Lancashire

Lancashire
Geography
Status	Ceremonial & (smaller) Non-metropolitan county <tr><th>Origin</th><td>Historic</td></tr>
Region	North West England
Area - Total - Admin. council - Admin. area	Ranked 17th 3,075 km² Ranked 16th 2,903 km ² <tr><th>Admin HQ</th><td>Preston</td></tr><tr><th>ISO 3166-2</th><td>GB-LAN</td></tr>
ONS code	30
NUTS 3	UKD43
Demographics
Population - Total (2005 est.) - Density - Admin. council - Admin. pop.	Ranked 8th 1,439,200 468 / km² Ranked 4th 1,156,100
Ethnicity	93.4% White 5.3% S. Asian
Politics
Lancashire County Council http://www.lancashire.gov.uk <tr><th>Executive</th><td>Labour</td></tr>
Members of Parliament	Janet Anderson David Borrow Rosie Cooper Nigel Evans Mark Hendrick Lindsay Hoyle Joan Humble Michael Jack Gordon Marsden Greg Pope Gordon Prentice Geraldine Smith Jack Straw Kitty Ussher Ben Wallace
Districts
West Lancashire Chorley South Ribble Fylde Preston Wyre Lancaster Ribble Valley Pendle Burnley Rossendale Hyndburn Blackpool (Unitary) Blackburn with Darwen (Unitary)

Lancashire is a county in North West England, bounded to the west by the Irish Sea. It takes its name from the city of Lancaster and is sometimes known as the County of Lancaster.^[1] Its county council is based at Preston. Commonly, Lancashire is referred to by the abbreviation Lancs, originally used by the Royal Mail. People from the county are known as Lancastrians. The county was subject to a significant boundary change in 1974;^[2] which removed Liverpool and most of Manchester with most of their surrounding conurbations to form part of the new counties of Merseyside and Greater Manchester.^[3] The Duchy of Lancaster exercises the right of the Crown in the area known as the County Palatine of Lancaster.

Divisions and environs

The area under the control of the county council, or shire county, is divided into a number of local government districts. They are Burnley, Chorley, Fylde, Hyndburn, Lancaster, Pendle, Preston, the Ribble Valley, Rossendale, South Ribble, West Lancashire, and Wyre.^[4][5]

Blackpool and Blackburn with Darwen are unitary authorities which form part of the county for various functions such as Lord Lieutenant but do not come under county council control.^[6] The Lancashire Constabulary covers the two unitary authorities.^[7] The ceremonial county, the area including the unitary authorities, borders Cumbria, North Yorkshire, West Yorkshire, and the metropolitan counties of Greater Manchester, and Merseyside and forms part of the North West England region.^[8]

Lancashire County Council

Main article: Lancashire County Council

The county council, serving the shire county, is based in County Hall in Preston, built as a home for the Lancashire county administration (including the Quarter Sessions and Lancashire Constabulary) and opened on September 14, 1882.^[9]

Local elections for 84 councillors from 28 divisions are held every four years. The council is currently Labour Party controlled.^[10]

Physical geography

County top

The highest point of the ceremonial county is Gragareth, near Whernside, which reaches a height of 627 m (2,057 ft)^[11]. However, Green Hill near to Gragareth has also been cited as the county top. ^{[citation needed]} The highest point within the historic boundaries is Coniston Old Man in the Lake District at 803 m (2,634 ft).^[12]

Rivers and lakes

Lancashire drains west from the Pennines into the Irish Sea. The major rivers which discharge into the sea are the Mersey (which forms the historic border with Cheshire and is now located entirely outside the ceremonial county), Ribble, Wyre and Lune. Now within Cumbria are the Leven and Duddon (which forms the historic border with Cumberland). Major tributaries of these rivers include the Calder, Crake, Darwen, Douglas, Hodder, Irwell, Roch, Tame and Yarrow.

Within the historic boundaries are the lakes of Windermere, Coniston Water and Esthwaite Water in the Lake District, which now form part of Cumbria.^[13][14] Windermere forms the traditional border with Westmorland, as does the River Brathay which feeds the lake at its northern end and the River Winster and flows into the Kent estuary to the south-east.

History

Main article: History of Lancashire

The Red Rose of Lancaster

The historic county boundaries

The county was established in 1182 ^[2] and later than many other counties. In the Domesday Book, its lands between the Ribble and the Mersey had been part of Cheshire and the territority to the north formed part of the West Riding of Yorkshire.^[15] It bordered on Cumberland, Westmorland, Yorkshire, and Cheshire.

The county was divided into the six hundreds of Amounderness, Blackburn, Leyland, Lonsdale, Salford and West Derby.^[16] Lonsdale was further partitioned into Lonsdale North, which was the detached part north of Morecambe Bay (also known as Furness), and Lonsdale South.

The Red Rose of Lancaster is the traditional symbol for the House of Lancaster, immortalized in the verse "In the battle for England's head/York was white, Lancaster red" (referring to the 15th century War of the Roses).

Lancashire is now much smaller than its historic extent due to a local government reform.^[17] In 1889 an administrative county of Lancashire was created, covering the historic county except for county boroughs such as Liverpool and Manchester.^[18] The area covered by the Lord-Lieutenant (termed now a ceremonial county) continued to cover the entirety of the administrative county along with the county boroughs, and thus was expanded slightly whenever boroughs annexed areas in other neighbouring counties. Examples of this include Wythenshawe (an area of Manchester south of the River Mersey and historically in Cheshire), and southern Warrington. This area also did not cover the western part of Todmorden, where the traditional border between Lancashire and Yorkshire runs through the middle of the town.

During the 20th century the county became increasingly urbanised, particularly the southern part. To the existing county boroughs of Barrow-in-Furness, Blackburn, Bolton, Bootle, Burnley, Bury, Liverpool, Manchester, Oldham, Preston, Rochdale, Salford, St Helens and Wigan were added Blackpool (1904), Southport (1905), and Warrington (1900). The county boroughs also had many boundary extensions. The borders around the Manchester area were particularly complicated, with narrow protrusions of the administrative county between the county boroughs - Lees urban district formed a detached part of the administrative county, between Oldham county borough and the West Riding of Yorkshire.^[19]

By the census of 1971 the population of Lancashire (including all its associated county boroughs) had reached 5,129,416, making it then the most populous geographic county in the UK. The administrative county of Lancashire was also the most populous of its type outside of London, with a population of 2,280,359 in 1961.

On 1 April 1974, under the Local Government Act 1972, the administrative county of Lancashire was abolished, as were the county boroughs. The urbanised southern part largely became part of two new metropolitan counties. The south-western part became part of the Merseyside, the south-eastern part was incorporated into Greater Manchester.^[20] The new county of Cumbria took the Furness exclave.^[2] The boroughs of Liverpool, Knowsley, St Helens and Sefton were entirely from Lancashire. In Greater Manchester the successor boroughs were Bury, Bolton, Manchester, Oldham (part), Rochdale, Salford, Tameside (part), Trafford (part) and Wigan.

Warrington and Widnes, south of the new Merseyside/Greater Manchester border, rather than become part of Greater Manchester or Merseyside were instead made part of the new non-metropolitan county of Cheshire.

The urban districts of Barnoldswick and Earby, the Bowland Rural District and the parishes of Bracewell and Brogden and Salterforth from the Skipton Rural District from the West Riding of Yorkshire became part of the new Lancashire.^[3]

One parish, Simonswood, was transferred from the borough of Knowsley in Merseyside to the district of West Lancashire in 1994.^[21]

In 1998 the county borough system re-appeared in all but name, when Blackpool and Blackburn with Darwen became independent unitary authorities.

Northern England referendums, 2004

Main article: Northern England referendums, 2004

In 2004 the Boundary Committee for England published recommendations for a new systems of unitary authorities in the North West. A referendum in the North East rejected a similar reform there and plans to hold a further reform in the North West, including Lancashire, were cancelled.

Local identity

A pressure group, the Friends of Real Lancashire, seek to promote use of the historic borders, and raised a petition in 1994 with 30,000 signatures calling "for the restoration of Lancashire's historic boundaries"^{[22] [23]} - the petition requested that the "Metropolitan Counties of Merseyside, Greater Manchester and Cumbria [sic] be abolished and the real and historic county of Lancashire be restored". There is also a long-running campaign for Southport to be removed from Sefton in Merseyside. ^[24]

Greater Manchester was never adopted as a postal county by the Royal Mail, and so places in Greater Manchester retained their Lancashire and Cheshire addresses. Other changes to the administrative borders were reflected in the postal counties.

Duchy of Lancaster

The Duchy of Lancaster is one of two remaining royal duchies in the United Kingdom. It has large landholdings throughout the region and elsewhere, and operates as a property company, but also exercises the right of the Crown in the County Palatine of Lancaster.^[25] In 1992 it was stated by the Chancellor of the Duchy of Lancaster, William Waldegrave that the "boundaries of the county palatine are the same as the county boundaries which existed prior to local government reorganisation in 1973"^[26] However the Duchy's website now describes the County Palatine as consisting of "the counties of Lancashire, Greater Manchester, Merseyside and the Furness area of Cumbria".^[27]

High Sheriffs for Lancashire, Greater Manchester and Merseyside are appointed "within the Duchy and County Palatine of Lancaster".^[28]

The Duchy administers bona vacantia within the County Palatine, receiving the property of persons who die intestate, and where the legal ownership cannot be ascertained.

There is no separate Duke of Lancaster, the title having merged in the Crown many centuries ago - but the Duchy is administered by the Queen in Right of the Duchy of Lancaster. A separate court system for the county palatine was finally abolished by Courts Act 1971. A particular form of the The Loyal Toast is still in regular local use: 'The Queen, Duke of Lancaster'.

Industry and commerce

Lancashire in the 19th century was a major centre of industrial activity and hence of wealth. Activities included mining and textile production (particularly cotton), though on the coast there was also fishing. Historically, the docks in Preston were an industrial port, though are now disused for commercial purposes. Lancashire was historically the location of the Mersey Ports (now on Merseyside) while Barrow-in-Furness (now in Cumbria) is famous for shipbuilding.

Today Lancashire is home to firms such as BAE Systems (which has four factories in Lancashire including Warton Aerodrome and BAE Samlesbury, major centres of production for the Eurofighter Typhoon and F-35 Joint Strike Fighter), Heinz, TVR cars, Leyland Trucks and Marconi telecoms.

Economic output

This is a chart of trend of regional gross value added of the non-metropolitan county of Lancashire at current basic prices published (pp.240-253) by Office for National Statistics with figures in millions of British Pounds Sterling.

Transport

Lancashire has a well-developed transport infrastructure^[33] with an extensive network of motorways covering the county. The West Coast Main Line provides direct rail links with London and other major cities, with stations at Preston and Lancaster. The county has many other railway stations. The county is served by Blackpool International Airport, however Manchester International Airport in Greater Manchester is the main airport in the region. Liverpool John Lennon Airport, on Merseyside is also nearby.

Heysham and Fleetwood offer ferry services to Ireland and the Isle of Man.^[34] As part of its industrial past, Lancashire gave rise to an extensive network of canals, which extend into neighbouring counties. These include the Leeds and Liverpool Canal, Lancaster Canal, Bridgewater Canal, Rochdale Canal, Ashton Canal and Manchester Ship Canal.

Demographics

The major settlements in the ceremonial county are concentrated on the Fylde coast (the Blackpool Urban Area), and a belt of towns running east-west along the M65 - Preston, Blackburn, Accrington, Burnley, Nelson and Colne. South of Preston are the towns of Leyland and Chorley - the three formed part of the Central Lancashire New Town designated in 1970. The north is generally sparsely populated, with Morecambe and Lancaster forming a small conurbation.

Settlements

Main article: List of places in Lancashire

covering the ceremonial county

Blackpool Tower

Some settlements which were historically part of the county now fall under the counties of West Yorkshire, Cheshire, Merseyside, Greater Manchester and Cumbria:^{[2] [3][20][35] [18][36] [37]}

Note: Cities are in bold
† - part of the West Riding of Yorkshire until 1974

Boundary changes to occur before 1974 include:^[37]

• Todmorden (split between Lancashire and Yorkshire) entirely to West Riding of Yorkshire in 1889
• Mossley (split between Lancashire, Yorkshire and Cheshire) entirely to Lancashire in 1889
• Stalybridge, entirely to Cheshire in 1889
• the former county boroughs of Manchester and Warrington both extended south of the Mersey into historic Cheshire (areas such as Wythenshawe and Latchford)
• correspondingly, the former county borough of Stockport extended north into historic Lancashire, including areas such as Reddish and the Heatons (Heaton Chapel, Heaton Mersey, Heaton Moor and Heaton Norris).

Sport

The newly redeveloped Deepdale stadium home of Preston North End

Lancashire is one of Britain's most successful sporting counties. ^{[citation needed]}

Cricket

Lancashire County Cricket Club, based at Old Trafford, Manchester^[38], has been one of the most successful county cricket teams, particularly in the one-day game. It is home to England cricket team members Andrew Flintoff, James Anderson and Sajid Mahmood.

Historically important local cricket leagues include the Lancashire League and the Central Lancashire League, both of which were formed in 1892. These league clubs hire international professional players to play alongside their amateur players.

Football

Six of the twelve clubs which founded the Football League were from Lancashire.

Based in ceremonial Lancashire are Premiership team Blackburn Rovers, Championship teams Burnley and Preston North End from League One: Blackpool and from League Two: Accrington Stanley.

Based in other ceremonial counties are Premiership teams Bolton Wanderers, Everton, Liverpool, Manchester City, Manchester United and Wigan Athletic. Oldham Athletic play in League One and Bury and Rochdale play in League Two.

Together these teams have achieved 51 Football League/ Premier League titles, 7 European Cups and 42 F.A. Cups.

Rugby

Several successful rugby league teams are based within the historic boundaries of Lancashire, mainly in the south of the county:

• Super League: Salford City Reds, St Helens, Warrington Wolves, Widnes Vikings, Wigan Warriors
• National League One: Leigh Centurions, Oldham Roughyeds, Rochdale Hornets
• National League Two: Barrow Raiders, Blackpool Panthers, Swinton Lions

Of these only Blackpool Panthers are based within the ceremonial county.

Rugby union teams include Fylde, Orrell R.U.F.C. and Preston Grasshoppers.

Other

Two of the nine golf courses on the Open Championship rota are in historic Lancashire: Royal Lytham & St Annes at Lytham St Annes and Royal Birkdale near Southport.

Lancashire has a long history of wrestling with many clubs that over the years have produced many renowned wrestlers. Some of these have crossed over into the mainstream world of professional wrestling, including Billy Riley, Davey Boy Smith, and The Dynamite Kid.

Cuisine

The Ashton Memorial, Lancaster

Lancashire is widely-known for its eponymous Lancashire Hotpot, a casserole dish traditionally made with lamb and for Lancashire cheese, reputed to be the best toasting cheese in the world. Other traditional foods from the area include:

• Black Pudding: long associated with the town of Bury.
• Bury Simnel: cross between a fruitcake and a biscuit. Eaten on Simnel or Mid-Lent Sunday.
• Butter Cake - slice of bread and butter.
• Clapbread: oatcake
• Chorley cakes: from the town of Chorley.
• Ducks: faggots as in savoury ducks.
• Eccles cakes: from the town of Eccles.
• Fag Pie: pie made from chopped dried figs, sugar and lard. Associated with Blackburn and Burnley where it was the highlight of Fag Pie Sunday (Mid-Lent Sunday).
• Fish and Chips: first fish and chip shop in northern England opened in Mossley near Oldham around 1863. ^[39]
• Frog-i'-th'-'ole pudding: now known as toad in the hole.
• Frumenty: sweet porridge. Once a popular dish at Lancashire festivals like Christmas and Easter Monday.
• Goosnargh Cakes: Small flat shortbread biscuits with corriander or caraway seeds pressed into the biscuit before baking. Tradionally baked on feast days like Shrove Tuesday.
• Jannock: cake or small loaf of oatmeal. Allegedly introduced to Lancashire (possibly Bolton by Flemish weavers.
• Nettle Porridge: a common starvation diet in Lancashire in the early 1800s. Made from boiled stinging nettles with perhaps a handful of meal.
• Ormskirk Gingerbread: local delicacy which were sold all over South Lancashire
• Pobs, Pobbies: bread and milk.
• Potato Hotpot, a variation of the Lancashire Hotpot without meat also known as fatherless pie
• Ran Dan: barley bread. Food of last resort for the poor at the end of the 18th Century and beginning of the 19th Century.

Famous Lancastrians

As one of the most populous counties Lancashire has produced many famous names. See Natives of Lancashire.

Places of interest

Key
	National Trust
	English Heritage
	Forestry Commission
	Country Park
	Accessible open space
	Museums (free/not free)
	Heritage railway
	Historic House

The following are places of interest in the ceremonial county:

• Arnside and Silverdale AONB
• Astley Green Colliery Museum, Tyldesley
• Astley Hall
• Blackburn Cathedral
• Blackpool Pleasure Beach
• Blackpool Tower
• Blackpool Zoo
• British Commercial Vehicle Museum, Leyland
• Camelot Theme Park
• Clegg Hall
• Darwen Tower
• East Lancashire Railway
• Forest of Bowland: Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty
• Gawthorpe Hall, Padiham
• Harris Museum
• Helmshore Textile Museum
• Hoghton Tower
• Irwell Sculpture Trail
• Lancaster Castle
• Lancaster Cathedral
• Lathom Park Chapel, site of Lathom Hall, seat of the Earls of Derby
• Leighton Moss nature reserve, Royal Society for the Protection of Birds
• Martin Mere, Wildfowl and Wetlands Trust nature reserve, Burscough
• Morecambe Bay
• Museum of Lancashire
• National Football Museum
• Pendle Hill
• The Pennines , provide great opportunity for Mountain Biking
• Rock Climbing is popular with the area having some 6,600+ routes to climb many of which are in disused quarries.
• Rufford Old Hall
• Samlesbury Hall
• St Walburge's Church
• Towneley Hall, Burnley
• West Lancashire Light Railway
• West Pennine Moors
• Williamson Park and the Ashton Memorial
• Witton Country Park
• Yarrow Valley Park

References

External links

• Traditions of Lancashire, Volume 1 (of 2), by John Roby
• Lancashire Lantern, The Lancashire Life and Times E-Resource network
• Website of the film 'Catch - the hold not taken', a look at the cultural significance of wrestling in Lancashire
• Lancashire County Council - MARIO (Mapping portal)
• Photographs of Lancashire
• An online survey about Lancashire dialect

United Kingdom • England • Ceremonial counties of England

Counties of the Lieutenancies Act 1997 Bedfordshire |Berkshire |City of Bristol |Buckinghamshire |Cambridgeshire |Cheshire |Cornwall |Cumbria |Derbyshire |Devon |Dorset |Durham |East Riding of Yorkshire |East Sussex |Essex |Gloucestershire |Greater London |Greater Manchester |Hampshire |Herefordshire |Hertfordshire |Isle of Wight |Kent |Lancashire |Leicestershire |Lincolnshire |City of London |Merseyside |Norfolk |Northamptonshire |Northumberland |North Yorkshire |Nottinghamshire |Oxfordshire |Rutland |Shropshire |Somerset |South Yorkshire |Staffordshire |Suffolk |Surrey |Tyne and Wear |Warwickshire |West Midlands |West Sussex |West Yorkshire |Wiltshire |Worcestershire

United Kingdom • England • Historic counties of England

Counties that originate prior to 1889 Bedfordshire |Berkshire |Buckinghamshire |Cambridgeshire |Cheshire |Cornwall |Cumberland |Derbyshire |Devon |Dorset |Durham |Essex |Gloucestershire |Hampshire |Herefordshire |Hertfordshire |Huntingdonshire |Kent |Lancashire |Leicestershire |Lincolnshire |Middlesex |Norfolk |Northamptonshire |Northumberland |Nottinghamshire |Oxfordshire |Rutland |Shropshire |Somerset |Staffordshire |Suffolk |Surrey |Sussex |Warwickshire |Westmorland |Wiltshire |Worcestershire |Yorkshire

Districts of North West England
Allerdale | Barrow-in-Furness | Blackburn with Darwen | Blackpool | Bolton | Burnley | Bury | Carlisle | Chester | Chorley | Congleton | Copeland | Crewe and Nantwich | Eden | Ellesmere Port and Neston | Fylde | Halton | Hyndburn | Knowsley | Lancaster | Liverpool | Macclesfield | Manchester | Oldham | Pendle | Preston | Ribble Valley | Rochdale | Rossendale | St Helens | Salford | Sefton | South Lakeland | South Ribble | Stockport | Tameside | Trafford | Vale Royal | Warrington | West Lancashire | Wigan | Wirral | Wyre
Counties with multiple districts: Cheshire, Cumbria, Greater Manchester, Lancashire, Merseyside

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