Ashington? All the way up there? I'd find that surprising as well.
What was the source?
its true, although Ashington has the most, quite alot of them are spread around South East Northumberland, mainly due to miners moving there for work years and years ago.
Early 20th century strike breaking blackleg scum i believe. Led to the first case of football hooliganism in 1905 at SJP apparently.