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Lancashire
Historic County of England.
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Lancashire Famous People
Lancashire Genealogical Resources
Historical Lancashire incl. Manchester Merseyside
Historic Buildings of Lancashire
Greater Manchester post 1974
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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 Lancashire
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.
The historical boundary of the county of Lancashire, England, shown in red, and the modern-day boundary (since 1974), shown in green. Also shown in dotted green are the modern-day local government districts and unitary authorities of ceremonial Lancashire.
Merseyside was created on 1 April 1974 from areas previously parts of the administrative counties of Lancashire and Cheshire, along with the county boroughs of Birkenhead, Wallasey, Liverpool, Bootle, and St Helens. Following the creation of Merseyside, Mersey travel expanded to take in St Helens and Southport.
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Parish Map
from The Phillimore Atlas and Index of Parish Registers 1984, Parishes formed before 1832 with dates of commencement of Parish Registers
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