No c.g, I don't think I was wilfully misunderstanding hrh's point.
The question is "Are there any English slow airs", and hrh said "If we exclude Northumberland, which is a seperate tradition" etc etc.I was pointing out that weasel words like that carry an unspoken assumption that needs to be faced sometimes. That assumption is, that there is an English tradition, which is separate from the Northumbrian tradition. My position is that the English tradition is large and multi-faceted, and includes the music Cotswolds, East Anglia, Lancashire, Northumberland etc. Now, this is maybe nitpicking over forms of words....but people who use forms of words like hrh there soon start falling into the trap of thinking that some things are more English than others. I say it again: just because Northumbrian music sounds a bit Scottish, it is no less part of the English tradition than a good old boy in a Norfolk pub with a melodeon. And just because Shropshire tunes may sound a bit Welsh doesn't give them any less status as traditonal music than the Mellstock quires sounds.
    I would also suggest that the geographical spread of slow listening music may have more to with time than intrinsic cultural differences. For example, we(in particular, the "Celtic" tourist industry)tend to associate bagpipes and harps with the western and northern regions of the British Isles, and therefore present them as a fine indigenous habit driven out by the filthy strangers/Angl-Saxon invaders. In fact, of course, the Anglo-Saxons had harps and bagpipes just the same as everybody else. But their heartlands moved into capitalism and industrialism quicker than the Celtic fringes, and the cultural changes tended to weaken,and in some cases get rid of many old ways. Among which we may number bagpipes, harps and slow airs, not to mention pubs where you can buy shoelaces..
    For that reason, when I was looking for nice slow sad English music to record, since I love slow sad music, I looked mainly in the north. And found!