Lancashire

V

Education and Culture

The University of Lancaster, situated in Lancaster, and the University of Central Lancashire in Preston are the major seats of learning. Edge Hill College of Higher Education, based in Ormskirk, became Edge Hill University in 2006. There are many other colleges of higher education in the Lancashire area. Kirkham Grammar School was founded in 1549; Queen Elizabeth's Grammar School, Blackburn, in 1567; Stonyhurst College, a former mansion open to the public during the summer holidays, in 1593; and Bury Grammar School in 1634.

Lancashire remains a major sporting county in cricket, football, and rugby league, although Old Trafford, the home ground of Lancashire County Cricket Club, which is also used for Test matches, is now in Greater Manchester, as are the home bases of many of the most prominent rugby league and football clubs; among the latter mention must be made of Blackburn Rovers, Preston North End, and Blackpool FC, all of which still lie within the county. The Royal Lytham and St Anne's Golf Club is the venue for international tournaments.

The county's most celebrated dish is Lancashire hotpot, basically a stew, which used to be cooked slowly in farmhouse ovens that were still hot after the day's bread had been baked. Although nowadays Lancashire hotpot is made with almost any kind of meat, the true recipe calls for mutton or lamb, stewed with layers of onions, potatoes, and oysters. Modern cookbooks often suggest mushrooms in place of the oysters. Lancashire cheese, mild in flavour and particularly suitable for cooking, is still made, but is produced largely in factories rather than in farmhouses. In bygone days, the coast was famous for its cockles and oysters, but the beds failed to recover from the remarkably cold winter of 1898, when the sea almost froze. However, the equally renowned Morecambe Bay shrimps are still caught, and are potted to a centuries-old recipe.

Famous people from Lancashire include comedienne Victoria Wood, born in Ramsbottom; Oscar-nominated actress Jane Horrocks, from Rossendale Valley; animator Nick Park, from Preston; opera singer Kathleen Ferrier, born in Higher Walton; actress Dame Thora Hird, born in Morecambe; poets Francis Thompson and Robert Service, born in Preston; English international footballer Sir Tom Finney, from Preston; and Eric Morecambe, who took his surname from his birthplace.

VI

Places of Interest

Lancaster has grown on the site of a Roman fort, and the City Museum contains a variety of Roman remains. More relics of the Roman occupation are to be found at Ribchester, a short distance north-west of Blackburn, where there is a Roman museum and the remains of a Roman bathhouse and Roman granaries. In Ribble Valley the ruins of two Cistercian abbeys, Sawley and Whalley, built in the 12th and 13th centuries respectively, can be seen. The keep of Clitheroe Castle, built some time in the early 12th century by Robert de Lacy, survives and the history of the castle is detailed in the nearby Clitheroe Castle Museum. The Anglican cathedral church of St Mary the Virgin is in Blackburn. Built in the early 19th century, it was considerably enlarged between 1950 and 1967. The 19th-century Roman Catholic cathedral church of St Peter is in Lancaster.

The Lewis Museum of Textile Machinery in Blackburn has working models of the flying shuttle, the spinning mule, and the spinning jenny. Part of Burnley is preserved as an historic industrial site; the area includes textile mills and other buildings standing beside the canal. The Steamtown Railway Centre at Carnforth houses over 30 engines, including the Flying Scotsman.

Chingle Hall, north-west of Preston, is the oldest brick-built house in Britain, constructed in 1260 to enclose the 8th-century Viking hall. At Heysham, the visitor can move from a tour of the 20th-century nuclear power station back in time to view the ruined St Patrick's Chapel, which dates from the 5th century, where there are graves that have been hewn out of the rock, and the Saxon church of St Peter.

Blackpool, with its long beaches, is the largest holiday centre in the north of England; Blackpool Tower and the Golden Mile are among the most celebrated of tourist attractions in the entire country. The season in Blackpool extends well into the autumn, because visitors come especially at that time of year to see the famous illuminations. Morecambe, which has 6.5 km (4 mi) of sands, is also very popular as a seaside resort, and additionally attracts many holidaymakers who hope to walk across Morecambe Bay at low tide (which should be attempted only with a local guide, since it can be dangerous otherwise).

The Easter Maritime Festival takes place annually and is a four-day event in Lancaster that celebrates all things nautical. The Annual Rushbearing in Pendle is a traditional festival that takes place in August. “Rushbearing” is an old regional custom, dating back to when church floors were covered each year with freshly cut rushes; today children laden with flowers process to the sounds of local bands. Lancaster Jazz Festival has been held around September each year since 1999, while the Great British Rhythm and Blues Festival, the largest of its kind in the country, has been held in August at Colne since 1990.

VII

Economy

The importance of textiles in Lancashire declined in the latter part of the 20th century, not only in the cotton towns which are now a part of Greater Manchester, but in the county as it now exists. The cotton mills are empty, and although they could be used for light industry, attempts to do so have not been marked with great success. Towns like Blackburn, Burnley, and Colne have suffered considerably from a movement away of their populations, and a general decline in prosperity. The coal industry, too, has declined. Coal is still produced, from opencast and drift mines, but no pits are worked. Nevertheless, the county does have both high-tech aerospace and electronics industries, and Lancaster produces plastic, chemicals, and furniture. It also has the largest concentration of jobs in the defence industry in the United Kingdom. Away from the urban concentrations, and the moors and woods of the Forest of Bowland, the fertile lowlands are successfully farmed. Dairy farming is carried on particularly in the Fylde, the flat area between the Wyre and Ribble estuaries, and market gardening is also of importance in this part of the county. Preston and Lancaster are both industrial and market centres. Fleetwood and Heysham are active ports from which ferries sail to the Isle of Man and Ireland. Tourism is a major industry for the county, and has been ever since the institution of the Wakes Week, the annual holiday for workers in the industrial north.

VIII

History

The north-west of England, once the Romans had left the country in 409, reverted to the control of the native Britons. It was not until late in the 7th century that the area which was later to be known as Lancashire became part of the kingdom of Northumbria. For long afterwards the county was fought over by the rulers of Mercia and Northumbria, sometimes belonging to one and sometimes to the other. Invasions by the Danes (see Vikings) were frequent throughout the 9th century, until the peace of Wedmore (878) ceded the territory to the Danish kingdom of Northumbria. Part of the county was reconquered and allocated once more to Mercia. It was only the Norman Conquest that finally determined that the larger part of the area was part of England. By the end of the 11th century the northernmost territory had been added. It was not yet called Lancashire, the land north of the River Ribble being part of Yorkshire, and that south of the river being within the boundaries of Cheshire. William I gave most of the land to Roger de Poitou, and the county's identity was soon established.

Over the next century, control of the county changed constantly, sometimes being in the hands of the Crown and sometimes in those of various noblemen. The earldom of Lancaster was created by Henry III in 1267, but in 1351 the holder of the title was raised to become a duke, the dukedom becoming one of the most important in the country. In 1362, John of Gaunt, Edward III's fourth son, who had married the first duke's daughter, became Duke of Lancaster, and it was his son, often known as Henry Bolingbroke, who deposed Richard II in 1399, and became Henry IV of England. The House of Lancaster continued to reign in the people of Henry V and Henry VI, but in 1450, Richard, Duke of York, who was also descended from Edward III, claimed the throne, and began the Wars of the Roses, so called because white and red roses were the badges of York and Lancaster respectively. In 1461, the Duke of York's son ascended the throne as Edward IV. This did not, however, end the Wars of the Roses, which continued until Richard III was defeated at the Battle of Bosworth Field by Henry Tudor (Henry VII), whose claim to the throne was also as a descendant of John of Gaunt. The Duchy of Lancaster still exists, and is owned by the Crown. There is no Duke of Lancaster; the office of Chancellor to the Duchy is a sinecure political appointment used for a government minister without portfolio.

During the English Civil War, Lancashire struggled with considerable determination in the Royalist cause, until defeat came in 1646. In 1715 a Jacobite army advanced to Lancaster, where it proclaimed, as king, James, the Old Pretender, then moved on to Preston, where it was defeated. In 1745, Prince Charles Edward Stuart, the Young Pretender, marched through the county, gathering a small army of supporters, known as the Manchester Regiment, which proved ineffective.

Although none of the battles of the Wars of the Roses was fought on the soil of Lancashire, the long struggle undoubtedly took its toll on the county, and it was not until the reign of the Tudors that real prosperity came. The production of wool and woollen goods had been a prime concern in Lancashire since the 12th century, and the trade now expanded, and continued to do so, especially during the 17th century. During the next hundred years or so, cotton began to become more important. Spurred by the inventions of James Hargreaves, Richard Arkwright, and Samuel Crompton (all Lancashire men), cotton grew to be the county's major industry, supporting a population which was matched in density only by that of London. Lancashire was at the heart of the Industrial Revolution. The mills were soon to be run by steam, and the proximity of coalfields to supply the necessary fuel was of great assistance to the local economy. Meanwhile, the port of Liverpool had seen considerable growth (not least because of the slave trade), and the spread of the railways and canals (although the Manchester Ship Canal was not opened until 1894) brought great wealth to Lancashire during the 19th century.

The role of the Forest of Bowland, in Norman times a hunting ground, as a place of refuge was once important. After his defeat at Hexham in 1465 Henry VI hid in the forest for a year, and would no doubt have stayed there longer had he not been betrayed by supporters of Edward IV. In the 16th century the forest became a sanctuary for Roman Catholics, and a century later for Nonconformists.