Lancashire
Flag of Lancashire[1]
Geography
Status	Ceremonial and (smaller) non-metropolitan county
Origin	Historic
Region	North West England
Area - Total - Admin. council - Admin. area	Ranked 17th 3,079 km2 (1,189 sq mi) Ranked 16th 2,903 km2 (1,121 sq mi)
Admin HQ	Preston
ISO 3166-2	GB-LAN
ONS code	30
NUTS 3	UKD43
Demography
Population - Total (2010 est.) - Density - Admin. council - Admin. pop.	Ranked 8th 1,449,300 471 /km2 (1,220 /sq mi) Ranked 4th 1,169,300
Ethnicity	89.7% White British 6.0% S. Asian 2.1% Other White 0.9% Mixed 0.7% E. Asian and Other 0.5% Black 2005 Estimates
Politics
Lancashire County Council http://www.lancashire.gov.uk
Executive	Conservative
Members of Parliament	Jake Berry (C) Gordon Birtwistle (LD) Rosie Cooper (L) Nigel Evans (C) Lorraine Fullbrook (C) Mark Hendrick (LC) Lindsay Hoyle (L) Gordon Marsden (L) Mark Menzies (C) Paul Maynard (C) David Morris (C) Eric Ollerenshaw (C) Greg Pope (L) Jack Straw (L) Andrew Stephenson (C) Ben Wallace (C)
Districts
West Lancashire Chorley South Ribble Fylde Preston Wyre Lancaster Ribble Valley Pendle Burnley Rossendale Hyndburn Blackpool (Unitary) Blackburn with Darwen (Unitary)

Lancashire ( /ˈlæŋkəʃər/ or, less commonly, /ˈlæŋkəʃɪər/) 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.^[2] 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 1,449,700. 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 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.^[3] Preston, Accrington, Blackburn, Bolton, Rochdale, Oldham, Chorley, Darwen, Nelson, Colne 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,^[4] which removed Liverpool and Manchester with most of their surrounding conurbations to form part of the metropolitan counties of Merseyside and Greater Manchester respectively.^[5] 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.

History[link]

Early history[link]

The county was established in 1182^[4] and later than many other counties. During Roman times the area was considered part of the Brigantes tribal area and was in the military zone of Roman Britain. The towns of Manchester, Lancaster, Ribchester, Burrow, Elslack and Castleshaw were all originally Roman forts. In the centuries immediately following the Roman withdrawal in 410AD the northern parts, at least, of the county probably formed part of the Brythonic kingdom of Rheged, a successor entity of the Brigantes tribe of northern Britain. During the mid 8th Century this area was incorporated into the Anglo-Saxon Kingdom of Northumbria which itself became a part of England in the 10th Century. In the Domesday Book, its lands between the Ribble and the Mersey were known as "Inter Ripam et Mersam"^[6][7] and were included in the returns for Cheshire.^[8] Although some historians have taken this to mean that south Lancashire was, at that time, part of Cheshire,^[7][9] neither can it be said clearly to have been part of Cheshire.^[10][11][12] It is also claimed that the territory to the north formed, at that time, part of the West Riding of Yorkshire.^[9] It bordered on Cumberland, Westmorland, Yorkshire, and Cheshire. The county was divided into the six hundreds of Amounderness, Blackburn, Leyland, Lonsdale, Salford and West Derby.^[13] Lonsdale was further partitioned into Lonsdale North, which was the detached part north of "the sands" of Morecambe Bay (including both Furness and Cartmel), and Lonsdale South.

Modern history[link]

The historical boundary of Lancashire, in red, and the modern-day boundary of the ceremonial county, in green

Lancashire is now much smaller than its historical extent, following a major reform of local government.^[14] In 1889 an administrative county of Lancashire was created, covering the historical county except for county boroughs such as Blackburn, Burnley, Barrow-in-Furness, Preston, Wigan, Liverpool, Manchester.^[15] 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 ancient border between Lancashire and Yorkshire runs through the middle of the town.

During the 20th century the county became increasingly urbanised, particularly the southern part. To the existing county boroughs of Barrow-in-Furness, Blackburn, Bolton, Bootle, Burnley, Bury, Liverpool, Manchester, Oldham, Preston, Rochdale, Salford, St Helens and Wigan were added Blackpool (1904), Southport (1905), and Warrington (1900). The county boroughs also had 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.^[16]

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.^[17] The new county of Cumbria took the Furness exclave.^[4]

The boroughs of Liverpool, Knowsley, St Helens and Sefton were removed 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.^[5] One parish, Simonswood, was transferred from the borough of Knowsley in Merseyside to the district of West Lancashire in 1994.^[18] In 1998 the county borough system re-appeared in all but name, when Blackpool and Blackburn with Darwen became independent unitary authority areas. The Wars of the Roses tradition continued with Lancaster using as its symbol the red rose and York the white. Pressure groups, including Friends of Real Lancashire and the Association of British Counties advocate the use of the historical boundaries of Lancashire for ceremonial and cultural purposes.^[19][20]

Geography[link]

Divisions and environs[link]

The area under the control of the county council, or shire county, is divided into a number of local government districts. They are Burnley, Chorley, Fylde, Hyndburn, Lancaster, Pendle, Preston, the Ribble Valley, Rossendale, South Ribble, West Lancashire, and Wyre.^[21][22]

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.^[23] The Lancashire Constabulary covers the two unitary authorities.^[24] 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.^[25]

Geology, landscape and ecology[link]

Topography of Lancashire.

The highest point of the ceremonial county is Gragareth, near Whernside, which reaches a height of 627 m (2,057 ft).^[26] However, Green Hill near Gragareth has also been cited as the county top.^[27] The highest point within the historic boundaries is Coniston Old Man in the Lake District at 803 m (2,634 ft).^[28]

Lancashire drains west from the Pennines into the Irish Sea. Rivers in Lancashire include the Ribble, Wyre and Lune. Major tributaries of these rivers include the Calder, Darwen, Douglas, Hodder, and Yarrow. The Irwell is partly in Lancashire.

To the west of the county are the West Lancashire Coastal Plain in the south, and the Fylde coastal plain north of the Ribble Estuary. Further north is Morecambe Bay. Apart from the coastal resorts, these areas are largely rural with the land devoted to vegetable crops. In the northwest corner of the county, straddling the border with Cumbria, is the Arnside and Silverdale Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty (AONB), characterised by its limestone pavements and home to the Leighton Moss nature reserve.

To the east of the county are upland areas leading to the Pennines. North of the Ribble is Beacon Fell Country Park and the Forest of Bowland, another AONB. Much of the lowland around this area is devoted to dairy farming and cheesemaking, whereas the higher ground is more suitable for sheep farming, and the highest ground is uncultivated moorland. The valleys of the River Ribble and its tributary the Calder form a large gap in the west side of the Pennines, in which sit Pendle Hill and most of the larger Lancashire towns. 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 was largely in modern-day Greater Manchester, but extended into Merseyside and to Ormskirk, Chorley, Burnley and Colne within modern-day Lancashire.

Politics[link]

The county council, serving the shire county, is based in County Hall in Preston, built as a home for the Lancashire county administration (including the Quarter Sessions and Lancashire Constabulary) and opened on 14 September 1882.^[29]

Local elections for 84 councillors from 84 divisions are held every four years. The council is currently controlled by the Conservative Party.^[30]

Duchy of Lancaster[link]

The Duchy of Lancaster is one of two remaining royal duchies in the United Kingdom. It has large landholdings throughout the region and elsewhere, and operates as a property company, but also exercises the right of the Crown in the County Palatine of Lancaster,^[31] which includes areas that were removed from Lancashire as part of the 1974 boundary changes.

High Sheriffs for Lancashire, Greater Manchester and Merseyside are appointed "within the Duchy and County Palatine of Lancaster".^[32]

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.

There is no separate Duke of Lancaster, the title having merged in the Crown many centuries ago – but the Duchy is administered by the Queen in Right of the Duchy of Lancaster. A separate court system for the county palatine was finally abolished by Courts Act 1971. A particular form of The Loyal Toast is still in regular local use: 'The Queen, Duke of Lancaster'.

Economy[link]

Lancashire County Hall, Preston

Lancashire in the 19th century was a major centre of industrial activity and hence of wealth. Activities included mining and textile production (particularly cotton), though on the coast there was also fishing. Historically, the docks in Preston were an industrial port, though are now disused for commercial purposes. Lancashire was historically the location of the port of Liverpool while Barrow-in-Furness is famous for shipbuilding.

Today the largest private industry in Lancashire is the defence industry with BAE Systems Military Air Solutions division based in Warton on the Fylde coast. The division also operates a manufacturing site in Samlesbury. Other defence firms include BAE Systems Global Combat Systems which operates a site at Chorley, Ultra Electronics in Fulwood and Rolls-Royce plc in Barnoldswick.

The nuclear power industry has a major presence with the Springfields plant at Salwick operated by Westinghouse and Heysham nuclear power station operated by British Energy. Other major manufacturing firms include Leyland Trucks which is a subsidiary of Paccar and builds the DAF truck range.

Other companies with a major presence in Lancashire include:

• Airline Network, an internet travel company with its headquarters in Preston.
• BAXI, a heating equipment manufacturer which was established in Preston and which has a large manufacturing site in Bamber Bridge.
• Crown Paints, a major paint manufacturer based in Darwen.
• Enterprise plc, one of the UK's leading support services based in Leyland.
• Hanson plc, a building supplies company which operates the Accrington brick works.
• National Savings and Investments, a state owned savings bank with major operations and the headquarters of the Premium Bond Lottery Bond in Blackpool.
• Thwaites Brewery, a regional brewery founded in 1807 by Daniel Thwaites in Blackburn.
• Xchanging, a company that provides business process outsourcing services, with operations in Fulwood.

Economic output[link]

Cattle grazing on the salt marshes of the Ribble Estuary near Banks.

This is a chart of trend of regional gross value added of the non-metropolitan county of Lancashire at current^[when?] basic prices published (pp. 240–253) by Office for National Statistics with figures in millions of British Pounds Sterling.

Education[link]

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 also 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 (most schools) depend on FE colleges and sixth form colleges, where they exist. South Ribble has the largest school population, with 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.

Lancashire is home to four universities; Lancaster University, University of Central Lancashire, Edge Hill University and the Lancaster campus of The University of Cumbria. Additionally there are also seven colleges which offer higher education courses.

Transport[link]

Road[link]

The M6 near Carnforth

The Lancashire economy relies strongly on the M6 motorway which runs from north to south, past Lancaster and Preston. Other motorways in the region include the fairly short M55 which connects the city of Preston and the town of Blackpool at 11.5 miles (18.3 km) in length. The M65 motorway runs from east to west starting in the town of Colne, running through Burnley, Accrington, Blackburn and terminating in Preston. The M61 heads from Preston past Chorley towards Manchester and the trans-Pennine M62, and the M58 crosses the southernmost part of the county from the M6 near Wigan to Liverpool via Skelmersdale.

Other major roads in the county include the east-west A59 between Liverpool in Merseyside and Skipton in North Yorkshire via Ormskirk, Preston and Clitheroe, and the connecting A565 to Southport; the A56 from Ramsbottom to Padiham via Haslingden and from Colne to Skipton; the A585 from Kirkham to Fleetwood; the A666 from the A59 north of Blackburn to Bolton via Darwen; and the A683 from Heysham to Kirkby Lonsdale via Lancaster.

Rail[link]

The West Coast Main Line provides direct rail links with London and other major cities, with stations at Preston and Lancaster. East-west connections are carried via the East Lancashire Line between Blackpool and Colne via Lytham Preston, Blackburn, Accrington and Burnley. The Ribble Valley Line runs from Bolton to Clitheroe via Darwen and Blackburn. There are also connecting lines from Preston to Ormskirk and Bolton, and from Lancaster to Morecambe, Heysham and Skipton.

Air[link]

The county is served by Blackpool International Airport, however Manchester Airport in Greater Manchester is the main airport in the region. Liverpool John Lennon Airport, on Merseyside is also nearby.

As well as Blackpool another major operational airfield exists at Warton near Preston, the site is a major assembly and test facility for BAE Systems; arguably Lancashire's biggest private sector employer.

Ferry[link]

Heysham and Fleetwood offer ferry services to Ireland and the Isle of Man.^[37] As part of its industrial past, Lancashire gave rise to an extensive network of canals, which extend into neighbouring counties. These include the Leeds and Liverpool Canal, Lancaster Canal, Bridgewater Canal, Rochdale Canal, Ashton Canal and Manchester Ship Canal.

Bus[link]

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.

Demography[link]

The major settlements in the ceremonial county are concentrated on the Fylde coast (the Blackpool Urban Area), and a belt of towns running west-east along the M65: Preston, Blackburn, Accrington, Burnley, Nelson and Colne. South of Preston are the towns of Leyland and Chorley; the three formed part of the Central Lancashire New Town designated in 1970. The north of the county is predominantly rural and sparsely populated, except for the towns of Lancaster and Morecambe 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.

Blackpool

Preston

Blackburn

Burnley

Lancaster

Morecambe

Lytham St Annes

Chorley

Leyland

Skelmersdale

Accrington

Darwen

Thornton-Cleveleys

Nelson

Fleetwood

Ormskirk

Penwortham

Clitheroe

Rawtenstall

Colne

The largest towns & cities of Lancashire

Population change[link]

Settlements[link]

The table below has divided the settlements into their local authority district. Each district has a centre of administration; for some of these correlate with a district's largest town, while others are named after the geographical area.

Areas[link]

Ceremonial county	Administration borough		Centre of administration	Other towns, villages and settlements
Lancashire	Blackburn with Darwen Borough (Unitary)		Blackburn	Belmont, Chapeltown, Darwen, Edgworth, Hoddlesden, Tockholes
	Blackpool Borough (Unitary)		Blackpool	Bispham, Layton
	Burnley Borough		Burnley	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 Borough		Ormskirk	Appley Bridge, Aughton, Banks, Bickerstaffe, Burscough, Downholland, Great Altcar, Halsall, Lathom, Parbold, Rufford, Scarisbrick, Skelmersdale, Tarleton, Upholland
	Wyre Borough		Poulton-le-Fylde	Cleveleys, Fleetwood, Garstang, Great Eccleston, Pilling, Preesall, St Michael's On Wyre, Thornton

† – part of the West Riding of Yorkshire until 1974

This table does not form an extensive list of the settlements in the ceremonial county. More settlements can be found at Category:Towns in Lancashire, Category:Villages in Lancashire, and Category:Civil parishes in Lancashire.

Blackpool Tower

Historic Areas[link]

Some settlements which were historically part of the county now fall under the counties of West Yorkshire, Cheshire, Merseyside, Greater Manchester and Cumbria:^{[4][5][15][17][39][40][41]}

Boundary changes to occur before 1974 include:^[41]

• Todmorden (split between Lancashire and Yorkshire) entirely to West Riding of Yorkshire in 1889
• Mossley (split between Lancashire, Yorkshire and Cheshire) entirely to Lancashire in 1889
• Stalybridge, entirely to Cheshire in 1889
• the former county boroughs of Manchester and Warrington both extended south of the Mersey into historic Cheshire (areas such as Wythenshawe and Latchford)
• correspondingly, the former county borough of Stockport extended north into historic Lancashire, including areas such as Reddish and the Heatons (Heaton Chapel, Heaton Mersey, Heaton Moor and Heaton Norris).

The Red Rose of Lancaster

Symbols[link]

The Red Rose of Lancaster is a symbol for 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 War of the Roses). The traditional Lancashire flag, a red rose on a white field, was never officially registered. When an attempt was made to register it with the Flag Institute it was found that this flag had already been officially registered by the town of Montrose, Scotland, several hundred years earlier with the Lyon Office. As the Flag Institute will not register two flags of the same design (within the UK) Lancashire's official flag is now registered as a red rose on a gold field, but it does not stop it from having the red rose on a white field in some areas in the county.

Sport[link]

Cricket[link]

Lancashire County Cricket Club has been one of the most successful county cricket teams, particularly in the one-day game. It is home to England cricket team members Andrew Flintoff, James Anderson and Sajid Mahmood. Due to changes in the county boundaries, the club's home ground, County Ground, Old Trafford,^[42] is now outside the county of Lancashire, being in the metropolitan borough of Trafford, Greater Manchester.

Historically important local cricket leagues include the Lancashire League, the Central Lancashire League and the North Lancashire and Cumbria League, all of which were formed in 1892. These league clubs hire international professional players to play alongside their amateur players.^{[citation needed]}

Since 2000, the designated ECB Premier League^[43] for Lancashire has been the Liverpool and District Cricket Competition.

Football[link]

Football in Lancashire is governed by the Lancashire County Football Association. Due to the County Football Associations being aligned roughly along historic county boundaries, the Lancashire County FA contains members which were founded within Lancashire as it was in the late 19th century, but which now lie outside the county borders, such as Manchester United, Liverpool and Everton. However, the Manchester Football Association and Liverpool County Football Association operate in Greater Manchester and Merseyside respectively.^[44][45]

The seven professional full-time teams based in Lancashire, as of the start of the 2011/12 season, are:

• Premier League: Blackburn Rovers
• Championship: Blackpool and Burnley
• League One: Preston North End
• League Two: Accrington Stanley and Morecambe
• Conference National: Fleetwood Town

Rugby League[link]

A substantial number of rugby league teams formerly in Lancashire such as St Helens, Wigan, and Warrington now fall under the counties of Merseyside, Greater Manchester, and Cheshire. 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 was abandoned in 1993. Rugby League has also seen a representative fixture between Lancashire and Yorkshire contested 89 times since its inception in 1895.^[46] Currently there are several rugby league teams that are based within the county which include Blackpool Panthers, East Lancashire Lions, Blackpool Sea Eagles, Bamber Bridge, Leyland Warriors, Chorley Panthers, Blackpool Stanley, Blackpool Scorpions and Adlington Rangers.

Archery[link]

There are many archery clubs located within Lancashire.^[47] In 2004 Lancashire took the winning title at the Inter-counties championships from Yorkshire who had held it for 7 years.^[48]

Wrestling[link]

Lancashire has a long history of wrestling, developing its own style called Lancashire wrestling, with many clubs that over the years have produced many renowned wrestlers.^{[citation needed]} Some of these have crossed over into the mainstream world of professional wrestling, including Billy Riley, Davey Boy Smith, William Regal, Wade Barrett and The Dynamite Kid.^{[citation needed]}

Music[link]

Folk music[link]

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.^[49] 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",^[50] beside several local Wassailing songs.^[49] 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.^[51] These included processional dances, often associated with rushbearing or the Wakes Week festivities, and types of step dance, most famously clog dancing.^[51][52] A local pioneer of folk song collection in the first half of the 19th century was Shakespearean scholar James Orchard Halliwell,^[53] 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.^[52] 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.^[54] 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.^[55][56][57] 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.^[58]

Classical music[link]

Lancashire had a lively culture of choral and classical music, with very large numbers of local church choirs from the 17th century,^[59] 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.^[60] 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.^[61] The first open competition for brass bands was held at Manchester in 1853, and continued annually until the 1980s.^[62] 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.^[63] The same local musical tradition produced eminent figures such as William Walton (1902–88), son of an Oldham choirmaster and music teacher,^[64] Sir Thomas Beecham (1879–1961), born in St. Helens, who began his career by conducting local orchestras^[65] and Alan Rawsthorne (1905–71) born in Haslingden.^[66] It 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.^[67] The Royal Manchester College of Music was founded in 1893 to provide a northern counterpart to the London musical colleges. It merged with the Northern College of Music (formed in 1920) to form the Royal Northern College of Music in 1972.^[68]

Popular music[link]

The Beatles arrive in America in 1964

Liverpool produced a number of nationally and internationally successful popular singers in the 1950s, including traditional pop stars Frankie Vaughan and Lita Roza, and one of the most successful British rock and roll stars in Billy Fury.^[55] Many Lancashire towns had vibrant skiffle scenes in the late 1950s, out of which by the early 1960s a flourishing culture of beat groups began to emerge, particularly around Liverpool and Manchester. It has been estimated that there were around 350 bands active in and around Liverpool in this era, often playing ballrooms, concert halls and clubs, among them The Beatles.^[69] After their national success from 1962, a number of Liverpool performers were able to follow them into the charts, including Gerry & The Pacemakers, The Searchers, and Cilla Black. The first act to break through in the UK who were not from Liverpool, or managed by Brian Epstein, were Freddie and the Dreamers, who were based in Manchester,^[70] as were Herman's Hermits and The Hollies.^[71] Led by The Beatles, beat groups from the region spearheaded the British Invasion of the US, which made a major contribution to the development of rock music.^[72] After the decline of beat groups in the late 1960s the centre of rock culture shifted to London and there were relatively few local bands who achieved national prominence until the growth of a disco funk scene and the punk rock revolution in the mid and late 1970s.^[73]

Cuisine[link]

Lancashire hotpot

Lancashire cheese

Lancashire is the origin of the Lancashire hotpot, a casserole dish traditionally made with lamb. Other traditional foods from the area include:

• Black peas, also known as parched peas: popular in Darwen, Bolton and Preston.
• 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,^[74] 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.
• Chorley cakes: from the town of Chorley.
• Ducks: faggots as in savoury ducks.
• 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: first fish and chip shop in northern England opened in Mossley near Oldham around 1863.^[75]
• Frog-i'-th'-'ole pudding: now known as toad in the hole.
• Frumenty: sweet porridge. Once a popular dish at Lancashire festivals like Christmas and Easter Monday.
• Goosnargh Cakes: Small flat shortbread biscuits with coriander or caraway seeds pressed into the biscuit before baking. Traditionally baked on feast days like Shrove Tuesday.
• Jannock: cake or small loaf of oatmeal. Allegedly introduced to Lancashire (possibly Bolton) by Flemish weavers.
• Lancashire cheese has been made in the county for several centuries.^[76] Beacon Fell traditional Lancashire cheese has been awarded EU Protected Designation of Origin (PDO) status.^[77]
• Nettle Porridge: a common starvation diet in Lancashire in the early 19th century. Made from boiled stinging nettles with perhaps a handful of meal.
• Ormskirk Gingerbread: local delicacy which were sold all over South Lancashire
• Parkin: a ginger cake with oatmeal.
• Pobs, Pobbies: bread and milk.
• Potato Hotpot, a variation of the Lancashire Hotpot without meat also known as fatherless pie.
• Ran Dan: barley bread. Food of last resort for the poor at the end of the 18th century and beginning of the 19th century.
• Rag Pudding: Traditional Suet Pudding filled with Minced Meat and Onions.
• Sad Cake: A traditional cake, perhaps a variation of the more widely known Chorley cake, once common around Burnley.
• Throdkins: a traditional breakfast food of the Fylde.
• Uncle Joe's Mint Balls are traditional mints produced by Wm Santus & Co. Ltd. in Wigan.

Places of interest[link]

Key
	Abbey/Priory/Cathedral
	Accessible open space
	Amusement/Theme Park
	Castle
	Country Park
	English Heritage
	Forestry Commission
	Heritage railway
	Historic House
	Museum (free/not free)
	National Trust
	Theatre
	Zoo

The following are places of interest in the ceremonial county:

• Arnside and Silverdale AONB
• Astley Hall
• Bank Hall
• Beacon Fell
• Blackburn Cathedral
• Blackpool Pleasure Beach
• Blackpool Tower
• British Commercial Vehicle Museum, Leyland
• Camelot Theme Park
• Clitheroe Castle
• Darwen Tower
• East Lancashire Railway
• Forest of Bowland: Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty
• Gawthorpe Hall, Padiham National Trust
• Harris Museum
• Helmshore Textile Museum
• Hoghton Tower
• Irwell Sculpture Trail
• Lancaster Castle
• Lancaster Cathedral
• Lathom Park Chapel, site of Lathom Hall, seat of the Earls of Derby
• Leighton Moss nature reserve, Royal Society for the Protection of Birds
• Martin Mere, Wildfowl and Wetlands Trust nature reserve, Burscough
• Morecambe Bay
• Museum of Lancashire
• Pendle Hill
• The Pennines , provide great opportunity for Mountain Biking
• Ribble Steam Railway
• Rufford Old Hall National Trust
• Samlesbury Hall
• St Walburge's Church
• Stonyhurst College – a manor house dating back to 1592, now an English public school, run by the Jesuits
• Towneley Hall, Burnley
• West Lancashire Light Railway
• West Pennine Moors
• Williamson Park and the Ashton Memorial
• Witton Country Park
• Yarrow Valley Park

• 

  The Ashton Memorial, Lancaster

• 

  Rivington Pike, near Horwich, a top of 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

• 

  Bank Hall, Bretherton, a Jacobean mansion house, awaiting restoration. Home to Lancashire's oldest Yew tree and one of the two fallen sequoia in the UK. Open on limited open days arranged by the Bank Hall Action Group.

Filmography[link]

Whistle Down the Wind, 1961, directed by Bryan Forbes and set at the foot of Worsaw Hill and in Burnley, starring local Lancashire schoolchildren.

See also[link]

• Custos Rotulorum of Lancashire - Keepers of the Rolls
• High Sheriff of Lancashire
• Lancashire (UK Parliament constituency) - Historical list of MPs for Lancashire constituency
• Lancashire dialect and accent
• Lord Lieutenant of Lancashire

Notes and references[link]