6 - The north-east

Summary

THE REGION

Compared with many of the modern economic regions of Britain, which exist more for administrative than any organic reason, the north-east does appear to have some intrinsic merits and historical validity as a region. If we take as the basic region the old administrative counties of Northumberland and Durham, it has reasonably well-defined geographical boundaries with the North Sea, the Scottish border, the central uplands and the river valley of the Tees. It was, therefore, firmly distinguished to the east, to the north (if really only by the ancient antagonisms of race) and to the west by hills which restricted mobility. Only to the south was the region weakly bounded in a sparsely populated agricultural and metal-mining area between the south Durham coalfield and the developing West Riding towns. More than the simple boundaries of regional geography gave the area some unity, however. In an age when overland transport was very costly, the sea was the major highway for the movement of heavy or bulky goods. It was, therefore, inevitable that commercial activity looked to the nearest coast for other than local trade and that towns such as Bishop Auckland, Durham, Hexham, Morpeth (and their environs) should look to the east and the market powers of towns such as Newcastle, Sunderland and Stockton with their river access to the sea. Ultimately (but paradoxically since it covered only a minor part of the region) it was the coal industry which gave unity to the region. In an age when its population was sparse and its other attractions limited, the north-east was to all intents and purposes (and especially to south-eastern intents and purposes) the Great Northern coalfield.