North West Geography
Volume 1, Number 1, 2001
Articles are available as individual downloads in PDF (Portable Document Format)
You can download Acrobat Reader by clicking the button below and following the instructions:
the place discourses of Granada Tonight
Abstract
This paper analyses a regional news bulletin in order
to illustrate the ways in which media discourse may contribute to popular
understandings about place and social relations. Initially then,
the programme Granada Tonight is shown to buy into dominant and conventional
discourses about North West ‘reality’ and, as such, reaffirm the historical
‘othering’ of North West culture in the regional and national psyche.
However, the same text is then shown to be the site for resistant or oppositional
ideas that undermine conventional discourse and encourage a more pro-active
North West political culture.
conflict or camaraderie?
Abstract
In recent years the use of upland British bridleways has increased.
It has been suggested that conflicts exist between the ‘new’ user group of mountain bikers
and more ‘traditional’ users, and that the presence of mountain bikers denudes the sense of
wilderness for which many traditional users visit upland areas.
This study investigates the extent and type of conflict between different users on upland bridleways in the Lake District.
Through semi-structured interviews it is found that rather than ‘getting away from everything’,
the presence of like minded ‘outdoor’ people is an important element of many peoples’ enjoyment of upland bridleways,
and that this camaraderie can overcome user group differences.
Irish migrant identities in early Victorian Manchester
Abstract
This paper interrogates the text of five broadside ballads dealing with Irish
concerns in early Victorian Manchester. By way of introduction, there will be a discussion of the
significance of soundscapes in Geography, with particular reference to Political Geography.
The origin and nature of broadside ballads will then be examined and the history and geography of Irish migrant
settlement in Manchester discussed. Five recurring themes which emerge from a ballad collection printed in the city
will be analysed, and it will be argued that they reveal a people caught between two contrasting culture worlds.
Abstract
Although the southern Pennine uplands have experienced industrially derived
heavy metal pollution for almost two hundred years, an historical analysis of its depositional record has
not yet been undertaken. The area has no natural lakes but has many reservoirs, and
despite the potential for sediment disturbance due to fluctuating water levels, reservoir sediments can be
used as a record of heavy metal pollution. A methodology for the selection of reservoirs with undisturbed
sedimentary records, and the verification of sediment stratigraphy is proposed. Preliminary results of metal
analysis from the Howden reservoir indicate trace metal contamination with Zn > Pb > Cr > Ni = Cu.
Abstract
Contemporary migration into city centres is linked to redevelopment, gentrification and changing lifestyles.
The population of Manchester’s city centre had fallen to only 800 in 1991, but had increased sixfold by 1999. A survey of single
male households in the city centre suggested that about one quarter of the households are headed by gay males.
Most of these males are young, arrived in the 1990s, and were attracted by the Gay Village. A further one quarter of the
households are headed by ‘straight’ males who have many similar characteristics. However, both these groups are different
from the pre-existing population of the city centre. This movement of young males to the city centre is seen as a pioneer migration,
in which the role of gay men is significant.
Ordnance Survey One Inch Maps:
Rossendale 1895