Constructing 'The North': space and a sense of place

The North of England evokes a greater sense of identity than any other 'region' of the country. At the same time it provokes the most derision and rejection from those whose identity has been constructed and shaped elsewhere. The reason for this is that the North is much more than a tract ofland. It is a reified landscape which encapsulates various rhetorical interpretations of the past and the present, of classes and cultures, and of geographical and topological features of a large area of England. No other region has such an intensified 'sense ofplace'.