This county comprises a variety of soil and face of country; there
being mountains of more than 2000 feet high, in the north and eastern
parts, with wide moorlands or heaths amongst them; extensive bogs or
mosses, which yield only turf for fuel, and are very dangerous; and
some most fertile land for agricultural purposes. it yields iron, coal,
slate, and other building-stones; salt, etc. Grazing is more attended
to than agriculture.
The fisheries, both in the rivers and the sea, are valuable. As a
commercial and manufacturing county, Lancashire is distinguished beyond
most others in the kingdom. Its principal manufactures are linen, silk,
and cotton goods; fustians, counterpanes, shalloons, baize, serges,
tapes, small wares, hats, sail-cloth, sacking, pins, iron goods, cast
plate-glass, etc.
Of the commerce of this county, it may suffice to observe, that
Liverpool is now the second port in the United Kingdom. The principal
rivers are the Mersey, Irwell, Ribble, Lune, Leven, Wyre, Hodder,
Roche, Duddon, Winster, Kent, and Calder, and it has two considerable
lakes, Windermere and Coniston Water. Lancaster is the county town.
Population, 1,667,054. It returns 26 members to parliament. "
Ancient Lancashire
During the Iron Age the lands now known as Lancashire were part of
the territory of a loose confederation of ancient Celtic tribes known
as the Brigantes, including the Setantii, who lived along the Fylde
Coast of Lancashire, and the Carvetii who occupied lands around
Carlisle. Several Brigantian hill forts are known to exist in the
county, including those at Warton Crag, Skelmore Heads in Cumbria and
Ingleborough and Stanwick in Yorkshire.
Tribal sociology tended to revolve around a predominantly
agricultural lifestyle in small settlements, surrounded by small fields
and pastures. Archaeological excavations at Lathom have revealed at
least two houses dating from around 2000 BC. Roadways, such as existed
at all, would have been little more than footpaths and animal droving
routes which linked farmsteads and settlements. Apparently Brigantian
tribes operated more-or-less autonomously and independently, only
coming together for ceremonial purposes, or in the event of war, when
they combined to form powerful guerrilla armies
Roman Lancashire
The conquest of Britain and its incorporation into the Roman Empire
began in AD 43 when the Emperor Claudius landed on the south coast and
fought a campaign northwards to overcome native opposition. Certain
native tribes aided the gradual invasion and an eventual treaty was
made with Cartimandua, Queen of the Brigantes. Under subsequent
generals the Roman army penetrated north across Brigantia and
established a permanent presence with the construction of the first
forts in the northwest, at Ribchester and Carlisle around AD 72. Under
the Governorship of Julius Agricola the forts at Kirkham and Lancaster,
and along the Lune Valley were established. Agricola also constructed
the fort at Mamucium (sometimes Mamuciam - modern day Castlefield) in
the City of Manchester. Other camps later appeared at Warrington, Wigan
and Walton-le-Dale. Roman roads were soon constructed to connect these
forts, and these still underlie the major road networks that
criss-cross the County of Lancashire today.
Celtic & Saxon Lancashire
After Roman withdrawal from Britain in the fourth century AD, the
lands of Lancashire returned to what they had been before, populated by
a now Romanised British people of the tribe known as the 'Cumbri' (from
which Cumbria is derived). They spoke a Celtic dialect, similar to
Welsh, and this is reflected in many Lancashire place names. For
example, places ending in the suffixes "-keth", "-cheth" or "-teth",
(as in Penketh, Toxteth, Culcheth, Tulketh), reflect the old Welsh
"coed", indicating a large wood or forest. The Celtic word "penno",
meaning a hill, is reflected in places like Pendle.
The vacuum created by Roman withdrawal was filled in the late fifth
century by King Rheged, whose kingdom stretched from Scotland through
present day Cumbria to the River Ribble. Within a century these lands
had been absorbed into the Kingdom of Northumbria. Lands to the south
were held by the Kingdom of Mercia, which included all of present day
Cheshire.
By the seventh century immigrant Scandinavian peoples, many ejected
from Ireland, gradually settled in Lancashire and Cheshire, and a mixed
Anglo-Saxon culture had already begun to emerge. Southwards, in
Cheshire, Scandinavians had been granted a settlement on the Wirral by
peace treaty with the Mercians.
By the middle of the 7th century Anglo-Saxons had already begun to
convert to Christianity. It is known that sometime around 680 AD, St
Cuthbert had begun a ministry in Cartmel in the southern Lake District,
which at that time was still included in the lands that would
eventually become known as Lancashire. From around this time, Saxon
place names occur. Old Saxon spellings like "-ecles" or "-eccles"
indicated a church, as in the township of Eccles (now in Salford),
Eccleshill, Eccleriggs and Eccleston (meaning a "church settlement").
The Danes in Lancashire
Repeated frequent raids over two centuries by Scandinavians (Danes,
Norsemen or sometimes called Vikings) had a depressive effect on the
maintenance, administration and security of the region, so that by the
9th century they were in a very vulnerable condition and ripe for
invasion and plunder. The Book of Common Prayer for several centuries
following contained the prayer that God would "…deliver us from the
North Man (Norseman)". By 874 AD, Mercia to the south had fallen to the
Danes and it was not until the end of the century that the lands would
be reclaimed by King Alfred of Wessex (Alfred the Great). Irish Norse
settlers were later granted lands on the Fylde Coast and south of the
Ribble by King Eathelred, (who had married Alfred's daughter,
Aethelflaed) in an attempt to halt Danish raids and to reach a peaceful
accommodation with them.
Over time, Danish settlements were to contribute greatly to the
wealth and prosperity of the region. As accomplished sailing peoples,
they traded with Ireland and Europe and amassed considerable wealth in
the region, becoming an important economic ingredient in an otherwise
rural farming culture. Their wealth was evidenced when, in 1840, the
largest collection of Scandinavian jewellery, coins and silver ever
unearthed was excavated from the banks of the River Ribble near
Preston.
Thus Scandinavians were gradually absorbed into the racial mix that
would eventually become so distinctively Lancastrian. Norse influence
is also, unsurprisingly, reflected in place names. Places ending in
"-by" (such as Formby, Crosby, etc) and "-dale" (as in Ainsdale and
Birkdale) are decidedly Scandinavian in origin. Norse immigrants were
also converted to Christianity as evidenced in many Scandinavian
religious place names. Names like Kirkham, Ormskirk and Kirkby
demonstrate the prevalence of religious institutions - "kirk" being old
Norse word for church. There is actually evidence for many Christian
churches existing well before the Norman Conquest of 1066, including
Bolton, Burnley, Hornby, Poulton-le-Fylde, Prescott, Gressingham and
Heysham, to name but a few.
A well established parochial system seems to have been in place by
850 AD - the Parish of Whalley in Lancashire being the second largest
in England, encompassing 45 townships under its authority, including
Whalley itself, as well as Accrington, Haslingden, Colne and Clitheroe.
Evidently, Scandinavians also eventually took to agriculture and
farming and many place name endings reveal their association with the
land. Endings like "-scale" (as in Windscale), or "-side" (as in
Woodside, Ambleside and Affetside), all come from the Norse meaning
'grazing land'. In north Lancashire the Norse ending "-thwaite" (as in
Rosthwaite and Seathwaite) indicates a clearing in a wood.
By 900 AD the Northumbrian Kingdom had collapsed and the lands were
reclaimed by the Mercians, who set about defending them against
potential threats from the Viking Kingdom based at York (Jorvik) in the
east, by building fortified settlements throughout Lancashire and along
the River Mersey border with Cheshire, or by reinforcing existing or
dilapidated city fortifications and strongholds.
These "burhs", "burghs" or "burys" (from which we get the modern
word "borough"), are also evidenced in place names - for example, Bury,
Disdsbury, Esddisbury, Pendlebury (the latter indicating a stronghold
on a hill). The map of Mercian Cheshire Forts clearly shows their
determination to protect their reclaimed lands. Even, the fort in
Manchester (Castlefield) was strengthened after almost five centuries
of dereliction, and at least one new fort was created at Penwortham in
the Ribble Valley. When, in 919 AD, the Mercian Kingdom was annexed by
the Kingdom of Wessex, all but one remaining ingredient had been added
to a people who were to become Lancastrians, and recognisable in every
sense as English - it's people a mixture of Celtic Britons, Romans,
Saxons, Irish, Scandinavians and, finally, by the addition of the
Norman French into the melting pot
The Norman Conquest of Lancashire
At the time of the 1066 Norman Conquest of Britain Lancashire did
not yet exist as a recognisable entity. Soon after the conquest,
however, William the Conqueror doled out parcels of land as he had
promised to those Norman barons who had supported him in the invasion.
The lands between the River Ribble and the River Mersey, (which would
eventually become the Salford Hundred), were granted to Roger de
Poitou. Sometime around 1090, his son, William Rufus, added Lonsdale,
Cartmel and Furness (now in Cumbria in the southern Lake District) to
these estates, and the boundaries of what came to be known as the
County of Lancashire were set down. Lancaster was chosen as the
headquarters of the region and a castle built there from which to
administer the lands that Poitou now oversaw.
For his part in an unfortunate and abortive rebellion In 1102
against King Henry I saw all of his estates confiscated by the crown
and given to Stephen de Blois.
