Whilst substantial evidence for the origins of the rapper sword tradition does not exist, as of 2012, since the publication of "Rapper; The miner's Dance of North East England" by Phil Heaton it is generally accepted that the dance was originally performed in the mining villages of the Northumberland and Durham coalfield in North-East England, with an intensity of activity traced to pits along both the Durham and Northumberland banks of the river Tyne. A "hilt-and-point" sword dance also existed in South Durham, Cumberland and Yorkshire, where rigid longswords were used. A documented account of the Yorkshire dance has been located in a 1715 article, in which a fairly accurate description can be read. Later references to sword dancing in the northern counties include a dance described in 1787 in the Cumberland Packet newspaper of January 1788, and a description from Teesdale in 1778, referenced by Hutchinson in his "View of Northumberland".