ENGLAND 



29 1 2 



ENGLAND 



and 52 F., and that the hills are 

 cooler than the lowlands. Really 

 the S. coast, the London area, and 

 the lowlands of the S.W. are 

 warmest, the Lake District is 

 coldest, and the Vale of York is as 

 cool as the tops of the N. Downs 

 or the Chilterns. The rainfall 

 map shows primarily the effect of 

 elevation; the wettest place in 

 England is in the Lake District, 

 and even minor ridges are wetter 

 than the plains beneath ; the 

 tops of the Downs receive more 

 rain than the Weald plain. But 

 rain clouds come from the ocean, 

 so that the W. of England is wetter 

 than the E. Dartmoor and Bod- 

 min Moor are wetter than the Peak, 

 and the 500 ft. level on the Lan- 

 cashire slope of the Pennines re- 

 ceives 10 ins. more rain a year than 

 the corresponding level on the 

 Yorkshire slope ; Holderness is 

 drier than the Wirral. 



The actual number of hours of 

 sunshine experienced in England 

 varies considerably. Cornwall, 

 Norfolk, and the S. coast receive 

 more than 1,500 hours, the E. 

 slopes of the Pennines less than 

 1,200 hours. But the difference is 

 largely neutralised by the slope of 

 the ground. Although the sun 

 shines almost equally upon both 

 sides of the S. Downs the southern 

 slopes are so tilted that the sun's 

 rays have an increased heating 

 effect, while the northern slopes 

 are, as it were, tilted away from 

 the sun's activity. 



The climate and weather of Eng- 

 land have, therefore, a definite 

 character. There are no extremes, 

 there is constant change, and, 

 within a small space or a short 

 period, considerable variety. 



MOVEMENTS OF POPULATION. 

 Celt, Saxon, Dane, and Norman left 

 their impress upon the English 

 people, and the prosperity of Eng- 

 land later attracted Welsh, Scots, 

 and Irish from within the British 

 Isles and strangers from the Con- 

 tinent. British freedom drew many 

 immigrant aliens from Central 

 Europe, particularly the Jews. Con- 

 sequently, the English people is 

 almost as kaleidoscopic as the Eng- 

 lish rocks or English weather. The 

 total of some 36 millions is unevenly 

 distributed over the area of 51,000 

 sq. m. England contained two- 

 thirds of tlie population of the 

 British Isles in 1871 and three-quar- 

 ters in 1911 ; the rate of increase 

 per decade has gradually diminished 

 from 134 per thousand, 1861-71, 

 to 105, 1901-1911. In 1801 the 

 population was 8,900,000, and in 

 1851, 17,900,000. 



The Pennine, N. Yorkshire and 

 Cornish moors, and the Cumbrian 

 Mts. are uninhabited ; in the in- 



habited areas 

 there is a con- 

 tinuous gradation 

 towards definite 

 areas of concen- 

 tration Roughly, 

 in a belt of country 

 stretching from 

 Weymouth across 

 Salisbury Plain 

 and the Clay Vale 

 to near Peter - 

 borough, past 

 Lincolnand Gains- 

 borough to York 

 and the N. half of 

 the plain of the 

 Tees, the popu- 

 lation is least 

 dense. E. of thi< 

 belt there is 

 approximately a 

 steady increase 

 towards the Lon- 

 don area. W. of 

 it there are several 

 foci of population. 

 Bristol, the Black 

 Country, the Pot- 

 teries, the invert- 

 ed sickle of S.E. 



England. Isothermic map, in which points recording 

 the same temperature at a given time are joined by lines 



Lancashire, and the W. Riding with come larger except at Newark. New 



the continuation to Derby and Not- nuclei had grown along the lines 



tingham, the Durham district from already noted, but the greatest 



Darlington to Newcastle all these change occurred near Nottingham, 



are crowded, and the population where a small urban area had ex- 



gradually thins out away from panded to make almost a complete 



these centres. ring something like 5 m. wide. 



Varying Areas of Population Throughout two-thirds of the area 



A closer' examination of details the population was less numerous 



indicates that the areas of dense in 1901 than a century earlier ; in 



population such as the London dis- P arts there had been an almost 



continuous decline, elsewhere there 



trict include nuclei of very dense 

 population grading off to areas of 

 relatively few inhabitants. Con- 

 sider the area composed of the 

 counties of Cheshire, Derbyshire, 

 Nottingham, and the N. half of 

 Staffordshire. In 1801 more than 

 half the area had fewer people than 

 128 per sq. m. In the W. half 

 Chester, Nantwich, Northwich, 

 Macclesfield, Stoke, Stockport, and 

 Altrincham were small urban areas 

 with at least 1,920 people per sq.m. 

 In the E., Derby, Nottingham, 

 Newark, Retford, and Chesterfield 

 were similar urban areas. By 1851 

 the areas of sparse population had 

 grown smaller and the urban areas 

 exceeding 1,920 per sq. m. were 

 more numerous along certain 

 definite Jines, from Birkenhead to 

 Stockport along the Mersey, from 

 Stoke N. to Macclesfield, from 

 Derby N. to Chesterfield ; the Not- 

 tingham nucleus was larger, but 

 those of Chester, Retford, and 

 Newark were unchanged. 



By 1901 the areas of sparse 

 population were nearly as large as 

 in 1801 ; the rural areas were being 

 depopulated. The urban nuclei, 

 already developed in 1851, had be- 



had been growth until 1841 and 

 subsequent decline. The urban 

 areas already specified had multi- 

 plied their numbers by from 4 to 10 

 times. Near Birkenhead, round 

 Stoke, in a belt of country from 

 Nottingham to Chesterfield, there 

 occurred exceptional growth. 



General Conclusions 

 An inquiry into the circum- 

 stances attendant upon these 

 changes yielded the following con- 

 clusions. The purely farming areas 

 either absolutely declined in 

 numbers or increased by little 

 more than 50 p.c. In the lead-min- 

 ing districts the population was 

 almost stationary until the mines 

 failed, when it declined absolutely. 

 In the colliery districts the popu- 

 lation increased approximately 

 eightfold. In the salt -mining areas 

 of Cheshire the people increased 

 steadily. . In the districts where 

 cotton factories were established 

 growth in population was rapid, but 

 the failure of factories established 

 in unsuitable localities during the 

 boom caused a decline. Results 

 may be summarised thus : the in- 

 dustrial development of the are* 



