a county of England, embracing the larger part of the largest coal-field in Europe, and containing upon its surface the larger share of the most numerous manufacturing population in the world.
It is alike distinguished in a commercial and in a historical sense. As a palatinate it gave sovereigns to the throne, and as the seat of manufactures it is the recipient of a moiety of the commerce of the kingdom. For purposes of trade it is admirably situate, being for nearly 70 miles washed on the W. by the Irish Sea, and having at the extreme S. the port of the Mersey, which gives admittance to the largest vessels. The figure of the county is extremely irregular. Including the large indentations of the estuaries of the Mersey... Lancashire, and the Ribble, and the Bay of Morecambe, in the county, the western part presents a tolerably straight line, and the outline of the whole county is estimated at 342 miles, the area being 1765 square miles, or 1,129,600 acres, hardly more than 900,000 of which are available for purposes of agriculture.
The county is well watered, although the only port of magnitude is that on the Mersey. Those of Preston, Fleetwood, and Lancaster are neither large nor much frequented. The principal rivers are, the Mersey, the Ribble, the Irwell, the Douglas, the Wyer, the Ken, the Leven, the Duddon, and the Lune. The smaller streams are numerous, but more remarkable for rendering the scenery picturesque than for any commercial or manufacturing purpose. The Mersey rises in the hills of Yorkshire, passes by the town of Stockport, enters the Irish Sea at Liverpool, and separates Cheshire from Lancashire. It is navigable up to Warrington, but is merely so far an inlet of the sea. At Flixton it receives the Irwell, which originates in the moors of Yorkshire, and passes by Bolton and Manchester. The Ribble intersects the whole county, and is received into a large arm of the sea a little below Preston. It is navigable to very near that town. The Douglas has its source in the hills around the Rivington Pike, passes by Wigan, and, after receiving some smaller brooks, empties itself into the estuary of the Ribble. The largest river in the N. of the county is the Lune, which, flowing from the hills of Westmoreland, enters Kirby Lonsdale, is augmented by the Greta and the Wenning, and after pursuing a south-westerly course, becomes navigable 2 miles below Lancaster. The Wyer rises in the moors between Lancashire and Yorkshire, and flows into the Wyer Water near Poulton.
The only piece of water approaching the dimensions of a lake is at Constone, situated near Furness, parallel to Windermere Lake, a large portion of which is also in Lancashire. The principal hills in this county are the "Fells." The highest is Constone Fell, in Furness, a part of which is called "Grey Friar," or "Old Man," and is stated to be 2577 feet above the level of the sea. Pendle Hill, above Clitheroe, is 1803 feet; Bleasdale Forest, 1709 feet; and Rivington Pike, 1545 feet high. The other hills are Caton Moor, Woolfall Crag, Padham Heights, Longridge Fell, Go Hill, Bollinga Hill, Whittle Hills, Cubbear Hill, Hamilton Hill, Cartmell Fells, Wharton Crag, Gragirth Fell, and Blackstone Edge, which separates Yorkshire from Lancashire. The greater portion of these hills are comparatively barren.
As the greater portion of Southern Lancashire lies low, the progress of cultivation was in several places interrupted by mosses, bearing a close resemblance to the bogs of Ireland. Many of these have been drained, and the process is still going on. The largest mosses were Chat, Pilling, Trafford, Risley, Ashton, Road, Bickerstaff, Rainford, Marton, St Michael's, Calforth, and Hough. Many of these have almost ceased to exist, and even Chat Moss, the largest, is now being rapidly encroached upon by agricultural enterprise. Some of these mosses, from time to time, have exhibited the phenomenon known in Ireland by the term "moving bog." In 1638, Hough Moss moved from its ancient site, and did considerable damage. In the same century, Chat Moss presented a similar eruption. In 1744 Pilling Moss rose to a surprising height, passed to the adjoining ground, covering nearly 160 acres of land, just as in 1771, Solway Moss, in Scotland, floated away upon the lower lands. Pilling Moss has since been reclaimed.
Anciently there were several forests, principally at Myerscough, Fullwood, Bleasdale, Wyersdale, and Quernmoor, situate in the northern part of the county, and these belonged to the duchy of Lancaster. The forests have now all disappeared, but the land appertains to the crown, and contributes to the income of the duchy.
The soil is very unequal, and the progress of agriculture, until very recently, was remarkably slow. An agricultural society has existed for about two-thirds of a century, but it is only now that landowners are encouraging their tenants to drain and adopt a scientific system of a rotation of crops. In general the farms are small, and the overflow of opulent people on the environs of towns renders husbandry more fanciful than profitable. The demands for villa property drive back the farmers, and leave only a moderate quantity available for market-gardening. The climate, too, is humid in consequence of the proximity of the sea and the obstructive high lands which rise in the N. of the county. The rain fall is heavy; in mountain districts, according to Mr Miller, the fall of rain increases in quantity from the valley upwards; but the greatest rain fall is found at an elevation of 1000 feet. In the district of Rivington Pike, Mr Hawksly has found, at elevations varying from 430 feet to 1800 feet, the fall of rain to be 56½ inches, and the quantity flowing off the ground 44 inches, leaving 12½ inches for evaporation and absorption. On the lower ground the fall varies from 30 to 40 inches.
Archaeology has recently dug evidence out of tumuli of history, a tolerable British civilization prior to the arrival of the Romans. According to such dubious proofs as the records afford, the S. of Lancashire was inhabited by a people who bore the name of Setantii or Segantii, interpreted to mean "dwellers in the country of water," and their capital, it is alleged, stood on the Ribble. The northern part of the county, in common with Yorkshire and Cumberland, was peopled by the Brigantes, and their name occurs most frequently in the Roman annals, because with them most of their wars were waged. Recent writers contend that the Gauls and the Saxons were for centuries confined to the E. of England, and that the people of the N. were derived from Scandinavia. The dialect, not yet extinct, of certain parts of the county, would seem to give some slight support to this opinion: thus a scythe is called a liar, the pure Icelandic word for that instrument.
The Romans established stations at Manchester (Mamucium), Warrington (Vercilinum), Ribchester (Rerigium), Colne (Culminum), Blackrod (Coccium), Lancaster (Ad Alanum), and Overborough (Bremetennacum). These they connected by a network of roads, some five feet wide, and others much wider. They diverged from Blackrod, and embraced all the southern stations then running directly to Chester and York. Four of these roads still remain—two from N. to S., and two from E. to W. During their dominion in Britain, Lancashire and Yorkshire were called Maxima Cesariensis, or Britannia Superior. Under the domination of the heptarchy Lancashire formed part of the kingdom of Northumberland. This arrangement existed from 547 to 926. After the introduction of Christianity, the churches became numerous in Lancashire, as in the other Saxon provinces; and near to each church was erected a castle. Twelve of these castles,—Walley, Walton, Childwall and Winwick, Blackstone, Teipton, Standish and Penwortham, Wigan, Rochdale, Middleton and Bury, were erected at the S. of the Ribble. In the N., as the religious houses were larger, we may infer more local opulence.
The political divisions of the county resembled those of the Teutonic people everywhere, and probably were like those which prevailed previous to the arrival of the Romans, for that people seldom interfered with the local arrangements of the countries they conquered. Lancashire was divided into six hundreds; the four northern, Lonsdale, Amounderness, Blackburn, and Leyland, constitute the northern division; while the south division consisted of Salford and West Derby.
Previous to the Norman conquest this county was distinguished as an "honour," on which lordships and manors depended. The lands of such honours were granted by Lancashire, the kings in fee to noblemen, who were bound to keep honour courts; inferior to these courts were manor courts and wapentakes.
The Norman conquest produced a great change. In the Doomsday Book, or Census Book, of William the Conqueror, the name of Lancashire does not appear; and the lands between the Mersey and the Ribble were then of so little value, that they are set down at L120.
The barons of the honour of Lancashire were changed, and Roger de Poictou placed his barons in Liverpool, Widnes, Warrington, Newton, Stockport, and in different parishes from Rochdale, along the hills of Clitheroe, at Hornby, on the River Wyer, Furness, Penwortham, on the Ribble, and at the various points throughout the county, holding himself the Castle of Lancaster. The land between the Ribble and the Mersey subsequently came into possession of William Earl of Ferrars, who took the title of Earl of Derby, and was made chief lord of the whole county. His successors held the office until 1265, when the then Earl of Derby forfeited his title and his lands, by having taken part with Simon de Montfort. Henry III gave these possessions, with the honour of Lancaster, to his youngest son, Edmund Crouchback, who was created the first Earl of Lancaster. In 1253 this earl was invested with the dominion of Sicily and Apulia, and had the title of King of Sicily. From this incident date some of the most remarkable events in English history. Edmund was enriched by grants and possessions, and in that way was laid the foundation of the greatness which identified, for so many years, the house of Lancaster with the throne. The earls of Lancaster henceforth lived in royal state. Edward III created Henry Plantagenet the first Duke of Lancaster, and the daughter of the first duke married John of Gaunt, the fourth son of Edward III., who, on the death of his father, was created Duke of Lancaster. His son, Henry IV., decreed by act of parliament, that the revenues and titles should remain to him and his heirs for ever a distinct and separate inheritance of the crown. John of Gaunt, by his great influence and great deeds, succeeded in advancing the county to the dignity of a palatinate. In addition to Chester and Lancaster, Pembroke and Durham were palatinates, but the jurisdiction was taken away by Henry VIII. from Pembrokeshire, and in the reign of George IV. from Cheshire. The Duke of Lancaster had jura regalia within the county, subject only to the king's general superiority. He had a court of chancery and a court of common pleas; appointed judges, magistrates, and law officers; pardoned treasons, murders, and felonies; and all writs and judicial proceedings were issued in his name, the king's writs being of no force within the county. Henry VIII., however, greatly diminished these privileges. He took away the power of appointing judges and magistrates, and denied to the duke the privilege of pardoning felons, ordering that all writs should run in the king's name, but to be witnessed in the name of the duke. When the crown obtained possession of the palatinate, a duchy court was established, in which all questions of revenue and counsel affecting the duchy's possessions were to be heard and decided. The court was originally held in the duchy office in Westminster, but it is now permanently fixed at Lancaster-place, Waterloo Bridge, London. The court, as a court of equity for cases arising within the county, sat at Preston, but its operations were, for a long time, merely nominal. This arose from the fact of the six curators in the court at Preston retaining all the costs and fees. Attorneys, therefore, declined to frequent the court, preferring the higher court, where the law was considered to be much better administered. Within the last few years, however, the powers of the court have been considerably enlarged, and a registrar, holding offices in Liverpool and Manchester, enables local solicitors to transact much of their business within the county. The principal court is still at Preston, Lancashire, but the vice-chancellor attends at every assize in Liverpool to transact the business of his office, which of late has considerably increased. At Lancaster a receiver attends annually to transact the pecuniary business of the duchy. The chancellorship of the duchy is a ministerial office, without ostensible duties attached.
The forest laws existed in the Saxon time, and the chief men of the forests were endowed with extraordinary powers. They continued to be exercised until a comparatively recent period. They fell, however, into disuse, and were ultimately abolished by the wars of the houses of York and Lancaster, but the records of its proceedings are extremely meagre. In 1588 the chancellor's fee was L288, 16s. 4d., and the sum paid to all the officers in salaries was L641, 3s. 4d. Some years ago the revenue of the duchy was estimated at L14,000; the disbursements, L1,174; I remaining in custody of the receiver, L2258. In 1830 Sir Henry Parnell obtained a select committee to inquire into the civil list. The object was to separate the proper expenses of the crown from other charges mixed up with them; but the result was unproductive of anything more than a nominal alteration. William IV. retained the revenues of the duchies of Lancaster and Cornwall. That of Lancaster is permanently annexed to the crown, but that of Cornwall belongs to the crown only when there is no Prince of Wales. Until recently, no return was ever laid before parliament. The gross income of the duchy of Lancaster enjoyed by the crown in 1843 was L33,037; but the sum paid to the keeper of Her Majesty's privy purse was only L13,000; the difference is exhausted in the payment of officers, and in charges paid by the woods and forests. The duchy has considerable possessions out of Lancashire. From the creation of Lancashire into a palatinate the history of the county merges into that of the kingdom; for the wars of the Roses, and the Rebellion of 1745, are of general rather than of local interest.
From a very early period Lancashire was remarkable for the production of cloth. Manchester, in the sixteenth century, was a market for woollen fabrics; around it were settled numerous weavers, and these were supplied with yarn from the midland counties, from Scotland, but particularly from Ireland. In 1650 they were distinguished for their manufacturing industry, and in 1720 Manchester had a reputation for enterprise and wealth. The great impediment, however, was the scarcity of cotton yarn. In 1769, however, Arkwright made known his first discovery; discoveries and improvements followed, and Lancashire may now be said to monopolize the most of the cotton manufacture of the kingdom. Silk manufactures were not introduced before 1819, but is now an extensive trade.
Since 1851 the population has greatly increased, and so has the cotton trade. In the article Corrox all the facts will be found; but the following return of the export of cotton manufactures for the first six months of 1854, 1855, and 1856, will show that the increase continues:
| Year | Quantity | Value | |------|----------|-------| | 1854 | Cotton manufacturers... | 862,242,082 yards | £12,395,170 | | Ditto yarns | 70,963,290 lb. | £3,255,035 | | 1855 | Cotton manufacturers... | 964,868,662 yards | £12,840,203 | | Ditto yarns | 77,653,787 lb. | £3,255,770 | | 1856 | Cotton manufacturers... | 1,062,400,985 yards | £14,032,692 | | Ditto yarns | 84,467,782 lb. | £3,843,575 |
Mr James Heywood in 1838 published a map of the Coal-field. Lancashire coal-field. It commences within 5 miles of Liverpool at Tarbock, and runs to Colne, 45 miles; its greatest width is 30 miles, and the bed forms a figure like the beak of an eagle, the bill towards Liverpool. In the S. it is surrounded by red sandstone, and in the N. by grit- Lancashire stone. It keeps at a distance of about 5 miles from the River Mersey, and touches it only at Stockport. The coal-field extends into Cheshire and N. Wales, and is separated only by a brief interval from the coal-field of Yorkshire.
Mr Dickinson, inspector of coal mines, enumerates the number of collieries in Lancashire, Cheshire, and North Wales as follows:
- 334 are in Lancashire, - 28 ... Cheshire, - 5 ... Anglesea, - 30 ... Flintshire, and - 26 ... Denbighshire.
Total: 423
"The number," he says, "of working pits or shafts, exclusive of those used solely for air, is 879, besides 60 additional workings by levels and inclined planes called 'day-eyes,' making a total of 939 separate workings, whereby coal is now being worked. The pits are of various depths up to 520 yards. Shafts of greater depth are proposed; but at present 520 yards is the greatest depth of any working pit. Deeper coals have been worked by inclined planes from the bottom of shafts, and workings are now going on in this way at about 600 yards below the surface. 679 of the pits are in Lancashire; 50 in Cheshire; and 150 in North Wales. Their average depth is 115 yards; those of Lancashire being 118 yards; Cheshire 123 yards; and North Wales 97 yards. The united depth of the working pits being upwards of 57 miles.
"The number of persons employed in and about the collieries in 1852 amounted to 38,800; of whom 31,950 were employed underground, and 6850 on the surface; viz.:
| Above ground | Below ground | Total employed | |--------------|-------------|---------------| | Lancashire | 5370 | 25,530 | 30,900 | | Cheshire | 560 | 2,140 | 2,700 | | North Wales | 920 | 4,280 | 5,200 | | Total | 6850 | 31,950 | 38,800 |
Quantity raised in Lancashire in 1852: 8,255,000 tons. Cheshire: 716,000 tons. North Wales: 953,000 tons.
Total produce of the district: 9,323,000 tons.
The consumption of Manchester is estimated at two million tons a year, but it is understood that the cost of carriage forbids coal being brought into that city from a greater distance than 12 miles.
The export of coal from Great Britain in 1855 was 4,568,235 tons, and of this quantity only 331,623 tons were from Lancashire.
A not very old author, West, describes the iron mines at Whitriggs, near Ulverstone, as the greatest in the kingdom; but, with the cessation of wood-fuel, iron ceased to be worked in the county. "In Lancashire," says Mr Binney, F.G.S., in the Memoirs of the Literary and Philosophical Society of Manchester, "many beds of cannel run into blackband, in a similar manner to what often takes place in Scotland. However, it is in the upper coal-field that the most valuable ores occur. Above the four-feet mine at Patricroft, and extending under Chat Moss, is a bed of the carbonate of protoxide of iron, about 2 feet 6 inches in thickness. This was found in sinking the shafts of Messrs Lancaster and Co.'s at Patricroft, not far from the Liverpool and Manchester Railway. On analysis, the ore yielded about 72 per cent. of carbonate of iron, and the gentleman, a medical man, who analysed it, told me that it was pure enough to be used for medicinal purposes. Above the three-quarters mine at Bradford, and over the main limestone at Ardwick, are beds of blackband of 12 and 6 inches, respectively, in thickness, the representatives, beyond all doubt, of the red stone of the pottery coal-field, as their geological position, and the fossils they contain, are exactly the same. Some of the above beds of ironstone only want thoroughly investigating to make them worthy of attention.
"In the middle coal-field are many argillaceous and blackband ores fully as rich as those wrought in other places, and so situated that they could be calcined together with great advantage. Amongst the former are those of Clifton and St Helens, and doubtless many other places in the same position; and amongst the latter the black stone above the cannel mine at Wigan, and several impure cannel and blackbands in that neighbourhood and about Dixon Fold. Below the four-feet coal at Reneldeton a carbonaceous blackband was found in sinking Mr Fitzgerald's pit, about four feet in thickness.
"The vast deposits of haematite found in the N. of Lancashire, in the hundred of Furness, occur in great clefs of the carboniferous limestone. These, no doubt, from their great purity, being but little mixed with foreign matters, had their origin from volcanic sources, on or near the spot where they are now found. Some of them, probably, may have come up through the bottom of the clefs in which they occur; and others, from a short distance, have flowed with water into their present positions."
The population of the county was, in
| Year | Population | |------|------------| | 1801 | 671,486 | | 1841 | 1,697,054 | | 1851 | 2,031,236 |
In fifty years the increase is 201 per cent. Of the 2,031,236 persons, 1,852,103 reside in towns, thus reducing the rural population to 179,133 persons. Of the entire population, 290,948 were engaged in the manufacture of cotton, 85,782 were domestic servants, 38,798 were occupied in farm labour, and 29,793 were employed in the manufacture of silk.
The population about Manchester is most dense, for within ten miles of the city are the great manufacturing towns of Bolton, Bury, Rochdale, Oldham, Ashton, and Stockport, with a multitude of minor places, all more or less engaged in manufactures.
In 1800 the common roads were much complained of; but Canals nearly fifty years before the people of Liverpool projected the Sankey canal, for the purpose of bringing coal from near St Helens to Liverpool. It was not quite 10 miles long. The Duke of Bridgewater soon after projected his first canal; it was subsequently united to the Staffordshire Canal, or Grand Trunk Navigation, and joined Liverpool to Bristol and Hull. The Leeds and Liverpool Canal was commenced in 1770, and ultimately, by a circuitous route of 130 miles, joins Liverpool and Leeds. In addition to these canals there are the Lancaster Canal, the Manchester Canal, the Manchester and Oldham Canal, the Rochdale Canal, and the Ulverstone Canal.
By railways nearly all canals have been converted into Railways, merely auxiliary means of transit. The first railroad on which locomotives were used was opened in 1830, between Liverpool and Manchester. Lancashire is now traversed by a multitude of iron roads; one from S. to N. bisects the county, three cross it, at intervals from each other, and these are connected with each other by twelve union lines.
In a manufacturing and trading population like that of Social Lancashire pauperism is always considerable, sometimes large. Employment is not always constant, and "strikes," or "turn-outs," frequently interfere with the resources of the working classes. Comparatively, however, the poor rates press less heavily in this than in the majority of other counties. The cost per head on population in 1801 was 4s. 4d. in Lancashire; in the other counties it ranged from 4s. 8d. to 16s. In 1821 it was 4s. 8d. in Lancashire, and in other counties it was as high as 17s. 6d. In 1841 it was 3s. 6d. in Lancashire, as high as 10s. in Bucks, and the lowest was Religious zeal exhibited itself ardently after the introduction of Christianity, and wherever there was a castle in Lancashire there was a church. The religious houses, however, were not very numerous, but we find three very distinguished ones: one in Furness, one in Cockersand, and one in Walney. Originally the N. of Lancashire appertained to the see of York, but before the Norman invasion it had been annexed to the province of Canterbury and the diocese of Lichfield, and continued so until the sixteenth century. An alteration then took place, and a large portion of South Lancashire was included in the diocese of Chester. In 1835, however, ecclesiastical commissioners were appointed to consider the state of the Established Church, with reference to ecclesiastical duties and revenues. These commissioners recommended the formation of two new sees in the province of York: Radcliffe, one at Manchester, and the other at Ripon. Subsequently they recommended that the deanery of Furness and Cartmel should be added to the diocese of Carlisle, but that the deaneries of Amounderness, Blackburn, Leyland, Manchester, and Warrington, then forming part of the diocese of Chester, should be included in the diocese of Manchester.
In 1836, with some slight alteration, this proposition received the sanction of the law. The income of the Bishop of Manchester is not to be less than £4,000, nor more than £5,000 per year.
The Reformation seems to have encountered more opposition in Lancashire than in any other county. The principal Catholic families adhered to their own church, and of course sustained the Catholic population dependent upon them. In the reigns of Elizabeth and Mary, penal laws were intended to apply particularly to this county, and the sufferings they entailed are told with great minuteness by the Catholic historians. In the reign of Charles I., the Lancashire Catholics were ardent loyalists, and they were not less attached to the cause of his sons. The gunpowder plot, however, brought down upon them the vengeance of the law, and their sufferings at that time were most severe. Persecution, however, seldom makes converts, and the largest Catholic population in England is still found in Lancashire, augmented constantly by immigration from Ireland.
The creeds of the people of Lancashire seem to have been affected by other circumstances, for it has been found that dissent is most extensive where manufactures prevail. Thus, at the census in 1851, there belonged to the Established Church in Lancashire 429 places of worship, containing 389,546 sittings; of all other denominations, 1,098 places of worship, containing 423,789 sittings. The number present in the Established Church on the Sunday on which the census were taken was 222,810; of Protestant dissenters, 227,634; Roman Catholics, 104,302. The total attendance was 554,746, a little more than one-fourth of the population.
The Scottish Presbyterians had 22 places of worship; Independents, 170; Baptists, 100; Wesleyan Methodists, 521; Calvinistic Methodists, 19. This will indicate, to some extent, the comparative proportion of dissenters.
In 1851 there were 3014 day schools in Lancashire, having 216,947 scholars. The number of Sunday schools was 1524, and the number of scholars, 323,173. (W.J.W.)