Lancashire Totally Explained

Lancashire is a non-metropolitan county of historic origin in the North West of 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. Its county council is based in Preston, the county's administrative capital. Lancaster however is still considered to be the county town. 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, which removed Liverpool and Manchester with most of their surrounding conurbations to form part of the metropolitan counties of Merseyside and Greater Manchester. 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. Blackpool and Blackburn with Darwen are unitary authorities which form part of the county for various functions such as Lord Lieutenant but don't come under county council control. The Lancashire Constabulary covers the two unitary authorities. 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.

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. Local elections for 84 councillors from 84 divisions are held every four years. The council is currently controlled by the Labour Party.

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). However, Green Hill near to Gragareth has also been cited as the county top. The highest point within the historic boundaries is Coniston Old Man in the Lake District at 803 m (2,634 ft).

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. 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 county was established in 1182 and were included in the returns for Cheshire. Although some have taken this to mean that south Lancashire was, at that time, part of Cheshire It is also claimed that the territory to the north formed, at that time, part of the West Riding of Yorkshire. 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. 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. In 1889 an administrative county of Lancashire was created, covering the historic county except for county boroughs such as Liverpool and Manchester. 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 didn't 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.
   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 Merseyside, the south-eastern part was incorporated into Greater Manchester. The new county of Cumbria took the Furness exclave.
   In 1998 the county borough system re-appeared in all but name, when Blackpool and Blackburn with Darwen became independent unitary authorities.
   The City of Lancaster, Pennsylvania, USA, founded in 1742, was named after Lancashire. It's neighbor city, York, PA is located about 30 miles to the west. The War of the Roses tradition continued with Lancaster using as its symbol the red rose, and York, the white.

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" - 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.
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 until the abolition of postal counties in 1996. Rochdale and Wigan, for example, were classed as parts of Lancashire. Other changes to the administrative borders were reflected in the postal counties.
Lancashire has a fairly strong identity as a county. In the areas that have since been transferred into other adminstrative counties, attachment to Lancashire varies. In the Lancastrian parts of Greater Manchester, attachment to Lancashire is still strong, but the parts that were transferred to Cumbria have largely adopted their new county. In Merseyside, attachment to Lancashire tends to weaken as you get closer to Liverpool itself.

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. The Duchy's website now describes the County Palatine as comprising of "the counties of Lancashire, Greater Manchester, Merseyside and the Furness area of Cumbria". These new counties include areas formerly in Cheshire and Yorkshire and it's unclear as to whether this is a reference to the whole of the new counties or just the parts that comprised the Palatine prior to the 1974 boundary changes. However, 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"
   High Sheriffs for Lancashire, Greater Manchester and Merseyside are appointed "within the Duchy and County Palatine of Lancaster".
   The Duchy administers bona vacantia within the County Palatine, receiving the property of persons who die intestate, and where the legal ownership can't 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 (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.

Year	Regional Gross Value Added	Agriculture	Industry	Services
1995	13,789	344	5,461	7,984
2000	16,584	259	6,097	10,229
2003	19,206	294	6,352	12,560

Transport

Lancashire has a well-developed transport infrastructure 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 . The county is served by Blackpool International Airport, however Manchester 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. 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 west-east 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.

The table below has divided the settlements into their local authority district. Each district has a centre of administration; for some of these correlate with a district's largest town, while others are named after the geographical area.

Ceremonial county	Administration borough/district	Centre of administration	Other towns, villages and settlements
Lancashire	Blackburn with Darwen Borough (Unitary)	Blackburn	Belmont, Chapeltown, Darwen, Edgworth, Tockholes
	Blackpool Borough (Unitary)	Blackpool	Bispham, Layton
	Burnley Borough	Burnley	Harle Syke, Padiham, Rose Grove, Worsthorne, Cliviger.
	Chorley Borough	Chorley	Adlington, Clayton-le-Woods, Coppull, Croston, Eccleston, Euxton, Whittle-le-Woods
	Fylde Borough	Lytham St Annes	Freckleton, Kirkham, Warton, Wrea Green
	Hyndburn Borough	Accrington	Church, Clayton-le-Moors, Great Harwood, Oswaldtwistle, Rishton
	City of Lancaster	Lancaster	Bolton-le-Sands, Carnforth, Heysham, Morecambe,
	Pendle Borough	Nelson	Barnoldswick †, Barrowford, Brierfield, Colne, Earby †, Foulridge, Trawden
	City of Preston	Preston	Barton, Broughton, Fulwood, Goosnargh, Grimsargh, Whittingham
	Ribble Valley Borough	Clitheroe	Bolton-by-Bowland, Chipping, Hurst Green, Longridge, Read, Ribchester, Slaidburn, Whalley, Wilpshire,
	Rossendale Borough	Rawtenstall	Bacup, Chatterton, Edenfield, Haslingden, Helmshore, Whitworth
	South Ribble Borough	Leyland	Bamber Bridge, Farington, Longton, Lostock Hall, Penwortham, Samlesbury, Walton-le-Dale
	West Lancashire District	Ormskirk	Appley Bridge, Aughton, Banks, Bickerstaffe, Burscough, Downholland, Great Altcar, Halsall, Lathom, Parbold, Rufford, Scarisbrick, Skelmersdale, Tarleton, Upholland
	Wyre Borough	Poulton-le-Fylde	Churchtown, Cleveleys, Fleetwood, Garstang, Pilling, Preesall, St Michael's On Wyre, Thornton

� This table doesn't form an extensive list of the settlements in the ceremonial county. More settlements can be found at,, and .

Some settlements which were historically part of the county now fall under the counties of West Yorkshire, Cheshire, Merseyside, Greater Manchester and Cumbria:

Greater Manchester	Ashton-in-Makerfield, Ashton-under-Lyne, Bolton, Bury, Chadderton, Denton, Eccles, Farnworth, Heywood, Horwich, Hindley, Leigh, Manchester, Middleton, Oldham, Prestwich, Radcliffe, Rochdale, Salford, Swinton and Pendlebury, Tyldesley, Westhoughton, Wigan
Merseyside	Bootle, Crosby, Formby, Huyton, Kirkby, Liverpool, Maghull, Newton-le-Willows, Prescot, St Helens, Southport
Cumbria	Barrow-in-Furness, Coniston, Dalton-in-Furness, Grange-over-Sands, Ulverston
Cheshire	Warrington, Widnes
West Yorkshire	Todmorden

Note: Cities are in bold † - part of the West Riding of Yorkshire until 1974
Boundary changes to occur before 1974 include: 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, Preston North End and 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. All of these teams are part of the historic county of Lancashire a county under which they've played for the majority of their history.
   Together these teams have achieved 51 Football League/ Premier League titles, 7 European Cups and 42 FA 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, Wigan Warriors

National League One: Leigh Centurions, Rochdale Hornets, Widnes Vikings

National League Two: Barrow Raiders, Blackpool Panthers,Oldham Roughyeds, Swinton Lions Of these only Blackpool Panthers are based within the ceremonial county. Rugby union teams include Sale Sharks, 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, developing its own style called Lancashire 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, William Regal and The Dynamite Kid.

Cuisine

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 peas, also known as parched peas: popular in Bolton and Preston.

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.

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 coriander or caraway seeds pressed into the biscuit before baking. Traditionally 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.

Rag Pudding: Traditional Suet Pudding filled with Minced Meat and Onions.

Sad Cake: A traditional cake, perhaps a variation of the more widely known Chorley cake, once common around Burnley.

Scouse, a type of stew popular in Liverpool (historically part of Lancashire).

Throdkins: a traditional breakfast food of the Fylde.

Famous Lancastrians

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

Places of interest

The following are places of interest in the ceremonial county:

Arnside and Silverdale AONB

Astley Green Colliery Museum, Tyldesley

Astley Hall

Beacon Fell

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

Pennington Flash

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

Stonyhurst College - a Manor House dating back to 1592, now an English public school, run by the Jesuits

Towneley Hall, Burnley

West Lancashire Light Railway

West Pennine Moors

Williamson Park and the Ashton Memorial

Witton Country Park

Yarrow Valley Park

Notes and References

Bibliography

Crosby, A. (1996). A History of Cheshire. (The Darwen County History Series.) Chichester, West Sussex, UK: Phillimore & Co. Ltd. ISBN 0850339324.

Harris, B. E., and Thacker, A. T. (1987). The Victoria History of the County of Chester. (Volume 1: Physique, Prehistory, Roman, Anglo-Saxon, and Domesday). Oxford: Oxford University Press. ISBN 0197227619.

Morgan, P. (1978). Domesday Book Cheshire: Including Lancashire, Cumbria, and North Wales. Chichester, Sussex: Phillimore & Co. Ltd. ISBN 0850331404.

Phillips A. D. M., and Phillips, C. B. (2002), A New Historical Atlas of Cheshire. Chester, UK: Cheshire County Council and Cheshire Community Council Publications Trust. ISBN 0904532461.

Sylvester, D. (1980). A History of Cheshire. (The Darwen County History Series). (2nd Edition.) London and Chichester, Sussex: Phillimore & Co. Ltd. ISBN 0850333849.

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