LANCASHIRE

Lancashire is an historic county. Shortly after the Norman Conquest in 1066, King William gave the land between the Ribble and the Mersey to Roger of Poitou. He chose Lancaster as the site for his castle, and this became his centre of administration. In 1168, Lancashire was first termed 'the county of Lancashire' under King Henry II. In the 15th century, for 30 years, the Lancastrians fought the Yorkists in the War of the Roses. In the 18th century the cotton revolution was advanced with the invention of Samuel Crompton's Spinning Mule. Many of the old mills have now been demolished or converted and the industrial smog no longer hides our beautiful Lancashire Dales. We have some famous personalities from Lancashire; Successful sportspeople include Carl Fogarty, Four times World Superbike Champion; Jason Queally, Olympic Cycling Medalist; Sir Tom Finney, footballer, who played 76 times for England; and Bill Beaumont, longest serving England Rugby Union Captain. In Showbusiness we have Victoria Wood, Nick Park, Dame Thora Hird, Les Dawson,Jane Horrocks and last but not least, the much loved Eric Morcambe. **NEW** Lancashire is 9th best county to live in out of 36 in the UK, according to a Country Life magazine survey. It received above average marks for the arts, diversity of wildlife and, contrary to popular belief, for sunshine hours!