I.

Introduction

Lancashire (abbreviation Lancs), county, north-western England, bounded by Cumbria to the north, North Yorkshire and West Yorkshire to the east, Greater Manchester and Merseyside to the south, and the Irish Sea to the west. It was formerly one of the most heavily populated counties in England, with the cities of Liverpool and Manchester in the south. The local government reforms of 1974 took away some 38 per cent of the county: Manchester, Liverpool, and many of the other major towns in the south were allocated to the new counties of Merseyside and Greater Manchester; Furness, separated from the rest of Lancashire by Morecambe Bay, was transferred to Cumbria. In 1998, Blackburn (renamed Blackburn with Darwen) and Blackpool were made unitary authorities, separate from Lancashire but still part of the county geographically and ceremonially. Lancashire has an area of 2,896 sq km (1,118 sq mi).