THE SETTLEMENT FACTOR IN THE RURAL PROBLEMS OF NORTH-EAST ENGLAND

Abstract

Much attention has been focussed in recent years on the changing distribution of population in North-east England since the Industrial Revolution. In the introduction to his paper on this subject, J. W. House mentions many of the forces which are still in the process of complicating the earlier relatively simple factor of the drift of population from the countryside to the towns. The impacts of international trade systems, the consequences of government economic policies towards both industry and agriculture, the effects of two world wars, and the increased mobility through improved transport are just a few of the elements which must now be considered when making a study of the rural areas.