Confusingly, early Chinese maps seem to buck this trend. But, Brotton, says, even though they did have compasses at the time, that isn’t the reason that they placed north at the top.

Northumberland and County Durham have also been rated highly in the rankings, which have been compiled using statistics from ...

The map, which can be accessed by clicking the link towards the end of the article, lets users hover over a particular area before a pop-up box explains their North East link.

27,404,243 English are strongest in the North East and North West. Maps from Ancestry & Ethnicity in America, 2012, Grey House Publishing, Amenia, NY. Reprinted with permission.

The map, which can be accessed by clicking the link towards the end of the article, lets users hover over a particular area before a pop-up box explains their North East link.