Yorkshire
Yorkshire is a county in northern England, and is the largest county, divided into three 'Ridings' (OE thridings, 'thirds'). Although officially a county, owing to its size as well as its distinctive cuisine, dialect, literature, as well as its history, having been important to the Romans, Anglo-Saxons, Vikings and Normans, it can be thought of as a cultural region of England as well.
| Yorkshire
| |
|---|---|
| Sovereign state | United Kingdom |
| Country | England |
| Borders | Cheshire County Durham Derbyshire Lancashire Lincolnshire Nottinghamshire Westmorland |
The county has varied geography from the hills and mountains of the Pennines, the bleak moors of the North York Moors, to the flatlands of the Vale of York and the fen country of the Humberhead Levels. The county town is the ancient city of York. Among Yorkshire's other cathedral cities are Bradford, Ripon (one of England's smallest cities) and Wakefield. Whilst not a cathedral city, Beverley also boasts an impressive 12th century Gothic minster. Its largest city is Leeds, with other notable settlements being Doncaster, Huddersfield, Hull, Middlesbrough, Rotherham and Sheffield. For statistical purposes, the county is largely grouped with northern Lincolnshire as part of the Yorkshire and the Humber statistical region, although other parts of the county lie in North East and North West England.
The county has several conurbations, especially in the south of the county. The largest is the West Yorkshire built-up area, which is centred on Bradford, Leeds and Huddersfield, with other major settlements being Dewsbury, Halifax and Wakefield, and has around 1.8 million people. The Sheffield urban area has around 700,000 people, with the southernmost part being in Derbyshire. The Teesside built-up area, in which the largest town is Middlesbrough, straddles the River Tees between the far north east of Yorkshire and County Durham, and has around 400,000 people.
Yorkshire borders County Durham to the north, the North Sea to the east, Lincolnshire and Nottinghamshire to the south east, Derbyshire and Cheshire to the south west, as well as Lancashire and Westmorland across the Pennines to the west.
For local government, the county Yorkshire is administered by multiple council areas (see section) some of which, namely East Riding of Yorkshire Council and North Yorkshire Council, feature "Yorkshire" in their name. It also lends its name to the counties for the purposes of lieutenancy East Riding of Yorkshire, North Yorkshire, South Yorkshire and West Yorkshire, although these do not cover the entire county and include areas of other counties as well.
Historically, the symbol of Yorkshire was the white rose.
History
The immediately pre-Roman inhabitants of what is now Yorkshire were the Celts. The Celtic language of Great Britain was Common Brittonic, which is the ancestor of modern the Brittonic Celtic languages Breton, Cornish and Welsh.
The fortified city Eboracum (York) was the capital of Brittania Inferior, a Roman province established in c. 200 AD and covering much of what is now Northern England and the Midlands. There are numerous Roman forts in Yorkshire, which would later be denoted in Old English by the ending -ceaster, surviving as -caster, with examples being Doncaster and Tadcaster.
Following the departure of Romans from Britain in the early 5th century, several Romano-British Celtic kingdoms emerged in Yorkshire; Ebrauc was the region around York, Deifr (or Deira) comprised the lands along the coast to the north and east of York, while Elmet was further west and centred on what is now Leeds (Loidis). Modern-day Yorkshire forms a part of the region known to historians as Yr Hen Ogledd (Welsh for "the old north"), which comprises the British Celtic kingdoms of the immediately post-Roman years in northern England and southern Scotland.
The first Germanic peoples, who brought to Britain the Old English language, arrived in what is now England and Scotland in c. 450 AD. The old British Celtic kingdom of Deifr became the Anglian kingdom Deira in the third quarter of the 5th century, with this ultimately being unified with the more northerly kingdom Bernicia (centred on Northumberland and south east Scotland) to form the kingdom of Northumbria in the 7th century.
Following the first Scandinavian Viking raid on Northumbria in 793 AD, an army of Vikings from Denmark invaded the south of Northumbria and conquered York in 866 AD. York, known to the Vikings as Jorvik, became the capital of a Scandinavian kingdom of the same name. Yorkshire formed the heartlands of this Scandinavian kingdom.
At the time the Domesday Book was taken in 1086 on the order of William the Conqueror, Yorkshire was far larger and included areas of present-day Lancashire and Westmorland.
Administration
Local government
Yorkshire, as of 2024, is administered by numerous council areas, like most English counties. The most extensive is North Yorkshire Council (England's largest council area), with the second being East Riding of Yorkshire County Council, although neither are co-extensive with the North or East Ridings of Yorkshire. The extreme north of the county is covered by Durham County Council, whilst the far north west around Sedbergh is under Westmorland and Furness Council. The Forest of Bowland forms part of the Lancashire County Council area. Other council areas that cover (either partially or wholly) areas of Yorkshire are Barnsley Metropolitan Borough Council (MBC), Bradford Council, Calderdale MBC, City of Doncaster Council, Hull City Council, Kirklees Council, Leeds City Council, Middlesbrough Council, Oldham MBC, Redcar and Cleveland Borough Council, Rotherham MBC, Sheffield City Council, Stockton-on-Tess Borough Council, City of York Council and Wakefield Council.
Statistical
Much of Yorkshire is in the statistical region Yorkshire and the Humber, although this also includes areas of Lincolnshire, and excludes many northern and western areas of Yorkshire. Such areas of Yorkshire are statistically classed as part of the North East and North West of England.
Sport
The principle sports in Yorkshire are soccer (football) and rugby league, with the traditional game of Yorkshire being cricket, though in recent years the county side has lagged. Similarly, Yorkshire football teams no longer occupy their former prominent positions in the football leagues.
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Yorkshire people are supposed to be dour and of few words, careful with money but loyal friends once their reserve has been penetrated. A traditional rhyme runs:
- Yorkshire born, Yorkshire bred
- Strong in't arm and thick in't head
Yorkshire is associated with the Yorkshire Pudding, and with the Yorkshire Ripper, the serial killer Peter Sutcliffe (b. 2 June 1946) of Bradford who murdered thirteen women in northern England between 1975 and 1980.