The North South Divide

Angel of the North

Medieval Capital: York

Who owns the Land in Britain in 1800?: The importance of the Industrial Revolution

1. The landed aristocracy: Titled Nobility

• Nobility, or Peers (Dukes, Earls, Marquesses, Viscounts, Barons) = about 1,000 people, or 0.2% of the population.

• Knights or Baronets (Non-hereditary titles)• Together this group owns about 25% of the

land.

A peer and peeress, 18th c.

Noble residence, 18th c.

2. The Landed Gentry

• Non noble, no titles. • About 4,000 very wealthy farmers, and a

further 15,000 less wealthy farmers. • In 1800, this group owns about 33% of the

cultivated land in Britain

A landed Gentleman and Gentlewoman, 18th c.

Jethro Tull’s Seed Drill

Soho Manufacturary

The Steam Engine

Manchester during the Industrial Revolution

Roads in 1720

1740

Major Cities in Northern England

• Manchester• Liverpool• Newcastle• York• Leeds• Sheffield• Nottingham

Terraced housing in Northern England

Abandoned neighbourhoods Manchester

1970s council housing, Sheffield

‘Northern Soul’

Coronation St. (TV drama)

Miners’ Union, 1970s

Margaret Thatcher

Arthur Scargill

Police troops blocking picketers

‘Scabs’ arriving at the mines

North-South Divide: wealth statistics (2013, according to The Guardian & The Telegraph

newspapers• Households earning less than £50,000: North East: 25%South East: 15%

• A House in the South East costs, on average, 3.5 times the price of a house in the North

• Price of an average home in London: £514,000• Price of an average home in Newcastle: £154,000