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Location Lancashire, North West England
  • News "We just flippin' do it": how a rural cooperative from Lancashire built the fastest broadband in Britain, The Daily Alternative (Sep 21, 2022)
  • News What Preston taught New York City, theneweuropean.co.uk (Sep 17, 2022)
  • News Fracking: UK's only shale gas wells to be sealed and abandoned, BBC News (Feb 10, 2022)

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Lancashire ( LAN-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 Blackpool, and the county town is the city of Lancaster, with the administrative centre being Preston.

The county has an area of 3,079 square kilometres (1,189 sq mi) and a population of 1,490,300. After Blackpool (149,070), the largest settlements are Blackburn (124,995) and the city of Preston (94,490); 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, the Furness and Cartmel peninsulas of Cumbria, and some of northern Cheshire, and excluded the eastern part of the Forest of Bowland.

The west of Lancashire contains flat coastal plains, which rise to the hills of the Pennines in the east. The county contains large parts of two national landscapes, Arnside and Silverdale and the Forest of Bowland, and other protected areas such as the Ribble and Alt Estuaries National nature reserve. The major rivers in 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.

Networks and sustainability initiatives[edit | edit source]

Climate action[edit | edit source]

Biodiversity[edit | edit source]

Brockholes nature reserve, (Wikipedia) - Wildlife Trust for Lancashire, Manchester and North Merseyside, (Wikipedia)

Community energy[edit | edit source]

Halton Lune Hydro

Community involvement[edit | edit source]

Community-powered support for Fylde on getsatisfaction.com

Cycling activism[edit | edit source]

In 2005, Lancaster was one of six English towns chosen to be cycling demonstration towns to promote the use of cycling as a means of transport.[1]

Ethical consumerism[edit | edit source]

Lancaster Cohousing

Food activism[edit | edit source]

Incredible Edible Lancaster, facebook - Incredible Edible Rossendale

Towards sustainable economies[edit | edit source]

210348266.jpgVimeo_play_button.png
The Preston Model
Authors: Hazel Sheffield, March 27, 2017

The Preston Co-operative Development Network – Preston City Council, councils.coop

News and comment[edit | edit source]

2019

Don't frack with us: meet the victorious activist 'Nanas' of Lancashire, Oct 13[2]

In an era of brutal cuts, one ordinary place has the imagination to fight back, Aditya Chakrabortty, Mar 6[3]

2016

Preston campaigners launch legal challenge to fracking in Lancashire, Oct 19[4]

2015

Incredible Edible Rossendale's Harvest festival attracts 1,500 revellers, September 29[5]

Resources[edit | edit source]

Past events[edit | edit source]

2017

May 6 - 7 National Festival of Making

2014

September 28 Incredible Edible Harvest Celebration, Incredible Edible Rossendale

External links[edit | edit source]

Wikipedia: Lancashire

References[edit | edit source]

FA info icon.svg Angle down icon.svg Page data
Keywords english county
Authors Phil Green
License CC-BY-SA-3.0
Language English (en)
Related 0 subpages, 2 pages link here
Aliases Lancashire
Impact 620 page views
Created June 10, 2014 by Phil Green
Modified July 20, 2023 by StandardWikitext bot
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