No place like the North

Lindsay Waddell explores the incredible sporting history of Yorkshire, Durham and Northumberland from the coast to the moors

- Lindsay Waddell

Those of us in the North, the proper North, not Manchester, can rightly claim to live among the most diverse counties of England, in every meaning of the word. The sport those counties contain within their boundaries is varied, from hunting and angling to grouse, partridge and pheasant shooting, and the best wildfowling you could find.

You will be hard-pressed to find a Yorkshire resident who would not subscribe to the adage that it is the greatest county in England, and for good reason too. It is the largest by some distance and it stretches from the great Humber coast to over 2,000ft at the head of Swaledale, and the water from those high hills and grouse moors feed the rivers that end up in the Humber. Indeed, all three counties we will look at can claim to have one of the greatest river systems in England, and the Swale then the Ouse and into the Humber is indeed one of them.

Yorkshire is home to some of the greatest country houses and estates in England, and Yorkshire folk are known for their love of sport, all sport. The Ouse Washes have been part of wildfowling history, with huge numbers of birds overwintering there. Sadly the Government, through its agency Natural England, has pretty much ended wildfowling on those areas by banning shooting on the Special Protection Area.

Of course, sport comes in all shapes and forms, and Yorkshire can lay claim to legends in almost every one. The cricketer Sir Geoffrey Boycott and the Brownlee brothers are two of the more recent but the list is extensive to say the least, with notable footballers and rugby players from both codes high on that list.

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