The county has an area of 3,079 square kilometres (1,189 sq mi) and a population of 1,490,300. After Blackpool (149,070),[6] the largest settlements are
Blackburn (124,995) and the city of
Preston (94,490); the city of
Lancaster has a population of 52,655.[7] For
local government purposes Lancashire comprises a
non-metropolitan county with twelve districts, and two
unitary authority areas:
Blackburn with Darwen and
Blackpool. The county historically included the northern parts of Merseyside and Greater Manchester and the
Furness region of Cumbria, and excluded the eastern part of the
Forest of Bowland.
The west of Lancashire contains flat coastal plains, which rise to the hills of the
Pennines in the east. The county contains large parts of two
national landscapes,
Arnside and Silverdale and the
Forest of Bowland, and other protected areas such as the
Ribble and Alt EstuariesNational nature reserve. The major rivers in the county are, from north to south, the
Lune, the
Wyre, and the
Ribble, which all flow west into the Irish Sea. The highest point in Lancashire is either
Gragareth or
Green Hill, both approximately 628 m (2,060 ft) high and located in the far north-east of the county.
Lancashire was founded in the 12th century; in the
Domesday Book of 1086 much of what would become the county is treated as part of
Yorkshire and
Cheshire. Until the Early Modern period the county was a comparatively poor backwater, although in 1351 it became a
palatine, with a semi-independent judicial system. This changed during the
Industrial Revolution, when the county rapidly industrialised; until 1974 it included both Liverpool, a major port, and Manchester, which with its surrounding towns dominated the
manufacture of textiles.[8] The
Lancashire coalfield was also exploited, with many
collieries opening. By 1971 Lancashire had a
population of 5,118,405, which made it the most heavily populated county in the United Kingdom after
Greater London.
During Roman times the area was part of the
Brigantes tribal area in the military zone of
Roman Britain. The towns of
Manchester,
Lancaster,
Ribchester,
Burrow,
Elslack and
Castleshaw grew around Roman forts. In the centuries after the Roman withdrawal in 410 AD the northern parts of the county probably formed part of the
Brythonic kingdom of
Rheged, a successor entity to the Brigantes tribe. During the mid-8th century, the area was incorporated into the
Anglo-SaxonKingdom of Northumbria from the north of the
River Ribble and the
Kingdom of Mercia from the south, which both became parts of England in the 10th century.
During the 20th century, the county became increasingly urban with
Warrington (1900),
Blackpool (1904) and
Southport (1905) becoming county boroughs, with 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.[17]
The administrative county was also the most populous of its type outside London, with a population of 2,280,359 in 1961. By the
census of 1971, the population of Lancashire and its county boroughs had reached 5,129,416, making it the most populous geographic county in the UK.[18]
As the new boundary changes came into effect on 1 April 1974, a government statement in The Times newspaper stated: “They are administrative areas and will not alter the traditional boundaries of counties”.[22]
The three main rivers in Lancashire are the
Ribble,
Wyre and
Lune, which all drain west to the
Irish Sea. The Wyre rises in Bowland and is entirely within Lancashire, while the Ribble and Lune rise in
North Yorkshire and
Cumbria respectively. Many of Lancashire's other rivers are tributaries of the Ribble, including the
Calder,
Darwen,
Douglas, and
Hodder. The
Irwell, which flows through Manchester, has its source in Lancashire.
To the west of the county are
the Fylde coastal plain and
West Lancashire coastal plain, which lie north and south of the
Ribble Estuary respectively. Apart from the coastal resorts these areas are largely rural and devoted to vegetable crops. Further north is
Morecambe Bay. In the northwest corner of the county, straddling the border with Cumbria, is the
Arnside and Silverdale National Landscape, characterised by its
limestone pavements and home to the
Leighton Moss nature reserve.
In the east of the county are upland areas leading to the Pennines. North of the Ribble are
Beacon Fell Country Park and the
Forest of Bowland, another
National Landscape. Much of the lowland in this area is devoted to dairy farming and cheesemaking, whereas the higher ground is more suitable for sheep, and the highest ground is uncultivated
moorland. The valleys of the River Ribble and its tributary the Calder form a large gap to the west of the Pennines, overlooked by
Pendle Hill. South of the Ribble are the
West Pennine Moors and the
Forest of Rossendale, where former cotton mill towns are in deep valleys. The
Lancashire Coalfield, largely in modern-day
Greater Manchester, extended into
Merseyside and to
Ormskirk,
Chorley,
Burnley and
Colne in Lancashire.
The north of the ceremonial county is less densely populated than the south, especially inland. The
Fylde coast forms a continuous built-up area from
Lytham St Annes to
Fleetwood, including Blackpool, and further north is the
Lancaster/Morecambe built-up area. The rest of the region is characterised by small towns and villages in the flat farmland surrounding the lower reaches of the
Ribble,
Wyre, and
Lune and the sparsely populated uplands of the
Forest of Bowland.
The
North West Green Belt covers a large part of the south and centre of the county, including all of the non-urban areas in the boroughs of West Lancashire and South Ribble and the majority of Chorley. Elsewhere it is less extensive, but covers the areas between the major settlements to prevent their convergence both with each other and with the nearby
Merseyside and Greater Manchester conurbations. There is a further area of green belt in the north of the county, between Lancaster,
Morecambe, and
Carnforth.
Blackpool and
Blackburn with Darwen are
unitary authorities, meaning their councils combine the functions of a district and county council. They were formed in 1996, before which each district was part of the non-metropolitan county of Lancashire.[37] Both authorities currently have a majority Labour administration
The
Duchy of Lancaster, the private estate of the sovereign, exercises the right of
the Crown in the County Palatine of Lancaster.[41] The most prominent effect of this is that 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.[42] The county palatine boundaries remain the same as the
historic boundaries, ignoring subsequent local government reforms.[43]
Economy
Lancashire in the 19th century was a major centre of economic activity, and hence one of wealth. Activities included coal mining, textile production, particularly that which used cotton, and fishing. Preston Docks, an industrial port is now disused. Lancashire was historically the location of the port of
Liverpool while
Barrow-in-Furness is famous for
shipbuilding.
Other companies with a major presence in Lancashire include:
Airline Network, an internet travel company with headquarters in Preston.
Baxi, a heating equipment manufacturer has a large manufacturing site in Bamber Bridge.
Crown Paints, a major paint manufacturer based in Darwen.
Dr. Oetker, an international food processing company, has a factory in Leyland that produces frozen pizza mostly under the Chicago Town and Ristorante brands.
Enterprise plc, one of the UK's leading support services based in Leyland.
Hanson plc, a building supplies company operates the Accrington brick works.
Hollands Pies, a major manufacturer of baked goods based in Baxenden near Accrington.
Xchanging, a company providing business process outsourcing services, with operations in Fulwood.
AB InBev, a multinational beverage company, brews Budweiser, Stella Artois, Brahma, Bass and Boddingtons in Samlesbury.
Fisherman's Friend, a confection company, famous for making strong mints and lozenges, based in Fleetwood.
The Foulnaze
cockle fishery is in Lytham. It has only opened the coastal cockle beds three times in twenty years; August 2013 was the last of these openings.[44]
Enterprise zone
The creation of Lancashire Enterprise Zone was announced in 2011. It was launched in April 2012, based at the airfields owned by BAE Systems in Warton and Samlesbury.[45]Warton Aerodrome covers 72 hectares (180 acres) and
Samlesbury Aerodrome is 74 hectares.[46] Development is coordinated by Lancashire Enterprise Partnership, Lancashire County Council and BAE Systems.[45] The first businesses to move into the zone did so in March 2015, at Warton.[47]
In March 2015 the government announced a new
enterprise zone would be created at
Blackpool Airport, using some airport and adjoining land.[48] Operations at the airport will not be affected.[49]
This is a chart of trend of regional gross value added of the non-metropolitan county of Lancashire at basic prices published by the Office for National Statistics with figures in millions of British pounds sterling.[50]
Lancashire has a mostly comprehensive system with four state grammar schools. Not including
sixth form colleges, there are 77 state schools (not including Burnley's new schools) and 24 independent schools. The Clitheroe area has secondary modern schools. Sixth form provision is limited at most schools in most districts, with only Fylde and Lancaster districts having mostly sixth forms at schools. The rest depend on FE colleges and sixth form colleges, where they exist. South Ribble has the largest school population and Fylde the smallest (only three schools). Burnley's schools have had a new broom and have essentially been knocked down and started again in 2006. There are many Church of England and Catholic faith schools in Lancashire.
The Lancashire economy relies strongly on the
M6 motorway which runs from north to south, past Lancaster and Preston. The
M55 connects Preston to Blackpool and is 11.5 miles (18.3 km) long. The
M65 motorway from
Colne, connects Burnley, Accrington, Blackburn to Preston. The
M61 from Preston via
Chorley and the
M66 starting 500 metres (0.3 mi) inside the county boundary near
Edenfield, provide links between Lancashire and Manchester, and the trans-Pennine
M62. The
M58 crosses the southernmost part of the county from the M6 near Wigan to Liverpool via
Skelmersdale.
Several bus companies run
bus services in the Lancashire area serving the main towns and villages in the county with some services running to neighbouring areas,
Cumbria,
Greater Manchester,
Merseyside and
West Yorkshire. Some of these include:
Blackpool Airport are no longer operating domestic or international flights, but it is still the home of flying schools, private operators and North West Air Ambulance.
Manchester Airport is the main airport in the region.
Liverpool John Lennon Airport is nearby, while the closest airport to the Pendle Borough is
Leeds Bradford.
There is an operational airfield at
Warton near Preston where there is a major assembly and test facility for
BAE Systems.
The north of the county is predominantly rural and sparsely populated, except for the city of
Lancaster and the towns of
Morecambe and
Heysham, the three of which form a
large conurbation of almost 100,000 people. Lancashire is home to a significant
Asian population, numbering over 70,000 and 6% of the county's population, and concentrated largely in the former cotton mill towns in the south east.
Population totals within the post-1998 boundaries of the non-metropolitan county
Year
Pop.
±% p.a.
1801
163,310
—
1811
192,283
+1.65%
1821
236,724
+2.10%
1831
261,710
+1.01%
1841
289,925
+1.03%
1851
313,957
+0.80%
1861
419,412
+2.94%
1871
524,869
+2.27%
Year
Pop.
±% p.a.
1881
630,323
+1.85%
1891
736,233
+1.57%
1901
798,545
+0.82%
1911
873,210
+0.90%
1921
886,114
+0.15%
1931
902,965
+0.19%
1941
922,812
+0.22%
1951
948,592
+0.28%
Year
Pop.
±% p.a.
1961
991,648
+0.44%
1971
1,049,013
+0.56%
1981
1,076,146
+0.26%
1991
1,122,097
+0.42%
2001
1,134,976
+0.11%
2011
1,171,339
+0.32%
Pre-1998 statistics were gathered from local government areas that now comprise the non-metropolitan county Source:
Great Britain Historical GIS.[52]
Culture
Symbols
The flag of the historic county of Lancashire
The
Red Rose of Lancaster is the
county flower found on the county's heraldic badge and flag. The rose was a symbol of the
House of Lancaster, immortalised in the verse "In the battle for England's head/
York was white, Lancaster red" (referring to the 15th-century
Wars of the Roses). The traditional Lancashire flag, a red rose on a white field, was not officially registered. When an attempt was made to register it with the
Flag Institute it was found that it was officially registered by
Montrose in Scotland, several hundred years earlier with the
Lyon Office.
Lancashire's official flag is registered as a red rose on a gold field.
The county's most prominent football rivalries are the
East Lancashire derby between Blackburn Rovers and Burnley, and the
West Lancashire derby between Blackpool and Preston North End.
A further nine professional full-time teams lie within the historical borders of Lancashire but outside of the current ceremonial county. These include the Premier League clubs
Everton,
Liverpool,
Manchester City and
Manchester United.
Along with Yorkshire and Cumberland, Lancashire is recognised as the heartland of Rugby League. The county has produced many successful top flight clubs such as
St. Helens,
Wigan,
Warrington,
Oldham,
Salford and
Widnes. The county was once the focal point for many of the sport's professional competitions including the
Lancashire League competition which ran from 1895 to 1970, and the
Lancashire County Cup which ran until 1993. Rugby League has also seen a representative fixture between
Lancashire and Yorkshire contested 89 times since its inception in 1895.[61] In recent times there were several
rugby league teams that are based within the ceremonial county which include
Blackpool Panthers,
East Lancashire Lions, and
Blackpool Sea Eagles.
Archery
There are many archery clubs located within Lancashire.[62] In 2004 Lancashire took the winning title at the Inter-counties championships from
Yorkshire who had held it for 7 years.[63]
Lancashire has a long and highly productive tradition of music making. In the early modern era the county shared in the national tradition of
balladry, including perhaps the finest
border ballad, "
The Ballad of Chevy Chase", thought to have been composed by the Lancashire-born minstrel Richard Sheale.[66] The county was also a common location for
folk songs, including "The Lancashire Miller", "Warrington Ale" and "The soldier's farewell to Manchester", while Liverpool, as a major seaport, was the subject of many
sea shanties, including "
The Leaving of Liverpool" and "
Maggie May",[67] beside several local
Wassailing songs.[66] In the
Industrial Revolution changing social and economic patterns helped create new traditions and styles of folk song, often linked to migration and patterns of work.[68] These included processional dances, often associated with rushbearing or the
Wakes Week festivities, and types of
step dance, most famously
clog dancing.[68][69]
A local pioneer of folk song collection in the first half of the 19th century was Shakespearean scholar
James Orchard Halliwell,[70] but it was not until the second
folk revival in the 20th century that the full range of song from the county, including
industrial folk song, began to gain attention.[69] The county produced one of the major figures of the revival in
Ewan MacColl, but also a local champion in
Harry Boardman, who from 1965 onwards probably did more than anyone to popularise and record the folk song of the county.[71] Perhaps the most influential folk artists to emerge from the region in the late 20th century were Liverpool folk group
the Spinners, and from Manchester folk troubadour
Roy Harper and musician, comedian and broadcaster
Mike Harding.[72][73][74] The region is home to numerous
folk clubs, many of them catering to
Irish and
Scottish folk music. Regular
folk festivals include the Fylde Folk Festival at
Fleetwood.[75]
Classical music
Lancashire had a lively culture of choral and
classical music, with very large numbers of local church
choirs from the 17th century,[76] leading to the foundation of local choral societies from the mid-18th century, often particularly focused on performances of the music of
Handel and his contemporaries.[77] It also played a major part in the development of
brass bands which emerged in the county, particularly in the textile and coalfield areas, in the 19th century.[78] The first open competition for brass bands was held at Manchester in 1853, and continued annually until the 1980s.[79]
The vibrant brass band culture of the area made an important contribution to the foundation and staffing of the
Hallé Orchestra from 1857, the oldest extant professional orchestra in the United Kingdom.[80] The same local musical tradition produced eminent figures such as Sir
William Walton (1902–88), son of an Oldham choirmaster and music teacher,[81] Sir
Thomas Beecham (1879–1961), born in St. Helens, who began his career by conducting local orchestras[82] and
Alan Rawsthorne (1905–71) born in Haslingden.[83] The conductor
David Atherton, co-founder of the
London Sinfonietta, was born in Blackpool in 1944.[84] Lancashire also produced more populist figures, such as early
musical theatre composer
Leslie Stuart (1863–1928), born in Southport, who began his musical career as organist of
Salford Cathedral.[85]
The Beatles began in Liverpool before the city's county was changed from Lancashire to
Merseyside
Liverpool, both during its time in Lancashire and after being moved to the new county of
Merseyside, has produced a number of successful musicians. This includes pop stars such as
Frankie Vaughan and
Lita Roza, as well as rock stars such as
Billy Fury, who is considered to be one of the most successful
British rock and roll stars of all time.[72] Many Lancashire towns had vibrant
skiffle scenes in the late 1950s, out of which a culture of
beat groups emerged by the early 1960s, particularly around Liverpool and
Manchester. It has been estimated that there were at least 350 bands—including
the Beatles—active in and around Liverpool during this era, playing ballrooms, concert halls, and clubs.[95] A number of Liverpool performers followed the Beatles into the charts, including
Gerry & the Pacemakers,
the Searchers, and
Cilla Black.
The first musicians to break through in the UK who were not from Liverpool or managed by Beatles manager
Brian Epstein were Manchester's
Freddie and the Dreamers,[96] with
Herman's Hermits and
the Hollies also hailing from Manchester.[97] The Beatles led a movement by various beat groups from the region which culminated in the
British Invasion of the US, which in turn made a major contribution to the development of modern
rock music.[98] After the decline of beat groups in the late 1960s, the centre of rock culture shifted to London, and there were relatively few Lancashire bands who achieved national prominence until the growth of a
disco scene and the
punk rock revolution in the mid-and-late 1970s.[99]
Bury
black pudding has long been associated with the county. The most notable brand, Chadwick's Original Bury Black Puddings, are still sold on
Bury Market,[100] and are manufactured in
Rossendale.
Butter cake: slice of bread and butter.
Butter pie: a savoury pie containing potatoes, onion and butter. Usually associated with
Preston.
Clapbread: a thin
oatcake made from unleavened dough cooked on a griddle.
Eccles cakes are small, round cakes filled with currants and made from flaky pastry with butter, originally made in 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: the first fish and chip shop in northern England opened in
Mossley, near Oldham, around 1863.[101]
Whistle Down the Wind (1961) was directed by Bryan Forbes, set at the foot of Worsaw Hill and in
Burnley, and starred local Lancashire schoolchildren.
The tunnel scene was shot on the old Bacup-Rochdale railway line, location 53°41'29.65"N, 2°11'25.18"W, off the A6066 (New Line) where the line passes beneath Stack Lane. The tunnel is still there, in use as an industrial unit but the railway has long since been removed.
Funny Bones (1995) was set mostly in Blackpool, after opening scenes in Las Vegas.
Rivington Pike, near
Horwich, atop the
West Pennine Moors, is one of the most popular walking destinations in the county; on a clear day the whole of the county can be viewed from here.
Queen Street Mill, the world's only surviving steam-driven cotton weaving shed, located in
Burnley
^Harris and Thacker (1987) write on page 252: "Certainly there were links between Cheshire and south Lancashire before 1000, when Wulfric Spot held lands in both territories. Wulfric's estates remained grouped together after his death, when they were left to his brother Aelfhelm. And indeed, there still seems to have been some kind of connexion in 1086, when south Lancashire was surveyed together with Cheshire by the Domesday commissioners. Nevertheless, the two territories do seem to have been distinguished from one another in some way and it is not certain that the shire-moot and the reeves referred to in the south Lancashire section of Domesday were the Cheshire ones."
^Crosby, A. (1996) writes on page 31: "The Domesday Survey (1086) included south Lancashire with Cheshire for convenience, but the Mersey, the name of which means 'boundary river' is known to have divided the kingdoms of Northumbria and Mercia and there is no doubt that this was the real boundary."
^"Lancashire: County History". High Sheriff's Association of England and Wales (The Shrievalty Association). Archived from
the original on 20 March 2012. Retrieved 26 August 2013.
^OPSIArchived 30 September 2007 at the
Wayback Machine – The Cheshire, Lancashire and Merseyside (County and Metropolitan Borough Boundaries) Order 1993
^Christopher Thomond (13 August 2013).
"Eyewitness: Lytham, Lancashire"(Image upload). The Guardian.
Archived from the original on 4 March 2014. Retrieved 14 August 2013.
^
abD. Gregory, The Songs of the People for Me: The Victorian Rediscovery of Lancashire Vernacular Song', Canadian Folk Music/Musique folklorique canadienne, 40 (2006), pp. 12–21.
^J. Shepherd, D. Horn, and D. Laing, Continuum Encyclopedia of Popular Music of the World (London: Continuum, 2003),
ISBN0-8264-7436-5, p. 360.
^
abG. Boyes, The Imagined Village: Culture, Ideology, and the English Folk Revival (Manchester: Manchester University Press, 1993), 0-71902-914-7, p. 214.
^E. D. Gregory, Victorian Songhunters: the Recovery and Editing of English Vernacular Ballads and Folk Lyrics, 1820–1883 (Lanham, MD: Scarecrow, 2006),
ISBN0-8108-5703-0, p. 248.
^Folk North West,
"Harry Boardman". Archived from
the original on 12 February 2009. Retrieved 25 February 2009., retrieved 16 February 2009.
^
abP. Frame, Pete Frame's Rockin' Around Britain: Rock'n'Roll Landmarks of the UK and Ireland (London: Music Sales Group, 1999),
ISBN0-7119-6973-6, pp. 72–6.
^R. Cowgill and P. Holman, Music in the British Provinces, 1690–1914 (Aldershot: Ashgate Publishing, Ltd., 2007),
ISBN0-7546-3160-5, p. 207.
^R. Southey, Music-Making in North-East England During the Eighteenth Century (Aldershot: Ashgate Publishing, 2006),
ISBN0-7546-5097-9, pp. 131–2.
^D. Russell, Popular Music in England, 1840–1914: a Social History (Manchester: Manchester University Press, 1987),
ISBN0-7190-2361-0, p. 163.
^A. Baines, The Oxford Companion to Musical Instruments (Oxford: Oxford University Press, 1992),
ISBN0-19-311334-1, p. 41.
^D. Russell, Popular Music in England, 1840–1914: a Social History (Manchester: Manchester University Press, 1987),
ISBN0-7190-2361-0, p. 230.
^D. Clark and J. Staines, Rough Guide to Classical Music (Rough Guides, 3rd edn., 2001),
ISBN1-85828-721-9, p. 568.
^L. Jenkins, While Spring and Summer Sang: Thomas Beecham and the Music of Frederick Delius (Aldershot: Ashgate Publishing, 2005),
ISBN0-7546-0721-6, p. 1.
^J. McCabe, Alan Rawsthorne: Portrait of a Composer (Oxford: Oxford University Press, 1999),
ISBN0-19-816693-1.
^V. Bogdanov, C. Woodstra and S. T. Erlewine, All Music Guide to Rock: the Definitive Guide to Rock, Pop, and Soul (Milwaukee, WI: Backbeat Books, 3rd edn., 2002),
ISBN0-87930-653-X, pp. 1316–7.
^S. Cohen, Rock Culture in Liverpool: Popular Music in the Making (Oxford: Clarendon Press, 1991),
ISBN0-19-816178-6, p. 14.
^"Uncle Joe's Mint Balls". Uncle Joe's Favourites. Wm Santus & Co. Ltd. 2013.
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ISBN0-85033-384-9.
Lancashire On Line Parish Clerk an active project to transcribe and publish records of Births, Marriages and Deaths in Lancashire from the time records began in Edward VI's reign
Lancashire Archives' online catalogue – over 1 million descriptions of unique historical documents, accessible to the public, which tell the county's story