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This is the Umbrella Project Page for Lancashire, England.
Lancashire
- Administrative centre Preston
- County Flower - Red Rose
- People from Lancashire are called - Lancastrians
Lancashire is a non-metropolitan county of historic origin in the North West of England. It takes its name from the city of Lancaster, and is sometimes known as the County of Lancaster. Although Lancaster is still considered to be the county town, Lancashire County Council is based in Preston. Lancashire is sometimes referred to by the abbreviation Lancs, as originally used by the Royal Mail. The population of the county is 1,449,300. 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 land that lay Inter Ripam et Mersam, "between the Ribble and Mersey", 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. Preston, Accrington, Blackburn, Bolton, Rochdale, Oldham, Chorley, Darwen, Nelson, Colne, Burnley and Wigan 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 respectively. At this time, the detached northern part of Lancashire in the Lake District, including the Furness Peninsula and Cartmel, 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, which includes the counties of Lancashire, Greater Manchester and Merseyside.
The Districts of XXX
The area under the control of the county council, or shire county, is divided into a number of local government districts. They are
- West Lancashire
- Chorley
- South Ribble
- Fylde
- Preston
- Wyre
- Lancaster
- Ribble Valley
- Pendle
- Burnley
- Rossendale
- Hyndburn
- Blackpool (Unitary)
- Blackburn with Darwen (Unitary)
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. The Lancashire Constabulary covers the two unitary authorities. The ceremonial county, the area including the unitary authorities, borders Cumbria, North Yorkshire, West Yorkshire, Greater Manchester and Merseyside, and forms part of the North West England region.
For Historical information about Lancashire visit Historic Lancashire Link to follow - including Historical figures, Gentry and political figures connected to Lancashire.
For Information about research in the County, including lists of people of renown connected to Lancashire and Families Researched on Geni go to Lancashire - Family Heads
The following people on Geni offer assistance -
- C. June Barnes Curator
To participate in any project
- you do need to first be a collaborator - so join the project. See the discussion Project Help: How to add Text to a Project - Starter Kit to get you going!
How to Participate
- If you have any queries please start a discussion linked to this project. (See the menu top right).
- Please add related projects to the menu on the right.
- If you have links to related web pages that would be of interest to others please add them in the relevant section at the bottom of the page. In order to do this use the drop down menu at the top left of the screen and Join the Project. If this option is not available to you then contact a collaborator and ask to be added to the project. As a collaborator you will be able to edit this page.
- Add any documents of interest using the menu at the top right of the page, and then add a link to the document in the text under the heading below. If you do not know how to do this please contact one of the other collaborators to assist you.
Please do not add the profiles off all your Lancashire born ancestors to this project or the People connected to Lancashire. Rather add the earliest known person of a Lancashire family to the Lancashire - Family Heads project.
Parish Map
from The Phillimore Atlas and Index of Parish Registers 1984.
See http://www.geni.com/photo/view/4560155096930045739?photo_id=6000000019083039015 - open full view.