Published by The New Angle on Feb 25, 2026
February 25th, 2026
Split down the centre of the British Island are the Pennines. The Pennines are an upland region, covered with moorland. The southern part of the Pennines is called the Peak District. This separates Lancashire and Cheshire to the west, from Yorkshire and Derbyshire to the east, like a great spine down the central column of England.
This upland region is barren and vast, covered with long mud yellow grass that thrushes in the rugged wind. You can take the so called 'Snake Pass' over the hills, from Manchester to Sheffield. The road winds down into dense forests of spruce and pine. It follows the curving outline of large and still lakes. It is worthy of any car journey.
At times great swathes of purple heather break through the mild coloured moor. Interesting creatures live amongst the grass. In Winter, the vast and empty land is painted white with snow. You drive along the road with the gloomy cloud overhead. The sky is usually gloomy overhead. And rugged and roughly constructed timber fence posts stick upwards, thin pieces of wood, and tilt over in different directions, strung together with wire. They block the snow from reaching the road.
At night time, you can return travelling east to west, from Sheffield to Manchester, curving through the high valleys and through the emptiness and the purple heather and the occasional tunnels of spruce wood. Then suddenly you turn a corner and a million little shimmering yellow lights appear, and some great humming red lights above them. Manchester. It appears from out the blue as you exit the vally of the Peak District.
Like some great Roman legion, you stummble upon this vast flat plain perfect for habitation. And their in the centre the old Roman fort, Manchester.
It has been often noted that geographical boundaries lead to ethnic divisions, and can have significant impact on geopolitics. This is the basis of the popular book 'Prisoners of Geography' by Tim Marshall. Well, this area was initially occupied by the Romano-Britons, and as mentioned earlier, Manchester was founded by the Romans as a northen fort, like Chester. Then the Anglo-Saxons arrived in East Anglia and Kent, and they formed England, slowly spreading from east Britain to west Britain, and pushing the Romano-Britons, who had a Christian Celtic culture, further and further west. It is only sensible to assume, that like the Highlands in Scotland, upland regions were harder to penetrate, and western regions took longer to settle. Thus upland regions and the west of Britain maintained the older people and their culture for much longer. Indeed the Romans thought it a waste of resources to venture into the Highlands against the Picts and Scots. The same can be assumed of the Pennines, or the Peak District. With a kind of barrier, shielding off the area we call Lancashire and Cumbria, the old Romano-Britons and Celtic culture lasted longer amongst these moors. In the upland hills of Derbyshire, the Peak District, the Lake District, the Yorkshire Dales, it is safe to assume that this it true. It is argued by some reputable historians that Lancashire and Cumbria maintained a semblance of Celtic culture. The Scots and Irish, with their keen ability to recognise their own, will probably tell you as much themselves, and can probably tell you why. Indeed, there are some Celtic placenames in Lancashire, like Pendle, and many in Cumbria, like Helvelynn, Derwent, and more.
Thus the powerful heath of the Peak District once formed a boundary between peoples and ages. As seen throughout history, geographical boundaries like these can lead to long lasting cultural distinctions.