Teesside the four independent unitary authority boroughs of Hartlepool, Stockton, Middlesbrough and Redcar and Cleveland (a renamed Langbaurgh). At this time they were returned to the counties of North Yorkshire and County Durham for ceremonial purposes, with Stockton-on-Tees becoming the only district in England split between two ceremonial counties. In 1998 the neighbouring Borough of Darlington also became an independent unitary authority and this along with the four former Cleveland boroughs form the sub-region of the Tees Valley which is used for statistical purposes and governmental organisation. The name Tees Valley is increasingly promoted for economic and cultural connections, though Teesside,
English of Northumbria (spoken in mining towns such as Ashington), Mackem (spoken in Wearside) and arguably Smoggie (Teesside). It is spoken mainly if not exclusively in the modern day counties of Northumberland, Tyne and Wear and Durham. The Anglo-Saxon kingdom of Northumbria was much more extensive than this, covering most parts of Yorkshire, and some parts of Cumbria, Lancashire and Scotland. The major Northumbrian dialects today are Geordie, Northern Northumbrian, Western Northumbrian, Southern Northumbrian or Pitmatic, Mackem, and arguably Smoggie, which is transitional between Northumbrian and Yorkshire English. To an outsider's ear the similarities between the dialects far outweigh the differences between the