Northern Counties from AD 1000

Longman's familiar Regional History of England series explores the history of England's northern borders - the historic counties of Northumberland, Cumberland, Durham, Westmorland and the Furness area of Lancashire - across 1000 years. For most of this long span the region was a world of its own, disrupted by border warfare between England and Scotland, yet frequently neglected by the official authorities to south and north, and dominated by the castles and monastic houses whose impressive remains are still one of its greatest glories. In our own era, interwar depression, the changing role of Britain, and the postwar decline of the industries on which the region's fortunes were based have borne down heavily on the region. Many of its distinctive historical characteristics have been eroded by the homogenising pressures of modern life; and it faces an undefined future in which little is certain beyond the resilience of its people.