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| |
| Geography | |
| Status | Ceremonial & (smaller) Non-metropolitan county |
|---|---|
| Origin | Historic |
| Region | North West England |
| Area - Total - Admin. council - Admin. area |
Ranked 17th 3,075 km² Ranked 16th 2,903 km² |
| Admin HQ | Preston |
| ISO 3166-2 | GB-LAN |
| ONS code | 30 |
| NUTS 3 | UKD43 |
| Demographics | |
| Population - Total (2004 est.) - Density - Admin. council - Admin. pop. |
Ranked 8th 1,434,900 466 / km² Ranked 4th 1,152,000 |
| Ethnicity | 93.4% White 5.3% S. Asian |
| Politics | |
| Arms of Lancashire County Council Lancashire County Council http://www.lancashire.gov.uk/ | |
| Executive | Labour |
| Members of Parliament | |
| Districts | |
 | |
Lancashire is a county and duchy palatine in the North of England, bounded to the west by the Irish Sea. It takes its name from the City of Lancaster, though the county council is currently based at Preston. Commonly, Lancashire is referred to by the abbreviation Lancs, originally used by the Royal Mail.
The Red rose of Lancashire 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), and is the county flower ..
Ths highest point of the traditional county is Coniston Old Man in the Lake District at 803m (2,634 ft). The highest point of the administrative county is Green Hill, near Whernside, which reaches a height of 687m (2,250 ft).
History
- Main article: History of Lancashire
The county was established in 1183. In the Domesday Book, its lands had been treated as part of Cheshire (whose northern boundary had been the River Ribble) and of Yorkshire. It bordered on Cumberland, Westmorland, Yorkshire, and Cheshire.
It is traditionally divided into the six hundreds of Amounderness, Blackburn, Leyland, Lonsdale, Salford and West Derby. Lonsdale was further partitioned into Lonsdale North, which was the detached part north of Morecambe Bay (also known as Furness), and Lonsdale South.
By the census of 1971 the population of Lancashire had reached 5,129,416, making it the most populous county in the UK.
A particular form of the The Loyal Toast is still in regular local use: 'The Queen, the Duke of Lancaster'. See also Duchy of Lancaster.
Environs and divisions
The ceremonial county currently borders on Cumbria, North Yorkshire, West Yorkshire, and the metropolitan counties of Greater Manchester, and Merseyside; and contains the unitary authorities of Blackpool and Blackburn with Darwen.
Administrative Lancashire is divided into a number of local government districts. Currently these are Burnley, Chorley, Fylde, Hyndburn, Lancaster, Pendle, Preston, the Ribble Valley, Rossendale, South Ribble, West Lancashire, and Wyre.
Some parts of the traditional county now fall under the counties of West Yorkshire, North Yorkshire, Cheshire, Merseyside, Greater Manchester and Cumbria.
Historic administrative divisions
The modern administrative area is now much smaller than that of the traditional county due to a local government reform. In 1889 an administrative county of Lancashire was created, covering the historic county except for county boroughs such as Liverpool and Manchester. 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.
Template:Infobox England traditional county
On April 1, 1974, under the Local Government Act 1972, the administrative county of Lancashire was abolished, as were the county boroughs. By this time the south of the county had become nearly entirely urbanised, and thus 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.
Warrington and Widnes, rather than become part of Greater Manchester or Merseyside were instead made part of the new non-metropolitan county of Cheshire. The Bowland Rural District and Barnoldswick from the West Riding of Yorkshire became part of the new Lancashire.
In 1998 the county borough system re-appeared in all but name, when Blackpool and Blackburn with Darwen became independent unitary authorities. They remain part of Lancashire for ceremonial purposes, however, and are still covered by county level public services such as the Lancashire Constabulary, etc.
Rejected options for change
On May 25, 2004 the Boundary Committee for England published recommendations for new systems of Unitary Authorities to be put to referendum as described under Subdivisions of England, but on Thursday November 4 2004 the referendum for the North East decided by a margin of 78% to 22% against an elected regional assembly. On November 8 the Deputy Prime Minister announced "I will not therefore be bringing forward orders for referendums in either the North West, or Yorkshire and the Humber". Statement by Deputy Prime Minister. The choice in Lancashire would have been between the current administrative county as one authority or a mor complicated subdivision also involving Cumbria, Merseyside and Greater Manchester.
See also
Industry
Lancashire in the 19th century was a major centre of industrial activity and hence of wealth. Activities included mining and textile production, though on the coast there was also fishing.
Today Lancashire is home to firms such as BAE Systems (which has four factories in Lancashire including Warton and Samlesbury, major centres of production for the Eurofighter Typhoon and F-35 Joint Strike Fighter), Heinz, TVR cars, Leyland Trucks and Marconi telecoms.
Law enforcement
Lancashire is policed by the Lancashire Constabulary, whose territory covers the ceremonial county of Lancashire. Its headquarters is in Preston and is split into six divisions. Like most British police forces, those of the Lancashire Constabulary are not habitually armed, but armed response teams are on patrol around the county armed with G36 assault rifles and GLOCK pistols.
Lancashire's railways are policed by the British Transport Police
Settlements
These are the main cities, towns, townships and villages in traditional and administrative Lancashire. For a complete list of settlements see list of places in Lancashire.
(*) denotes settlements within the pre-1974 borders of Lancashire, but which have since been part of other counties.
(**) denotes settlements within the pre-1974 West Riding of Yorkshire but which are now part of administrative Lancashire.
Sport
Lancashire is one of Britain's most successful sporting counties.
Cricket
Lancashire has its own professional cricket team: Lancashire County Cricket Club. Lancashire is home to England Cricket team members Andrew Flintoff and James Anderson.
Football
Lancashire is heavily connected with the sports development with several Lancashire teams founding the Football League. Traditional Lancashire has been home to seven Premier League clubs and several Football League teams. These include:
- Blackburn Rovers
- Blackpool
- Bolton Wanderers
- Burnley
- Bury
- Everton
- Liverpool
- Manchester City
- Manchester United
- Oldham Athletic
- Preston North End
- Rochdale
- Wigan Athletic
Together Lancashire has achieved:
- 51 Football League/ Premier League Titles
- 7 European Cups
- 42 F.A. Cups
Rugby League
Lancashire being a northern county is heavily connected to the sport of Rugby League, teams include:
- Blackpool West Coast Panthers - Previously Chorley Lynx
- Leigh Centurions
- Oldham Roughyeds
- Salford City Reds
- St Helens
- Warrington Wolves
- Wigan Warriors
Rugby Union
Lancashire is home to several rugby union teams, these include:
Places of interest
- Astley Green Colliery Museum, Tyldesley
- Astley Hall
- British Commercial Vehicle Museum, Leyland
- East Lancashire Railway, a heritage railway
- Helmshore Textile Museum
- Gawthorpe Hall, Padiham
- Hoghton Tower
- Samlesbury Hall
- Towneley Hall, Burnley
- Lathom Park Chapel, site of Lathom Hall, seat of the Earls of Derby
- Lancaster Castle
- The Pennines, provide great opportunity for Mountain Biking, and
- Rock Climbing is also popular with the area having some 6600+ routes to climb many of which are in disused quarries (Quarry)
- Pendle Hill
- Forest of Bowland
- Forest of Bowland AONB - Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty
- RSPB Leighton Moss nature reserve, Royal Society for the Protection of Birds
- Morecambe Bay
- WWT Martin Mere, Wildfowl and Wetlands Trust nature reserve, Burscough
- Wyre Forest NNR National Nature Reserve
- Leeds and Liverpool Canal, Ribble Link
- River Ribble, River Douglas, River Tawd, River Lostock, River Irwell, River Roch
- Williamson Park and the Ashton Memorial
- Yarrow Valley Park
External links
- Lancashire County Council
- Friends of Real Lancashire
- Traditions of Lancashire, Volume 1 (of 2), by John Roby
Template:England ceremonial counties
Template:England traditional counties
| Districts of North West England | ||
|---|---|---|
| Cheshire |  | |
| Cumbria | ||
| Greater Manchester | ||
| Lancashire | ||
| Merseyside | ||
 North West England portal | ||
References
- County flowers in Britain www.plantlife.org.uk