 2005)

Rocket Romano said:
			
		

> Saw some Brummie claiming to be Northern today
> 
> Fuck off you funny talking cunt



Watch what you're saying about Brummies, Jock!


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## chio (Oct 3, 2005)

LostNotFound said:
			
		

> interesting boundaries on that map chio. cheshire in the north eh.. !



That's because we are! Staffordshire, however, is in the Midlands.


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## spanglechick (Oct 3, 2005)

chio said:
			
		

> That's because we are! Staffordshire, however, is in the Midlands.


I lived in Derby and Leicester as an undergrad.  Derby is definately up north (me duck), Leicester different vibe (midlandsy, I guess)


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## chio (Oct 3, 2005)

spanglechick said:
			
		

> I lived in Derby and Leicester as an undergrad.  Derby is definately up north (me duck), Leicester different vibe (midlandsy, I guess)



Stoke, where I am now, is all "ey-up duck". Feels more northern than Midlands, but the maps say Midlands.


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## John Quays (Oct 3, 2005)

I used to get called 'youth' in my village, near as it is to Worksop. Totally Northern out that way, links to Sheffield with the villages just the other side of the border.

Retford has more of an agricultural market-town feel to it, somewhere on the Newark scale of things. I'd even be tempted to put the line up the A1 in North Notts, for what that's worth. So I'm now denying the northernness of the town I started out hoping would be agreed northern. 

Other side of the Pennines is a bit unknown to me, tho'. The heavy snows make communication with them others raight tricky.


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## bfg (Oct 3, 2005)

So, lets clear this up. The north/midlands border as favoured by those on these boards will run this way:



(from west to east -for those whodon't already know)



from the Welsh border.......along the southern/eastern borders of Cheshire.........veering off at Macclesfield and aligning with the Cat and Fiddle Run to Buxton.........cos thats where thePennines start, of course, and to be proper northern there has to be a Pennine or two locally surely..................then along the A619 road to Chesterfield...............thence to Worksop and Retford, lets say, by the Chesterfield Canal............which runs into the River Trent, which the border will follow northwards till it meets the M180, which we will use to ensure Scunthorpe, Grimsby and Cleethorpes fit just inside?



To those in Stoke, Derby, Nottingham,etc, I'm very sorry. However, shouldthere be an act of parliament which wholly abolishes the Midlands, consideration will be given to lowering this line will, I'm sure, be given

but if you think I'mgonna lower it as far down as Leicester or Coventry, then fuck that. they're shite


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## WouldBe (Oct 3, 2005)

bfg said:
			
		

> then along the A619 road to Chesterfield...............thence to Worksop and Retford, lets say, by the Chesterfield Canal.



I'm just int north by 200 yards then.   

Except the Chesterfield canal runs to the east of my house.


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## chio (Oct 3, 2005)




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## reallyoldhippy (Oct 3, 2005)

bfg said:
			
		

> ..thence to Worksop and Retford, lets say, by the Chesterfield Canal.....


So are you saying Worksop and Retford are North? If so, there's mining towns/villages south of there which are just as northern. Pit villages, me duck, where yon youth can be in his 60s. Better to do it by counties: Notts & Derbys make the grade. Lincs certainly doesn't. None of it.


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## bfg (Oct 3, 2005)

No, other posters wanted Worksop and Retford making northern. I just put together with a boundary that could keep them happy!


My kids live in Shirebrook, where I've also lived. Shirebrook is 100% more northern in outlook than the part of Sheffield I'm in right now, and I'd have loved dearly to put a small circle round it to ensure it becomes part of any planned breakaway republic, but it just didnt look right, geographically


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## LostNotFound (Oct 4, 2005)

ooh look at you with your posh maps chio..


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## John Quays (Oct 6, 2005)

reallyoldhippy said:
			
		

> So are you saying Worksop and Retford are North? If so, there's mining towns/villages south of there which are just as northern. Pit villages, me duck, where yon youth can be in his 60s. Better to do it by counties: Notts & Derbys make the grade. Lincs certainly doesn't. None of it.



Gainsborough does.

And Scunny.


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## Fuchs66 (Oct 6, 2005)

I was always taught that south of the Humber is France. 

Edit to add: *South* Yorkshire? The name says it all.


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## Bomber (Oct 11, 2005)

Stoke is in the North !! Fact !! I dare anyone to stand on Stoke's Boothen End and call them a bunch of Southern softies !!      You won't want to be doing that !


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## Fuchs66 (Oct 11, 2005)

Nope 'fraid not Stoke is far far in the south

 oh sorry "parlez vous Anglais monsieur?"


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## StanSmith (Oct 11, 2005)

chio said:
			
		

>



That is a pretty good call, I think you have it about right there.

And thats coming from someone that isnt a _Northern Monkey_ or a _Southern puff_!


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## Fuchs66 (Oct 12, 2005)

StanSmith said:
			
		

> That is a pretty good call, I think you have it about right there.
> 
> And thats coming from someone that isnt a _Northern Monkey_ or a _Southern puff_!




Well apart from the fact that the boundary should be drawn to the north of S. Yorks, G. Manc and Merseyside, the map seems OK. Oh yes lets forget about the Midlands bit and just label everything south of this border SOUTH.


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## Mrs Magpie (Oct 12, 2005)

For the purposes of these boards, the North is everything North of the top of the M25, until there is enough interest in a Home Counties/Midlands forum. So there you have it.


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## Bomber (Oct 12, 2005)

Fuchs66 said:
			
		

> Nope 'fraid not Stoke is far far in the south
> 
> oh sorry "parlez vous Anglais monsieur?"



 Fermez Le Bouche !     Once you are North of Watford Gap services, you're ow'raight in maa boooook !!


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## chio (Oct 12, 2005)

Bomber said:
			
		

> Fermez Le Bouche !     Once you are North of Watford Gap services, you're ow'raight in maa boooook !!



But... Watford Gap services is right down in the deep, dark south!


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## Bomber (Oct 12, 2005)

chio said:
			
		

> But... Watford Gap services is right down in the deep, dark south!



 Yes but real Southerners never venture beyond there because it is already getting to cold to walk around without a Pringle sweater on


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## John Quays (Oct 12, 2005)

Hey you, Chio! Nice map but get Northants and Cambs in the midlands, innit!

Is it nice in the south?   

I live in France now (fuchs, je parle aussi l'anglais) and my students only seem to know 'Cantorbéry' as they call it, 'Bournemousse', 'Brightonne' and the like. I always thought they were just places invented for the news on telly, or for friends' families to go on holiday to.   

Keeping it North/East Midlands, keeping it real, jq


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## StanSmith (Oct 12, 2005)

Mrs Magpie said:
			
		

> For the purposes of these boards, the North is everything North of the top of the M25, until there is enough interest in a Home Counties/Midlands forum. So there you have it.




I wouldnt mind a Midlands forum, but isnt the Home Counties southern turf?

To be fair I love both the South and the North and I enjoy visiting and talking about both places....ive had some great times in both!


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## Batley (Oct 29, 2005)

'The North' is Yorkshire - end of story. Anything else is either North-West, North East or that daft bit before you get to Scotland.


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