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| Lancashire
|
| Geography
|
| Status: | Ceremonial & (smaller) Administrative County |
| |North West England |
Area:
- Total
- Admin. council
- Admin. area | Ranked 17th
3,075 km²
Ranked 16th
2,903 km² |
| |Preston |
| |GB-LAN |
| ONS code: | 30 |
| NUTS 3: | UKD43 |
| Demographics
|
Population:
- Total (2002 est.)
- Density
- Admin. council
- Admin. pop. | Ranked 8th
1,421,912
462 / km²
Ranked 4th
1,140,539 |
|93.4% White
5.3% S.Asian |
| Politics
|
| |Labour |
| Members of Parliament |
| Janet Anderson, David Borrow, Hilton Dawson, Nigel Evans, Mark Hendrick, Lindsay Hoyle, Joan Humble, Michael Jack, Gordon Marsden, Colin Pickthall, Peter Pike, Greg Pope, Gordon Prentice, Geraldine Smith, Jack Straw |
| Districts
|
West Lancashire
Chorley
South Ribble
Fylde
Preston
Wyre
Lancaster
Ribble Valley
Pendle
Burnley
Rossendale
Hyndburn
Blackpool (Unitary)
Blackburn with Darwen (Unitary)
Lancashire (archaically, the County of Lancaster) is a county palatine of England, lying on the Irish Sea. Its name is sometimes abbreviated to Lancs. Its traditional county town was Lancaster, but the county council is now based in Preston.
The county borders Cumbria, North Yorkshire, West Yorkshire, Greater Manchester, and Merseyside, and contains the unitary authorities of Blackpool and Blackburn with Darwen.
Lancashire is divided into a number of local government districts. These are Burnley, Chorley, Fylde, Hyndburn, Lancaster, Pendle, Preston, the Ribble Valley, Rossendale, South Ribble, West Lancashire, and Wyre.
Settlements
These are the main towns in Lancashire, for a complete list of settlements see list of places in Lancashire.
Accrington, Adlington
Bacup, Bamber Bridge, Barnoldswick, Bickerstaffe, Blackburn, Blackpool, Burnley, Burscough, Brindle
Carnforth, Chipping, Chorley, Clayton-le-Moors, Cleveleys, Clitheroe, Colne
Dalton, Darwen
Earby
Fleetwood, Freckleton
Galgate, Garstang, Gisburn, Goosnargh, Great Harwood
Haslingden, Heysham, Hoghton
Kirkham, Knott End-on-sea
Lancaster, Lathom, Leyland, Longridge, Lytham
Mawdesley, Morecambe
Nelson
Ormskirk, Oswaldtwistle
Padiham, Parbold, Pendle, Poulton-le-Fylde, Preston
Rawtenstall, Ribchester, Rufford
Silverdale, Skelmersdale, Slaidburn, St Annes
Thornton, Trawden, Tyldesley
Upholland
Whalley
Places of interest
Astley Green Colliery Museum, Tyldesley
Astley Hall
British Commercial Vehicle Museum, Leyland
East Lancashire Railway, a heritage railway
Helmshore Textile Museum
Hoghton Tower
Samlesbury Hall
Lathom Park Chapel, site of Lathom Hall, seat of the Earls of Derby
Lancaster Castle
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 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
History
Main article: History of Lancashire.
The county was established in 1182. In the Domesday Book, its lands had been treated as part of Cheshire and of Yorkshire. It bordered Cumberland, Westmorland, Yorkshire, and Cheshire.
The historic county was 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.
The modern administrative area is now rather smaller than that of the historic county due to a local government reform.
On April 1, 1974 the Furness exclave was given to the new county of Cumbria, the south east being given to Greater Manchester, and the south-west becoming Merseyside
Warrington and surrounding districts including the villages of Winwick and Croft and Risley and Culcheth were annexed to Cheshire. A part of the West Riding of Yorkshire near Clitheroe, was transferred to Lancashire also.
In 1998 Blackpool and Blackburn with Darwen became independent of the county as unitary authorities, but remained in Lancashire for ceremonial purposes, as well as for fire and rescue and policing.
Rejected options for change
On May 25, 2004 the Boundary Committee for England published recommendations for systems of Unitary Authorities to be put to referendum as described under Subdivisions of England, but on Thursday 4 November 2004 the referendum for the North East decided by a margin of 78% to 22% against an elected regional assembly. On 8 November 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".
External links
Category:Lancashire
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