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The Old North is the name used to describe those parts
of southern Scotland and northern England that remained culturally and
linguistically British after the arrival of the English in the 5th-6th
centuries AD. The term comes from the Welsh Yr Hen Ogledd and encapulates the sense that the people of later Medieval Wales (y Cymry) considered themselves to be one and the same people as their forebears in the north. The Old North was the birthplace of Welsh literature, home to the famous early bards Taliesin and Aneirin as well as many historical characters later incorporated into Arthurian legend including Urien, Owain, Peredur and Merlin. This website explores the history, language and literature of the Old North and includes a number of the original sources from which our knowledge of this fascinating period derives. |