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. The population of the county is
1,449,700. People from the county are known as Lancastrians.
The history of Lancashire is thought to have begun with its founding
in the 12th century. In the Domesday Book (1086), some of its lands
had been treated as part of Yorkshire. The area in between the
rivers Mersey and Ribble (referred to in the Domesday Book as "Inter
Ripam et Mersham") formed part of the returns for Cheshire. Once its
initial boundaries were established, it bordered Cumberland,
Westmorland, Yorkshire, and Cheshire.
Lancashire emerged during the Industrial Revolution as a major
commercial and industrial region. The county encompassed several
hundred mill towns and collieries. By the 1830s, approximately 85%
of all cotton manufactured worldwide was processed in Lancashire.
Accrington, Blackburn, Chorley and Burnley were major cotton mill
towns during this time. Blackpool was a major centre for tourism for
the inhabitants of Lancashire's mill towns, particularly during
wakes week.
The county was subject to a significant boundary reform 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.[4] At this time, the detached
Furness peninsula was made part of Cumbria. Today the county borders
Cumbria, Greater Manchester, Merseyside and North and West
Yorkshire. The Duchy of Lancaster exercises the right of the Crown
in the area known as the County Palatine of Lancaster. Lancashire in
1961 County boroughs were:
Burnley, Oldham, Preston, Wigan, Rochdale, Manchester,
Barrow-in-Furness, Salford, Blackpool, Bootle, Blackburn, St Helens,
7. Southport, Liverpool, Bury, Warrington and Bolton
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. 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. One parish, Simonswood, was transferred from the borough
of Knowsley in Merseyside to the district of West Lancashire in
1994.
In 1998 the county borough system re-appeared in all but name, when
Blackpool and Blackburn with Darwen became independent unitary
authority areas. The City of Lancaster, Pennsylvania, USA, founded
in 1742, was named after Lancaster, Lancashire. Its neighbour 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.
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 - Altham, 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.
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 |
