Northumbrians (modern)

During the second half of the 19th century a cultural movement appeared among the north-eastern intelligentsia who sought to identify the region as a distinct historic nation. The old kingdom of Northumbria was its underlying inspiration, albeit with medieval and early modern histories woven in as well, and the historic counties of Northumberland and Durham were its homeland. The movement in some sense paralleled the Irish, Scottish, and Welsh home ruler movements of the time, but unlike the former, did not cross the boundary from unionism to separatism and remained an ultimately cultural nationalist movement.[3]

Northumbrians are culturally distinct from other English people. Northumbrian culture has aspects in common with the cultures of both England and Scotland,[4] but also includes many unique traditions not found elsewhere in England. Northumbrian traditions including the rapper sword dance, the Northumberland and Durham clog dance and the Northumbrian smallpipe.

Northumbria has its own tradition of Christian saints that have given rise to localised dedications. St. Cuthbert is of particular significance; annual St. Cuthbert's day celebrations are held each year by the Northumbrian Association and marked by a walk from Chester-le-Street to Durham, followed by a procession through Durham city.[5]

Northumberland and County Durham, together with Tweeddale, are conterminous with the ancient British tribal kingdom of Bernicia (Bryneich) which is notable for the stable ancestry of its present indigenous population. The people of the region have been identified by DNA analysis to be an offshoot of the group Scotland, Cumbria and the North of Ireland, but not so closely related to the other peoples of the UK.[6][7]