Talk:Northumberland

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The current UK geography collaboration of the month is Rutland. If you see ways in which this article can be improved please edit it. You may get ideas from the talk page or the WikiProject UK geography.

Northumberland is a former good article candidate. There are suggestions below for which areas need improvement to satisfy the good article criteria. Once the objections are addressed, the article can be renominated as a good article. If you disagree with the objections, you can seek a review. Date of review: No date specified. Please edit template call function as follows: {{FailedGA|insert date in any format here}}

	Pending tasks for Northumberland
WikiProject UK geography has identified ways in which Northumberland can be improved. For tips on how to bring this article nearer to featured article quality see the guidelines and resources section of the WikiProject.
See how to write about UK counties for a complete to do list. Add physical geography section which describes the county's landscape, geology, ecology and climate. Add economy and industry section including economic ranking, GDP, employment levels, main centres of employment and major employers. Add politics section stating which parties hold the westminster seats, local council seats and any political trends. Add demographics section with any interesting census facts and population trends. Turn section on people in prose. Optional section on culture, literature, arts, media and sport: Northumberland must have been painted by famous landscape painters? Any famous books etc set in the county. Any notable cultural institutions, and succesfull sports teams. Turn settlements section into prose. Move places of interest to List of places in Northumberland and expand, plus add icons from Template:EngPlacesKey. Add external links starting with county council and local BBC minisite. Find references and sources, use Template:ref and Template:note to back up specific claims.

I put back in some of the example castles, as well as keeping the link to the full castles list. I felt it was useful to have both - the examples have the immediacy to make people go ooh yes, that's the one in the calendar, Harry Potter, etc, and the list link provides a thorough reference. OK I hope? Nevilley

In 1400 Newcastle was designated the town and county of Newcastle and even in the 1940s-1950s it appeared on official documents as the city and county of Newcastle upon Tyne.I do not know when this changed.Jeandunston

I'm not sure that the Tyne & Wear bit is still right, either! Nevilley 13:31 Feb 12, 2003 (UTC)

Contents 1 Dubious inclusion of Eric Burdon 2 Settlements 3 Sunrise in Northumberland 4 Flag of 'Northumberland' 5 sentence

[edit] Dubious inclusion of Eric Burdon

It is well documented that Eric Burdon was born in Walker, Newcastle upon Tyne and is patently not a Northumbrian.

[edit] Settlements

This section should be a list of the main towns with a link to list of places in Northumberland, which should be more comprehensive. people have been adding every settlement to the main article. anyone mind if I move the list from here to the correct list leaving just a few towns, and any suggestions for the main towns to leave? AndrewMcQ 00:31, 30 Dec 2004 (UTC)

I agree that that the list of settlements should be partitioned so that only major towns are listed in the main article. I propose two criteria for inclusion in the main article 1) population, say, above 3000 and 2) geographical representation, such that there are at least two towns listed for each of the 6 districts. To implement this we need information on the population of the larger towns. Anyone know where to find that? --- RedGiant

The link to the "Fred Reed" Wiki article leads to a different Fred Reed than the one discussed in the article, "Northumberland" in the "people" section -Ragni 18:24 5/11/05

[edit] Sunrise in Northumberland

The picture, very artistic though it might be, has no particular association with Northumberland. It is not a "Northumberland" sunrise, it is just a sunrise - with a tree in the foreground.

I propose that since no clear association with the county is evident or stated, and it does not define typical Northumberland sunrises - the picture is removed. Are there any contrary views please? leaky_caldron 15:05, 14 May 2006 (UTC)

I agree. A landscape painting of a Northumberland scene by a well-known artist would be more suitable. Nesbit 15:30, 14 May 2006 (UTC)

[edit] Flag of 'Northumberland'

The flag listed here as being as Northumberland, I believe, is that of Northumbria, shared by all of North East England. Is this not the case? One can see the flag on cars around the north east although I admit many people are still ignorant as to what it is, but that's to be expected under Blair who believes the best way to placate people is to deny them their heritage. Should the fact that this flag is more wide-reaching be noted, or am I wrong? Also, the Northumbrian smallpipes are similarly played around the north east. Enzedbrit 22:36, 27 July 2006 (UTC)

There is potential for much confusion about attaching flags to places because both flags and regions shift over time. There are several differently defined regions (e.g., the kingdom of Northumbria, the earldom of Northumberland, the ancient county of Northumberland, the modern county of Northumberland). This is further confounded by the fact that the adjective Northumbrian is applied to the kingdom, the county, and somewhat vaguely and unofficially, the modern North East of England. The flag that was officially adopted by the county of Northumberland in 1951 (before Newcastle was separated off into the newer county of Tyne and Wear in 1974) is a modern version of the banner hung over Oswald's tomb. Not having found visual representations of the flags used for the kingdom, earldom and post-conquest county, all of which encompassed a greater area of the north east, I hesitate to identify the modern flag as representing Northumbria. Any documentary evidence on this would be very welcome. To reference some of this, here is a quote from a website on the cultural heritage of Northumberland:

The Northumberland flag is based on a traditional flag which is probably the oldest known flag design in Britain. The Venerable Bede, England's first historian, records a banner of purple and gold which hung over the tomb of St Oswald, the 7th century king of Northumbria. The flag for this ancient kingdom is now generally regarded as having 8 alternate stripes of red and gold. Later, in medieval times, the colours were adopted by the first Earl of Northumberland. The present pattern was granted to Northumberland County Council as its own banner in 1951. In November 1995, the Council took the historic decision for its own flag to become the flag for the modern day County of Northumberland; and it has rapidly been adopted as a symbol for the County by a wide range of businesses and individuals.

Nesbit 15:44, 28 July 2006 (UTC)

[edit] sentence

This sentence is confusing on the first reading: In general, the culture of Northumberland, as with the north east of England, has much more it would seem in common with Scottish Lowland culture than with the rest of England, the two perhaps having more in common with each other in some respects, than with other parts of their respective countries. Please rewrite it. Rintrah 07:14, 7 October 2006 (UTC)