The north-south divide is a bit like the great scone debate — everyone seems to have an opinion. There is still no universally accepted point at which the north starts, with arguments based on geography, culture, accents and history. Some would draw the line around the Midlands, while others argue that the North begins much further south, around the M62 or even the Watford Gap.
Travel journalist Simon Calder has offered his verdict on one of Britain’s most enduring geographical arguments. He agreed with journalist Chris Moss that a line runs broadly from the Cheshire town of Crewe in the west. Simon believes a precise dividing line runs towards Skegness on the Lincolnshire coast, taking in parts of the Peak District along the way.
“My nomination is the 53rd parallel: stretching across from Crewe to Skegness, but crucially underlining the start of highland England at Dovedale in the Peak District National Park,” he said in his newsletter for The Telegraph.
The 53rd parallel is a line of latitude located 53 degrees north of the Earth’s equator. In the UK, it tracks across England, passing Cheshire, the Peak District, and out toward the Lincolnshire coast.
Calder’s reference to Dovedale coincides with a clear change in the landscape. Here, the flatter countryside of the Midlands gives way to the limestone valleys and exposed hills of the Peak District, a landscape much more associated with northern England.
In that sense, Calder’s proposed boundary follows a tangible shift in the geography of England rather than just a line of latitude.
At the eastern end of his proposed boundary sits Skegness, meaning the popular Lincolnshire resort could have a new claim to fame as the clearest seaside marker for where the north begins.
So, according to one of Britain’s best-known travel journalists, the next time someone asks where the North begins, there is a surprisingly precise answer: the 53rd parallel from Crewe to Skegness.
However, the debate is unlikely to end there. For many people, whether a place is ‘north’ or ‘south’ is more about identity, dialect and local culture.