It Happened in Lancashire E-Book

Malcolm Greenhalgh

• Herausgeber: Merlin Unwin Books
• Kategorie: Geisteswissenschaft
• Sprache: Englisch
• Veröffentlichungsjahr: 2015

Beschreibung

From the world's largest tripe factory to the Battle of Wigan Lane; from the Peterloo massacre to the first British canal – Lancashire can claim it all. It was one of the poorest parts of Britain due to its difficult terrain, poor soil, estuaries and bogs, but it went on to become one of the wealthiest through coal, cotton and slavery. Lancashire had: • the first town to be lit by gas • the first council houses • the first motorway. Its people included: • the last hangman • the most charismatic modern barrister, George Carmen • urbane broadcaster Alistair Cooke • great actors including Thora Hird, Leonard Rossiter and Ian      McKellern. It has suffered some of the greatest tragedies: the massacre of the Lancashire Pals in 30 minutes of the First World War; countless pit disasters; the pounding of the Blitz But it replied by producing some of the greatest comedians: from George Formby to Ken Dodd to Peter Kay. Not to mention the many great cricketers, rugby players and footballers. A lively and informative book.  

Leseprobe

CONTENTS

Title PageAcknowledgementsMap of LancashireDedicationForewordIntroduction100 Facts about Lancashire1. Lancashire since the Ice Age2. Lancashire and the Industrial Revolution3. Famous Lancashire Entertainers4. Famous Lancashire Sportsmen5. Lancastrians Who Did Things6. The Sad Side of Lancashire7. Witches, Ghosts and the Unexplainable8. Disasters and TragediesPlaces of Interest in LancashireIndexAlso published by Merlin Unwin BooksAbout the AuthorCopyright

ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS

I would like to thank Karen and Merlin Unwin for allowing me to write the volume on The County Palatine in their County series. I must also acknowledge help in the provision of photographs by Getty Images, Jon Ward Allen, Ray Ball, Mike Harding and the wonderful Ken Dodd; also to R.F.G Hollett & Son, Wigan History Shop, Leigh Library, Bolton Library and Art Gallery, Manchester Central Reference Library and the Harris Library and Art Gallery. Our County is so fortunate in its wealth of libraries and art galleries (see page 217). Visit them!

Malcolm Greenhalgh

For Izzy, Alex and Charlotte, Joe, William and Edward

FOREWORD

In 1974, Edward Heath decided to demolish over 800 years of our history. He savaged our traditional counties and replaced them with new artificial ones that few wanted. Lancashire was particularly badly hit. The southwest was hived off with Wirral to make Merseyside. The southeast was tacked onto a bit of Cheshire to form Greater Manchester. To the north, all Furness that was once Lancashire-over-the-Sands (the sands of Morecambe Bay) was taken, along with all Cumberland and Westmorland, to create Cumbria. Finally, a chunk of south Lancashire, including the towns of Widnes and Warrington, was ceded to Cheshire.

I live in the village of Lowton St Luke which is (just) in Heath’s Greater Manchester. My postal address is Lowton, Warrington, Cheshire, and the postal sorting office is in Newton-le-Willows, Merseyside! Yet I am a Lancastrian, and proud of it.

A Yorkshire tyke writing a similar book about their county would similarly protest. Indeed, they did protest and had Heath’s ridiculous Cleveland obliterated. Before 1974 the River Hodder was part of the border between Lancashire and Yorkshire, and then the Fairsnape ridge, putting most of the Forest of Bowland in the County of the White Rose. Further south, the old boundary put villages like Sawley and Gisburn, Barnoldswick and Earby firmly in Yorkshire. No longer, officially. Heath plonked them into Lancashire along with some fells in the Lune valley.

The effect on our county has been great and often laughable. Up to 1974 the Lancashire coastline was 216 miles long; the new Lancashire has a coastline of only 118 miles. Today the most southerly point in official Lancashire is near the villages of Sefton and Kirkby, where most people speak with a scouse accent, whereas the most northerly point of Merseyside is the north end of Southport, which is by the Ribble, not Mersey! Up to 1974, Coniston Water was Lancashire’s largest lake; today it is Stocks Reservoir that, up to 1974, was in Yorkshire! Until 1974, Lancashire’s highest point was the Old Man of Coniston (at 3,631'); today it is Leck Fell (at 2,057'). And if you are into cricket, most clubs in the Lancashire League are not now in Lancashire, nor is Old Trafford, HQ of Lancashire Cricket Club.

Greater Manchester! Ugh!

Away with it all, I say. This book deals with The County Palatine of Lancaster, and its boundaries are the pre-1974 ones (forgive me if I stray into what was Yorkshire, but if I do there will be a good reason). There are other Counties Palatine, but Lancashire is the only The County Palatine. The County Palatine has, at its head, the Duke of Lancaster, and the dukedom is held by the Crown. So when drinking the Loyal Toast, whilst non-Lancastrians say, ‘The Queen’, we raise our glasses to ‘The Duke of Lancaster!’

An awful lot has happened in Lancashire and to include it all would require several big tomes. I have therefore had to be highly selective. I hope that you enjoy what I have selected, and that it makes you proud to be a Lancastrian (or extremely jealous if you are not).

Malcolm Greenhalgh

Lowton, Lancashire

100 FACTS ABOUT LANCASHIRE

Lancashire Day is on 27 November; it was on that date in 1295 that representatives from the county travelled to London as members of Edward I’s parliament.Lancashire’s flag is of a red rose on a gold background.Lancashire’s motto is In Concilio Consilium, which translates as ‘In Council is Wisdom’; local authority councils often try to prove that this is not so!The largest English town lacking a railway station is Leigh.Lancashire has two Open Championship golf courses, Royal Birkdale and Royal Lytham & St Annes. Incidentally, Samuel Ryder whose name is remembered in a great golfing competition, was a Lancastrian. He was born in Walton-le-Dale.