A Treasury of Short Stories about Northern England,its Heritage, History and People
Northern England is known for many things—some of them serious, others a little wacky—the Rhubarb Triangle and Eccles Cakes, the Devil’s Arrows, monkey hangers, the curious burning Bartle ceremony and a screaming skull. There are places called Crackpot, Booze, No Place, Sexhow, Bugthorpe, Friar’s Goose, Foggy Furze and Giggleswick. It is home to the very odd sports of knurr and spell, Cumberland wrestling and ferret legging; and is the birthplace of Guido (Guy) Fawkes, Mr Foggitt, the Brontës, Freddie Truman, Stan Laurel, the Clitheroe Kid, the Bounty mutineer Fletcher Christian and Captain James Cook.
In Northern Light there is a message, and that message is that the north of England, embracing the counties of Lancashire and Yorkshire—the so called Roses Counties—Durham, Northumberland and the old Westmorland and Cumberland that today comprise Cumbria, is a very diverse region embracing widely contrasting topography. It has some of the most picturesque and dramatic countryside in Britain, peopled by folk whose character has been forged on the anvil of this northern landscape, lives that are firmly rooted in their Viking and Celtic past, watered by a weather system governed by proximity to the Atlantic.
Northern Light is a collection of short stories by the author, each a snapshot of life, culture, customs, humour, tradition and history in the land of flat caps and black puddings. Ay, and ducks that fly back’ards to keep the muck out of their eyes. Of necessity it is a subjective, a very eclectic gathering of tales and events shaped and influenced by the mountains and dales, the vales and forests, villages, towns, cities and seaside fishing ports. I would hazard there is not a history anywhere more colourful, more endearing and more fascinating. And so there you have it, the North in a nutshell.
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