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I've always felt deep sense of connection to England. And to Britain. Dad's family, long before they went off to India in the late 18th century hailed from somewhere down towards the south coast, can't recall where. On mum's side the Gorton name is an old Anglo-Saxon name. More than likely originally of the place Gorton, in Manchester, a stone's throw from where Mum grew up and I was born.
I love the history, particularly the early history of the nations of Britain. I love the way names of places and people survive in fragmented forms across thousands of years. The Wicca, about whom we know so very little, and the kingdom of Elmete the last bastion of native British rule in England as the Anglo-Saxon age gathered pace. It would have been quite nearby my village...we may even be within its borders, I'm not sure.
I also love its more recent history of class consciousness and pride. With roots in a very old common culture of protest and 'political' activism.
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