Visit Lancashire

Lancashire Tourism information

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One cannot write about the Red Rose county of Lancashire in the North West of England without upsetting some local sensibilities. Where does Lancashire start and finish, locally it depends on whom you are speaking to. The traditional county of Lancashire stretched from Cheshire in the south to Cumberland and Westmoreland in the North, from the Irish Sea in the west to the Yorkshire borders in the east.

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More interesting facts for when you visit Lancashire

In ancient times the area was settled by a confederation of Celtic tribes: the Brigantes, the Setantii and the Carvetii. The Roam conquest of Britain began in AD 43 and the first Roman forts appeared in the area at Ribchester in AD 76. Following the Roman withdrawal the lands was in turn settled by mixture of Celts and Norse peoples and gradually a mixed Anglo Saxon culture began to emerge.

Following the Norman conquest of 1066 the area came under Norman control and around 1090 the borders of what came to be known as the county of Lancastershire were written for the first time. In 1276 the first Earl of Lancaster appeared and in 1351 the county was raised in status to a Dukedom and the Duchy of Lancaster came into existence.

The borders of the county remained fairly constant for the next several hundred years until the Local Government Act of 1972 created Metropolitan Boroughs. In 1974 these Metropolitan Boroughs came into existence and greatly changed the borders of the county. From within Lancashire the two new Metropolitan Boroughs of Greater Manchester and Merseyside were created removing the cities of Manchester, Salford and Liverpool and eight other boroughs from the county. The northern part of Lancashire, which took in part of the Lake District including the Furness Peninsula and Cartmell became part of the new non Metropolitian County of Cumbria.

Lanchasire, officially at least, became a stump of its former self with Lancaster as the County town and Preston as the county’s administrative centre. In 1986 the Metropolitan Counties was abolished and fierce arguments then took as many people proudly insist that they still live in Lancashire and spurn all attempts to persuade them to accept otherwise.

War of the Roses

Between the years 1455 and 1485 was the period known as the War of the Roses fought between the Houses of Yorkshire (white rose) and Lancaster (red rose). The final battle was fought at Bosworth in Leicestershire where the King Richard 3rd of York was killed bringing the wars to an end. The battle was immortalised in William Shakespeare’s famous line accredited to Richard: a horse, a horse, my kingdom for a horse.

Holiday and Travel News and offers from around the UK

26 October 2011
Visitors to several towns in East Sussex were treated to a rare phenomenon yesterday as a water spout formed off the coast at a little after 4pm. Local residents have stated that the water spout was visible for several minutes during a thunderstorm. One expert has said that if you want to see a waterspout that October was when water spouts were most common.

24 October 2011
Two buildings that have been on the English Heritage at Risk Register have the possibility of a new lease of life.
Croome Court is the location of the first where the Grade 1 listed Red Wing has been bought by the Croome Heritage Trust who intend to begin a programme of repairs and who will then lease the building to the National Trust.

The fate of Ditherington Flax Mill in Shrewsbury is less certain with regeneration being dependent upon funding being raised from the Heritage Lottery Fund by the Flax Mill Maltings Group.

21 October 2011
Funds to provide a facelift to the diplay of the Nigg cross-slab have been secured from a combination of the Heriatge Lottery Fund, the Scottish Government, and the European Community Highland Leader Fund.br />The Nigg cross-slab is an intricately carved Pictish stone depicting snakes and monks who are receiving bread from a raven.

18 October 2011
The Cairngorms National Park is getting a facelift. A string of electricity pylons are being removed, covering around 33 miles in total, with the hope that this will improve the overall scenery of the area.

17 October 2011
It's a Happy Birthday today to the Transporter Bridge in Middlesbrough. This iconic feature of the Middlesbrough skyline is a grade II listed structure and although only 16,000 people crossed on it in 2010, in its heyday a whopping 5.1 Million crossings were made.

14 October 2011
Visitors to Jersey will soon be able to enjoy the Millennium Town Park, located in St Helier, which has been 13 years in creation due to many postponements due to cost over the years. The park is finally due to open on Saturday the 29th of October.

13 October 2011
More flights out of the Highlands and Islands of Scotland have proved a tourist success according to Highlands and Islands Airports Ltd. Increased flights to the area's ariports to various UK destinations as well as to a new route to Amsterdam. All of which is good news for people wanting to visit the area for its spectacular beauty, getting here just got a whole lot easier.

12 October 2011
The toads have it. Forty giant toads on display in Hull to commemorate the 25th anniversary of the poet Philip Larkin has won this years Tourism Event of the Year award. Yorkshire has done particularly well this year, with in addition to the toads, Rudding Park in Harrogate won the Hotel of Year award and Cannon Hall Farm won the Tourism Experience of the Year award.

11 October 2011
Offa's Dyke is once again the meeting place for people from England and Wales, but this time rather than meeting with weapons, in a fight over territory, it is a friendly meeting of various groups to help promote the area, and in particular the Dam and the walks available along it. So keep an eye on the Walking with Offa Project and when it complete you too will be able to enjoy the walks, views, and history, EVEN more than you can at the moment.

10 October 2011
If delegates from Lincoln get their way then finding your way to the City could soon become easier. They are advocating that the Department for Transport erect 4 'brown' tourism signs on the A1 to advertise Lincoln and its offerings to passing motorists to promote the city.

07 October 2011
The importance of the tourism industry in the UK and in Keswick in particular has been amply shown recently by the announcement from United Utilities that they would delay work on the high street until the 31st of October to avoid the holiday period. This decision was taken after concerns were raised with United Utilities by local people and businesses.

Lancashire information ideas

What would you like to see made available? Recently we added to the town and county pages a static map feature to show nearby towns (if any) and for the town pages the local weather for that town; and we are shortly going to look to make the map interactive.

We are also looking at the best ways to show where the local restaurants, bed & breakfasts, theatres etc that we have listed on the same map - without either over complicating the site or flooding you with information.

But we are always looking for ways to provide you with even more useful information, the sort of thing you don't get on other similar sites - so if you have some ideas, why not let us know; and if we can use it we'll give you full credit on the site for the idea.

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Map of Lancashire