Lancashire - Izeria

Lancashire ( LANG-kə-shər, -⁠sheer; abbreviated Lancs) is a ceremonial county in North West England. It is bordered 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. The largest settlement is the city of Preston. The county has an area of 3,079 square kilometres (1,189 sq mi) and had a population of 1,601,645 in 2024. Preston and Blackburn are located near the centre, Burnley in the east, the seaside resort of Blackpool on the Irish Sea coast in the west, and the city of Lancaster in the north. For local government purposes the county comprises a non-metropolitan county, with twelve districts, and two unitary authority areas: Blackburn with Darwen and Blackpool. Lancashire County Council and the two unitary councils collaborate through the Lancashire Combined County Authority. The county historically included the Furness and Cartmel peninsulas of Cumbria, northern Greater Manchester and Merseyside, and Warrington, but excluded the eastern part of the Forest of Bowland. The west of Lancashire contains flat coastal plains: the West Lancashire coastal plain to the south and the Fylde in the centre. The north-western coast is hilly and contains part of Arnside and Silverdale, a national landscape. The east of the county is upland, with the West Pennine Moors in the south-east and the Forest of Bowland in the north-east; Bowland has also been designated a national landscape. The major rivers of the county are, from north to south, the Lune, the Wyre, and the Ribble, which all flow west into the Irish Sea. The highest point in Lancashire is either Gragareth or Green Hill, both approximately 628 m (2,060 ft) high and located in the far north-east of the county.

Lancashire was founded in the 12th century; in the Domesday Book of 1086 much of what would become the county is treated as part of Yorkshire and Cheshire. Until the Early Modern period the county was a comparatively poor backwater, although in 1351 it became a palatine, with a semi-independent judicial system. This changed during the Industrial Revolution, when the county rapidly industrialised; until 1974 it included both Liverpool, a major port, and Manchester, which with its surrounding towns dominated the manufacture of textiles. The Lancashire coalfield was also exploited, with many collieries opening. By 1971 Lancashire had a population of 5,118,405, which made it the most heavily populated county in the United Kingdom after Greater London.

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Hits Radio Lancashire

Hits Radio Lancashire, formerly Rock FM, is an Independent Local Radio station, owned and operated by Bauer Media Audio UK as part of the Hits Radio network. It broadcasts to Lancashire, North West England. As of March 2025, the station has a weekly audience of 188,000 listeners according to RAJAR.

Media

Lancashire dialect

The Lancashire dialect (or colloquially, Lanky) refers to the Northern English vernacular speech of the English county of Lancashire. The region is notable for its tradition of poetry written in the dialect.

Landmark

Alston Hall

Alston Hall is a 19th-century Victorian gothic style country mansion located in Longridge (near Preston) in Lancashire, England. It is not to be confused with the 15th-century Alston Old Hall nearby.

Castle Hotel

Grimsargh railway station

Grimsargh railway station was on the single track Preston and Longridge Railway. It served the village of Grimsargh in Lancashire, England. When the line first opened in 1840, wagons carrying quarried stone ran downhill from Longridge to Preston and were hauled in the other direction by horses. There were rudimentary passenger facilities at Grimsargh — the nearby Plough Hotel was used as a booking office. It was not until 1870 that a proper station building was constructed, when the line was run jointly by the Lancashire and Yorkshire Railway and the London and North Western Railway. In 1889, the privately run Whittingham Hospital Railway was opened to a second Grimsargh Station which was diagonally opposite the level crossing from the main station. This station had a run-around loop and a connection with the Longridge line facing in the direction of Longridge. Two sidings were also provided. On a single short platform, the station building comprised an open fronted shed of brick and wood with an overall roof and canopy. The building was some 40 ft (12 m) in length by 12 ft (3.6 m) wide with a 10 ft (3 m) waiting room at the Longridge end. Hospital trains were timed to connect with trains to and from Preston. The Longridge-to-Preston line closed to passengers in 1930, but the hospital line continued to be used until 1957 when its single steam locomotive was condemned. The Longridge line's goods service was finally withdrawn in 1967. The station's buildings were demolished in the late 1970s and houses built on the site, the new houses following the alignment of the former station buildings.

Hospital Landmark