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Lancashire is a county 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.[1] 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,[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 environsThe 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]
Lancashire County CouncilThe 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 84 divisions are held every four years. The council is currently Labour Party controlled.[10] Physical geographyCounty topThe 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
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
Image:EnglandLancashireTrad.png 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 territory 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 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. 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 referenda, 2004In 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 identityA 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 LancasterThe 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] not parts of modern Greater Manchester, Lancashire and Merseyside but all of them, which is different to the pre-1974 county cited in 1992, and includes areas formerly in Cheshire and Yorkshire. 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 commerceLancashire 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 outputThis 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.
TransportLancashire 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 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. DemographicsThe 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
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.
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
Boundary changes to occur before 1974 include:[37]
SportImage:Deepdale.jpg The newly redeveloped Deepdale stadium home of Preston North End Lancashire is one of Britain's most successful sporting counties.[citation needed] CricketLancashire County Cricket Club, based at the County Ground, Old Trafford,[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. FootballSix 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 FA Cups. RugbySeveral successful rugby league teams are based within the historic boundaries of Lancashire, mainly in the south of the county:
Of these only Blackpool Panthers are based within the ceremonial county. Rugby union teams include Fylde, Orrell R.U.F.C. and Preston Grasshoppers. OtherTwo 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. CuisineImage:Ashton Memorial upper levels.jpg 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:
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