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Further north, the cultural differences become more distinct and go further back into history, resulting in Scotland having at least three languages: Gaelic (related to Irish), Brythonic (nowadays sometimes named "Old Welsh") and variants of Anglian (both "Scots" and "modern English") deriving from Middle English.
The western parts of the country have a rich celtic heritage, with the Gaelic being one of Europe's oldest languages.
The Brythonic languages, once prevalent in Galloway, Cumbria, the Borders and further east died out, and it has been suggested that some of the ‘British tribes’ left for North Wales, filling the vacuum left by the demise of Roman settlers, and contributing to the marked differences between North and South Welsh. There is also speculation that eastern tribes such as the Picts had languages in this group.
In the east and south the Scots tongue shares many words with modern Scandanavian languages and carries germanic patterns of speech, Known north of the Tay as “the Doric” (after the Greek for “country-folk”), and in the Borders and in the Central Belt (including the Lothians and Fife) as Lallans, (Lowlands) it is the mother tongue of Robert Burns and is closely related to the dialects of Anglian in Northumbria. The distinct nordic and germanic influences push at the line between a dialect and a distinct language, as English readers of Burns will know.
Similarly the dialects of Yorkshire, Lancashire and Cumbria are influenced by Scandanavia and the landscape studded with nordic place names all the way up into the high hills.
Local difference and a strong sense of local identity remain marked characteristics of North Britons, be they English or Scots, to the extent that many immigrants have learned to respect the same differences.