84-595: Lancashire ( / ˈ l æ ŋ k ə ʃ ər / LAN -kə-shər , /- ʃ ɪər / -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 city of Preston is the largest settlement. The county has an area of 3,079 square kilometres (1,189 sq mi) and
168-585: A vitrified fort near Gatehouse of Fleet , and the analysis of its artefacts in the context of other sites and their artefacts have led to claims that the kingdom was centred on Galloway early in the 7th century. Interpretations of another place-name, with even less certainty, indicate that Rheged could also have reached as far south as Rochdale in Greater Manchester , recorded in the Domesday Book as Recedham . The River Roch on which Rochdale stands
252-565: A continuous built-up area from Lytham St Annes to Fleetwood , including Blackpool, and further north is the Lancaster/Morecambe built-up area . The rest of the region is characterised by small towns and villages in the flat farmland surrounding the lower reaches of the Ribble , Wyre , and Lune and the sparsely populated uplands of the Forest of Bowland . The centre and south-east of Lancashire
336-483: A line, perhaps of kings, descended from Cynfarch Oer's brother: Elidir Lydanwyn. According to Bonedd Gwŷr y Gogledd Elidir's son, Llywarch Hen , was a ruler in North Britain in the 6th century. He was driven from his territory by princely in-fighting after Urien's death and was perhaps in old age associated with Powys . However, it is possible, because of internal inconsistencies, that the poetry connected to Powys
420-459: A number of notable settlements along west to east of the M65 : including the city of Preston and towns of Blackburn , Darwen , Accrington , Burnley , Padiham , Brierfield , Nelson and Colne . South of Preston are the towns of Leyland and Chorley (which, with Preston, formed Central Lancashire New Town designated in 1970), as well as Penwortham , Skelmersdale and Ormskirk . The north of
504-562: A plant at Springfields, Salwick operated by Westinghouse and Heysham nuclear power station is operated by British Energy . Other major manufacturing firms include Leyland Trucks , a subsidiary of Paccar building the DAF truck range. Other companies with a major presence in Lancashire include: The creation of Lancashire Enterprise Zone was announced in 2011. It was launched in April 2012, based at
588-439: A population of 1,490,300. After Preston (147,800), the largest settlements are Blackpool (141,100) and Blackburn (124,995); the city of Lancaster has a population of 52,655. For local government purposes, Lancashire comprises a non-metropolitan county , with twelve districts, and two unitary authority areas: Blackburn with Darwen and Blackpool . The county historically included northern Greater Manchester and Merseyside,
672-607: A wider county for lieutenancy purposes, except the City of London which had its own lieutenants. The geographical counties were relatively stable between 1889 and 1965. There were occasional boundary changes, notably following the Local Government Act 1894 which said that parishes and districts were no longer allowed to straddle county boundaries. After that most boundary changes were primarily to accommodate urban areas which were growing across county boundaries, such as when Caversham
756-947: Is based in County Hall in Preston , and has 84 councillors. The council has been controlled by the Conservative Party since the 2017 Lancashire County Council elections ; the 2021 elections they won 48 seats, the Labour Party won 32, and the Liberal Democrats and the Green Party won two each. The twelve districts of the non-metropolitan county are Burnley , Chorley , Fylde , Hyndburn , Lancaster , Pendle , Preston , Ribble Valley , Rossendale , South Ribble , West Lancashire , and Wyre . Blackpool and Blackburn with Darwen are unitary authorities , meaning their councils combine
840-690: Is home to four universities: Lancaster University , the University of Central Lancashire , Edge Hill University and the Lancaster campus of the University of Cumbria . Seven colleges offer higher education courses. The Lancashire economy relies strongly on the M6 motorway which runs from north to south, past Lancaster and Preston. The M55 connects Preston to Blackpool and is 11.5 miles (18.3 km) long. The M65 motorway from Colne , connects Burnley, Accrington, Blackburn to Preston. The M61 from Preston via Chorley and
924-511: Is intimately associated with the king Urien Rheged and his family. Its inhabitants spoke Cumbric , a Brittonic dialect closely related to Old Welsh . The origin of the name Rheged has been described as "problematic". One Brittonic -language solution is that the name may be a compound of rö- , a prefix meaning "great", and cę:d meaning "wood, forest" (c.f. Welsh coed ) although the expected form in Welsh would be *Rhygoed . If association of
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#17330854996891008-482: Is limited at most schools in most districts, with only Fylde and Lancaster districts having mostly sixth forms at schools. The rest depend on FE colleges and sixth form colleges, where they exist. South Ribble has the largest school population and Fylde the smallest (only three schools). Burnley's schools have had a new broom and have essentially been knocked down and started again in 2006. There are many Church of England and Catholic faith schools in Lancashire. Lancashire
1092-850: Is now disused. Lancashire was historically the location of the port of Liverpool while Barrow-in-Furness is famous for shipbuilding . As of 2013, the largest private sector industry is the defence industry with BAE Systems Military Air Solutions division based in Warton on the Fylde coast. The division operates a manufacturing site in Samlesbury . Other defence firms include BAE Systems Global Combat Systems in Chorley, Ultra Electronics in Fulwood and Rolls-Royce plc in Barnoldswick . The nuclear power industry has
1176-490: Is possible that it was a peaceful takeover, both kingdoms being inherited by the same man. After Rheged was incorporated into Northumbria , the old Cumbric language was gradually replaced by Old English , Cumbric surviving only in remote upland communities. Around the year 900, after the power of Northumbria was destroyed by Viking incursions and settlement, large areas west of the Pennines fell without apparent warfare under
1260-427: Is relatively urbanised, especially around the major settlements of Preston , Blackburn , and Burnley and near the border with Greater Manchester. The Central Lancashire urban area includes the city of Preston and the towns of Penwortham , Leyland and Chorley . A short distance east, Blackburn and Darwen are the first of several adjacent areas urban areas which stretch east toward West Yorkshire and south into
1344-489: Is still the home of flying schools, private operators and North West Air Ambulance. Manchester Airport is the main airport in the region. Liverpool John Lennon Airport is nearby, while the closest airport to the Pendle Borough is Leeds Bradford . There is an operational airfield at Warton near Preston where there is a major assembly and test facility for BAE Systems . Heysham offers ferry services to Ireland and
1428-645: Is that the Duchy administers bona vacantia within the County Palatine, receiving the property of persons who die intestate and where the legal ownership cannot be ascertained. The county palatine boundaries remain the same as the historic boundaries , ignoring subsequent local government reforms. Lancashire in the 19th century was a major centre of economic activity, and hence one of wealth. Activities included coal mining, textile production, particularly that which used cotton, and fishing. Preston Docks, an industrial port
1512-543: Is the county flower found on the county's heraldic badge and flag. The rose was a symbol of the House of Lancaster , immortalised in the verse "In the battle for England's head/ York was white, Lancaster red" (referring to the 15th-century Wars of the Roses ). A flag consisting of a red rose on a gold field was designed by the Friends of Real Lancashire , a pressure group which promotes
1596-542: Is the area to which the High Sheriff of Lancashire is appointed. As of 2023 these positions are held by Amanda Parker and David Taylor respectively. The ceremonial county is divided into sixteen constituencies for the purpose of parliamentary representation. The Duchy of Lancaster , the private estate of the sovereign, exercises the right of the Crown in the County Palatine of Lancaster. The most prominent effect of this
1680-640: Is upland, with the West Pennine Moors in the south-east and the Forest of Bowland in the north-west; 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
1764-686: The Brittonic -speaking region of what is now Northern England and southern Scotland , during the post-Roman era and Early Middle Ages . It is recorded in several poetic and bardic sources, although its borders are not described in any of them. A recent archaeological discovery suggests that its stronghold was located in what is now Galloway in Scotland rather than, as was previously speculated, being in Cumbria . Rheged possibly extended into Lancashire and other parts of northern England. In some sources, Rheged
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#17330854996891848-465: The County of London where the administrative county was larger on account of the City of London and the rest of the county being separate for both judicial and lieutenancy purposes. The counties lost their judicial functions in 1972, after which the main functions of the counties were the administrative functions of local government. Despite the loss of their functions, sheriffs continued to be appointed to
1932-509: The Furness and Cartmel peninsulas of Cumbria, and part of northern Cheshire , 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
2016-517: The Furness exclave . The new ceremonial county of Lancashire also gained land in 1974, as the urban districts of Barnoldswick and Earby , Bowland Rural District , and the parishes of Bracewell and Brogden and Salterforth from Skipton Rural District were transferred from the West Riding of Yorkshire . One parish, Simonswood , was transferred from the borough of Knowsley in Merseyside to
2100-588: The Isle of Man . As part of its industrial past, Lancashire gave rise to an extensive network of canals, which extend into neighbouring counties. These include the Leeds and Liverpool Canal , Lancaster Canal , Sankey Canal , Bridgewater Canal , Rochdale Canal , Ashton Canal and Manchester Ship Canal . The major settlements in the ceremonial county are concentrated on the Fylde coast (the Blackpool Urban Area ), and
2184-569: The Leighton Moss nature reserve. In the east of the county are upland areas leading to the Pennines. North of the Ribble are Beacon Fell Country Park and the Forest of Bowland , another National Landscape . Much of the lowland in this area is devoted to dairy farming and cheesemaking, whereas the higher ground is more suitable for sheep, and the highest ground is uncultivated moorland . The valleys of
2268-597: The Lieutenancies Act 1997 , and the shrieval counties in the Sheriffs Act 1887 . Both are defined as groups of local government counties. The historic counties of England were originally used as areas for administering justice and organising the militia , overseen by a sheriff . From Tudor times onwards a lord-lieutenant was appointed to oversee the militia, taking some of the sheriff's functions. Certain towns and cities were counties corporate , which gave them
2352-461: The Local Government Act 1888 , taking over the administrative functions of the quarter sessions . Certain towns and cities were made county boroughs , independent from the county councils. In counties where the quarter sessions had been held separately for different parts of the county, such as the Parts of Lincolnshire , each part was given its own county council. The area administered by a county council
2436-596: The Lord-Lieutenant (termed now a ceremonial county ) covered the entirety of the administrative county and the county boroughs. It expanded whenever boroughs annexed areas in neighbouring counties such as Wythenshawe in Manchester south of the River Mersey and from Cheshire, and southern Warrington . It did not cover the western part of Todmorden , where the ancient border between Lancashire and Yorkshire passes through
2520-578: The M66 starting 500 metres (0.3 mi) inside the county boundary near Edenfield , provide links between Lancashire and Manchester, and the trans-Pennine M62 . The M58 crosses the southernmost part of the county from the M6 near Wigan to Liverpool via Skelmersdale . Other major roads include the east–west A59 between Liverpool in Merseyside and Skipton in North Yorkshire via Ormskirk, Preston and Clitheroe, and
2604-566: The Ministry for Housing, Communities, and Local Government building in London. An alternative flag consists of a red rose on a white field. This design had already been registered by Montrose in Scotland. Ceremonial county Ceremonial counties , formally known as counties for the purposes of the lieutenancies , are areas of England to which lord-lieutenants are appointed. They are one of
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2688-574: The Ribble , Wyre and Lune , which all drain west to the Irish Sea . The Wyre rises in Bowland and is entirely within Lancashire, while the Ribble and Lune rise in North Yorkshire and Cumbria respectively. Many of Lancashire's other rivers are tributaries of the Ribble, including the Calder , Darwen , Douglas , and Hodder . The Irwell , which flows through Manchester, has its source in Lancashire. To
2772-520: The Sheriffs Act 1887 and specifying the areas for the appointment of lieutenants were accordingly brought in with effect from 1 April 1996. The regulations were then consolidated into the Lieutenancies Act 1997 . When Herefordshire, Rutland and Worcestershire were re-established as local government counties in 1997 and 1998 no amendment was made to the 1997 Act regarding them, allowing them to also serve as their own lieutenancy areas. The lieutenancy counties have not changed in area since 1998, although
2856-487: The Sheriffs Act 1887 as amended, in a similar way to the lieutenancies defined by the Lieutenancies Act 1997. Each has a high sheriff appointed (except the City of London, which has two sheriffs ). The Lieutenancies Act 1997 defines counties for the purposes of lieutenancies in terms of metropolitan and non-metropolitan counties (created by the Local Government Act 1972 , as amended) as well as Greater London and
2940-512: The University of Oxford 's People of the British Isles project, the original population of Rheged has left a distinct genetic heritage amongst the people of Cumbria. The research compared the DNA of over 2000 people across the British Isles whose grandparents were all born within 50 miles (80 km) of each other, and found a number of cases, including Rheged, where genetic clusters of people matched
3024-511: The Isles of Scilly (which lie outside the 1972 Act's system). Although the term is not used in the act, these counties are sometimes known as "ceremonial counties". The counties are defined in Schedule 1, paragraphs 2–5 as amended (in 2009, 2019 and 2023). Generally, each time a new non-metropolitan county is created the 1997 Act is amended to redefine the existing areas of the lieutenancies in terms of
3108-546: The River Ribble and its tributary the Calder form a large gap to the west of the Pennines, overlooked by Pendle Hill . South of the Ribble are the West Pennine Moors and the Forest of Rossendale , where former cotton mill towns are in deep valleys. The Lancashire Coalfield , largely in modern-day Greater Manchester , extended into Merseyside and to Ormskirk , Chorley , Burnley and Colne in Lancashire. The highest point of
3192-477: The UK. On 1 April 1974, under the Local Government Act 1972 , southern parts of administrative Lancashire were transferred to the two newly established metropolitan counties of Merseyside and Greater Manchester . Widnes and Warrington , which did not form part of either new county but which were cut off from the rest of Lancashire, were transferred to Cheshire . In the north, the new county of Cumbria incorporated
3276-561: The abolition of the offices of Lord Lieutenant of Middlesex , Lord Lieutenant of the County of London , and Lord Lieutenant of Huntingdonshire and the creation of the Lord Lieutenant of Greater London and of the Lord Lieutenant of Huntingdon and Peterborough . Rheged Rheged ( Welsh pronunciation: [ˈr̥ɛɡɛd] ) was one of the kingdoms of the Hen Ogledd ("Old North"),
3360-428: The administrative county, between Oldham county borough and the West Riding of Yorkshire . Lancaster, the historic county town , became a city in 1937. The administrative county was also the most populous of its type outside London, with a population of 2,280,359 in 1961. By the census of 1971, the population of Lancashire and its county boroughs had reached 5,129,416, making it the most populous geographic county in
3444-593: The airfields owned by BAE Systems in Warton and Samlesbury. Warton Aerodrome covers 72 hectares (180 acres) and Samlesbury Aerodrome is 74 hectares. Development is coordinated by Lancashire Enterprise Partnership, Lancashire County Council and BAE Systems. The first businesses to move into the zone did so in March 2015, at Warton. In March 2015 the government announced a new enterprise zone would be created at Blackpool Airport , using some airport and adjoining land. Operations at
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3528-581: The airport will not be affected. This is a chart of trend of regional gross value added of the non-metropolitan county of Lancashire at basic prices published by the Office for National Statistics with figures in millions of British pounds sterling. Lancashire has a mostly comprehensive system with four state grammar schools. Not including sixth form colleges , there are 77 state schools (not including Burnley's new schools) and 24 independent schools. The Clitheroe area has secondary modern schools. Sixth form provision
3612-605: The area was part of the Brigantes tribal area in the military zone of Roman Britain . The towns of Manchester , Lancaster , Ribchester , Burrow , Elslack and Castleshaw grew around Roman forts. In the centuries after the Roman withdrawal in 410 AD the northern parts of the county probably formed part of the Brythonic kingdom of Rheged , a successor entity to the Brigantes tribe. During
3696-422: The ceremonial counties of West Yorkshire , Cheshire , Merseyside , Greater Manchester and Cumbria : Boundary changes before 1974 include: The ceremonial county of Lancashire is divided into fourteen local government districts . Twelve are part of the two-tier non-metropolitan county of Lancashire, which is administered by Lancashire County Council and twelve district councils. Lancashire County Council
3780-455: The ceremonial county is Gragareth , near Whernside , which reaches a height of 627 m (2,057 ft). Green Hill near Gragareth has also been cited as the "county" top . The highest point in the historic county is Coniston Old Man in the Lake District , at 803 m (2,634 ft). The north of the ceremonial county is less densely populated than the south, especially inland. The Fylde coast forms
3864-630: The connecting A565 to Southport ; the A56 from Ramsbottom to Padiham via Haslingden and from Colne to Skipton; the A585 from Kirkham to Fleetwood ; the A666 from the A59 north of Blackburn to Bolton via Darwen ; and the A683 from Heysham to Kirkby Lonsdale via Lancaster. Several bus companies run bus services in the Lancashire area serving the main towns and villages in
3948-629: The control of the British Kingdom of Strathclyde , with Leeds recorded as being on the border between the Britons and the Norse Kingdom of York . This may have represented the political assertion of lingering British culture in the region. The area of Cumbria remained under the control of Strathclyde until the early 11th century when Strathclyde itself was absorbed into the Scottish kingdom. The name of
4032-426: The county is predominantly rural and sparsely populated, except for the city of Lancaster and the towns of Morecambe and Heysham , the three of which form a large conurbation of almost 100,000 people. Lancashire is home to a significant Asian population, numbering over 70,000 and 6% of the county's population, and concentrated largely in the former cotton mill towns in the south east. The Red Rose of Lancaster
4116-423: 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 . During Roman times
4200-822: The county with some services running to neighbouring areas, Cumbria , Greater Manchester , Merseyside and West Yorkshire . Some of these include: The West Coast Main Line provides direct rail links with London, Glasgow and other major cities, with stations at Preston and Lancaster . East-west connections are carried via the East Lancashire Line between Blackpool and Colne via Lytham , Preston, Blackburn , Accrington and Burnley . The Ribble Valley Line runs from Bolton to Hellifield with regular passenger services running as far as Clitheroe via Darwen and Blackburn. There are connecting lines from Preston to Ormskirk and Bolton, and from Lancaster to Morecambe , Heysham and Skipton . Blackpool Airport are no longer operating domestic or international flights, but it
4284-542: The county. Yorkshire had three lieutenancies, one for each riding, but was a single judicial county with one sheriff, and was counted as one geographical county by Ordnance Survey. The counties lost their judicial functions in 1972 under the Courts Act 1971 which abolished the quarter sessions and assizes . Sheriffs continued to be appointed for each county despite the loss of the judicial functions. Certain towns and cities were counties corporate appointing their own sheriffs. The counties corporate were all included in
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#17330854996894368-460: The creation of county councils in 1889, there were counties for judicial and shrieval purposes, counties for lieutenancy purposes, and administrative counties and county boroughs for the purposes of local government. The 1888 Act used the term 'entire county' to refer to the group of administrative counties and county boroughs created within each judicial county. The Ordnance Survey used the term 'geographical county' to refer to this wider definition of
4452-438: The definitions of which local government counties are included in each lieutenancy have been amended to reflect new unitary authorities being created since 1997. In legislation the lieutenancy areas are described as 'counties for the purposes of the lieutenancies'; the informal term 'ceremonial county' has come into usage for such areas, appearing in parliamentary debates as early as 1996. The shrieval counties are defined by
4536-561: The detached part north of the sands of Morecambe Bay including Furness and Cartmel , and Lonsdale South. Since the Victorian era , Lancashire has had multiple reforms of local government. In 1889, the administrative county of Lancashire was created, covering the greater part of the county. Multiple county boroughs were outside the county council control: Barrow-in-Furness , Blackburn , Bolton , Bootle , Burnley , Bury , Liverpool , Manchester , Oldham , Preston , Rochdale , Salford , St. Helens , and Wigan . The area served by
4620-456: The district of West Lancashire in 1994. In 1998 Blackpool and Blackburn with Darwen became unitary authorities , removing them from the non-metropolitan county but not from the ceremonial county . As the new boundary changes came into effect on 1 April 1974, a government statement in The Times newspaper stated: “They are administrative areas and will not alter the traditional boundaries of counties”. The three main rivers in Lancashire are
4704-472: The family of Llywarch and Urien with Powys has suggested to some, on grounds of proximity, that the area of modern Lancashire may have been their original home. After Bernicia united with Deira to become the kingdom of Northumbria , Rheged was annexed by Northumbria, some time before AD 730. There was a royal marriage between Prince (later King) Oswiu of Northumbria and the Rhegedian princess Rieinmelth , granddaughter of Rum (Rhun), probably in 638, so it
4788-411: 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
4872-586: The former judicial counties up until 1974. In 1974, administrative counties and county boroughs were abolished, and a new system of metropolitan and non-metropolitan counties was introduced instead. Sheriffs were renamed 'high sheriffs' and both they and the lieutenants were appointed to the new versions of the counties. The counties of Avon , Cleveland and Humberside , each of which had only been created in 1974, were all abolished in 1996. They were divided into unitary authorities ; legally these are also non-metropolitan counties. As part of these reforms, it
4956-419: The functions of a district and county council. They were formed in 1996, before which each district was part of the non-metropolitan county of Lancashire. Both authorities currently have a majority Labour administration. The ceremonial county itself only has a minor administrative functions, being the area to which the Lord Lieutenant of Lancashire is appointed; the shrieval county has the same boundaries and
5040-404: The historic county, and registered with the Flag Institute , a vexillological charity, in 2008. The flag has been flown from public buildings within the historic county boundaries on Lancashire Day (27 November), including from County Hall in Preston , St Helens Town Hall , the in the parts of the Metropolitan Borough of Oldham which were previously in Lancashire. It has also been flown from
5124-405: The majority of Chorley. Elsewhere it is less extensive but covers the areas between the major settlements to prevent their convergence both with each other and with the nearby Merseyside and Greater Manchester conurbations. There is a further area of green belt in the north of the county, between Lancaster, Morecambe , and Carnforth . Some settlements within the historic county boundaries are in
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#17330854996895208-444: The mid-8th century, the area was incorporated into the Anglo-Saxon Kingdom of Northumbria from the north of the River Ribble and the Kingdom of Mercia from the south, which both became parts of England in the 10th century. In the Domesday Book , land between the Ribble and Mersey were known as " Inter Ripam et Mersam " and included in the returns for Cheshire . Although some historians consider this to mean south Lancashire
5292-413: The middle of the town. During the 20th century, the county became increasingly urban with Warrington (1900), Blackpool (1904) and Southport (1905) becoming county boroughs, with many boundary extensions. The borders around the Manchester area were particularly complicated, with narrow protrusions of the administrative county between the county boroughs – Lees Urban District formed a detached part of
5376-437: The name with cę:d is correct, the prefix may be rag- , meaning "before, adjacent to, opposite". Derivation from the element reg , which with the suffix -ed has connotations of "generosity", is another possibility. The name Rheged appears regularly as an epithet of Urien (a late 6th-century king of Rheged) in a number of early Welsh poems and royal genealogies. His victories over the Anglian chieftains of Bernicia in
5460-444: The new areas. No such amendment was made in 1997 when Rutland was made a unitary authority or in 1998 when Herefordshire and Worcestershire were re-established; those three therefore have been given their own lieutenants again since the passing of the 1997 Act. The actual areas of the ceremonial counties have not changed since 1998. These are the 48 counties for the purposes of the lieutenancies in England, as currently defined: After
5544-422: The origins of the Old King Cole of folk tradition), who is considered by many to be a mythical figure; if he has some historicity, he may have ruled a considerable part of the North in the early 5th century. All of those listed below may have ruled in Rheged, but only three of their number can be verified from external sources: There are two possible later kings of Rheged : A second royal genealogy exists for
5628-456: The people, whose modern Welsh form is Cymry has, however, survived in the name of Cumberland and now Cumbria ; it probably derives from an old Celtic word * Kombroges meaning "fellow countrymen". Previously, Rheged was assumed to have been centred somewhere in Cumbria, northwest England. However, in 2012 archaeologists found evidence at Trusty's Hill near the town of Gatehouse of Fleet , in Galloway, southwest Scotland, suggesting that
5712-422: The right to appoint their own sheriffs and hold their own courts. Whilst in theory the counties corporate could have had separate lieutenants appointed for them, in practice all of them except London shared a lieutenant with the wider county from which they had been created. London had instead a commission of lieutenancy , headed by the Lord Mayor . The long-standing practice of appointing lieutenants jointly to
5796-452: The second half of the 6th century are recorded by Nennius and celebrated by the bard Taliesin , who calls him "Ruler of Rheged". He is thus placed squarely in the North of Britain and perhaps specifically in Westmorland when referred to as "Ruler of Llwyfenydd" (identified with the Lyvennet Valley ). Later legend associates Urien with the city of Carlisle (the Roman Luguvalium ), only twenty-five miles away; Higham suggests that Rheged
5880-407: The site may in fact have been Rheged's capital c. 600 AD . The discovery was announced to the public in January 2017 and the site is still under excavation. One of the lead researchers, Ronan Toolis, stated that their findings revealed structural ruins atop the hill. These originally belonged to a fortification system with a timber-reinforced stone rampart where the main fortification
5964-463: The two main legal definitions of the counties of England in modern usage, the other being the counties for the purposes of local government legislation. A lord-lieutenant is the monarch 's representative in an area. Shrieval counties have the same boundaries and serve a similar purpose, being the areas to which high sheriffs are appointed. High sheriffs are the monarch's judicial representative in an area. The ceremonial counties are defined in
6048-408: The valleys leading to Greater Manchester, the others being Accrington and Rossendale and Burnley . West Lancashire in the south-west is rural with the exception of Skelmersdale , which forms part of Wigan urban area . The North West Green Belt covers a large part of the south and centre of the county, including all of the non-urban areas in the boroughs of West Lancashire and South Ribble and
6132-567: The west of the county are the Fylde coastal plain and West Lancashire coastal plain , which lie north and south of the Ribble Estuary respectively. Apart from the coastal resorts these areas are largely rural and devoted to vegetable crops. Further north is Morecambe Bay . In the northwest corner of the county, straddling the border with Cumbria, is the Arnside and Silverdale National Landscape, characterised by its limestone pavements and home to
6216-540: The wider county and any counties corporate it contained was formalised by the Militia Act 1882. Apart from the inclusion of the counties corporate, the counties for the purposes of lieutenancy generally corresponded to the judicial counties. The exception was Yorkshire, which was one judicial county, having a single Sheriff of Yorkshire , but from 1660 onwards each of Yorkshire's three ridings had its own lieutenant. In 1889 elected county councils were established under
6300-483: Was "broadly conterminous with the earlier Civitas Carvetiorum , the Roman administrative unit based on Carlisle". Although it is possible that Rheged was merely a stronghold, it was not uncommon for sub-Roman monarchs to use their kingdom's name as an epithet. Place-name evidence, e.g., Dunragit (possibly "Fort of Rheged") suggests that, at least in one period of its history, Rheged included Dumfries and Galloway . Recent archaeological excavations at Trusty's Hill ,
6384-419: Was also "Ruler of Catraeth " ( Catterick in North Yorkshire ). It is accepted by most scholars, therefore, that Rheged was a kingdom covering a large part of modern Cumbria as well as areas of Dumfries and Galloway and extended, for some of its history, into present day Yorkshire. The traditional royal genealogy of Urien and his successors traces their ancestry back to Coel Hen (considered by some to be
6468-407: Was associated with Llywarch's name at a later, probably 9th century, date. Llywarch is referred to in some poems as king of South Rheged, and in others as king of Argoed, suggesting that the two regions were the same. Searching for Llywarch's kingdom has led some historians to propose that Rheged may have been divided between sons, resulting in northern and southern successor states. The connections of
6552-465: Was called an administrative county . As such, some of the judicial or lieutenancy counties comprised several administrative counties and county boroughs. The Ordnance Survey adopted the term 'geographical county' to describe the widest definition of the county. In most cases this was the lieutenancy county; the exceptions were Yorkshire, where the judicial county was larger on account of it being split into its three ridings for lieutenancy purposes, and
6636-422: Was decided to define counties for the purposes of lieutenancy differently from the local government counties in some cases, effectively reverting to the pre-1974 arrangements for lieutenancies. Whereas the lieutenancies had been defined slightly differently from the shrieval counties prior to 1974, it was decided in 1996 that the high sheriffs and lieutenants should be appointed to the same areas. Regulations amending
6720-524: Was placed entirely in Norfolk for those purposes. The county borough of Stockport straddled Cheshire and Lancashire for judicial and lieutenancy purposes - it was placed entirely in Lancashire for judicial purposes in 1956 but continued to straddle the two counties for lieutenancy purposes until 1974. More significant changes to the geographical counties were made in 1965 with the creation of Greater London and of Huntingdon and Peterborough , which resulted in
6804-446: Was recorded in the 13th century as Rached or Rachet . Such names may derive from Old English reced "hall or house". However, no other place names originating from this Old English element exist, which makes this derivation unlikely. If they are not of English origin, these place-names may incorporate the element 'Rheged' precisely because they lay on or near its borders. Certainly Urien's kingdom stretched eastward at one time, as he
6888-402: Was supplemented by smaller defensive works along the low-lying slopes. According to Toolis, this suggests the presence of a royal stronghold of the period: " This is a type of fort that has been recognized in Scotland as a form of high status secular settlement of the early medieval period. The evidence makes a compelling case for Galloway being the core of the kingdom of Rheged. " According to
6972-442: Was then part of Cheshire, it is by no means certain. It is also claimed that the territory to the north formed part of the West Riding of Yorkshire . The county was established in 1182, and came to be bordered by Cumberland , Westmorland , Yorkshire, and Cheshire. It was divided into the hundreds of Amounderness , Blackburn , Leyland , Lonsdale , Salford and West Derby . Lonsdale was further partitioned into Lonsdale North,
7056-582: Was transferred from Oxfordshire to Berkshire as a result of being absorbed into the County Borough of Reading in 1911. The lieutenancies and judicial / shrieval counties were defined as groups of administrative counties and county boroughs, and so were automatically adjusted if the boundaries of those administrative areas changed. There were two exceptions to this rule (one only briefly). The county borough of Great Yarmouth straddled Norfolk and Suffolk for judicial and lieutenancy purposes until 1891 when it
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