Main Page | See live article | Alphabetical index Lancashire is a county of England, lying on the Irish Sea. The county borders Cumbria, North Yorkshire, West Yorkshire, Greater Manchester, and Merseyside, and the unitary authorities of Blackpool and Blackburn with Darwen. The county before 1974 bordered Cumberland, Westmorland, Yorkshire, and Cheshire. A large part of Lancashire, surrounding Morecambe Bay was removed. Blackpool and Blackburn with Darwen were districts of the county until the 1990s, when they were made independent. Its population in 2000 was estimated as 1,429,450. Its name comes from Lancaster + shire. Table of contents 1 Towns, cities, villages in Lancashire 2 Places of interest 3 Historical Geography 4 External links Towns, cities, villages in Lancashire Note: some of these places are no longer in Lancashire. Accrington, Adlington Bacup, Bamber Bridge, Barrow-in-Furness, Barnoldswick, Bickerstaffe, Blackburn, Blackpool, Bolton, Burnley, Burscough Carnforth, Chipping, Chorley, Cleveleys, Clitheroe, Colne Dalton, Darwen Fleetwood, Freckleton Galgate, Garstang, Gisburn, Goosnargh, Great Harwood Haslingden, Heysham, Hoghton Kirkham Lancaster, Lathom, Leyland, Liverpool, Longridge, Lytham Manchester, Mawdesley, Morecambe Nelson Ormskirk, Oswaldtwistle Padiham, Parbold, Pendle, Poulton-le-Fylde, Preston Rawtenstall, Ribchester, Rufford Silverdale, Skelmersdale, Slaidburn, St Annes Thornton, Trawden, Tyldesley Upholland Warrington, Whalley Places of interest Astley Green Colliery Museum, Tyldesley Astley Hall British Commercial Vehicle Museum, Leyland East Lancashire Railway, a heritage railway Helmshore Textile Museum Hoghton Tower Samlesbury Hall Lathom Park Chapel, site of Lathom Hall, seat of the Earls of Derby Lancaster Castle Forest of Bowland Forest of Bowland AONB - Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty RSPB Leighton Moss nature reserve, Royal Society for the Protection of Birds (Morecambe Bay WWT Martin Mere, Wildfowl and Wetlands Trust reserve, Burscough Wyre Forest NNR National Nature Reserve Leeds and Liverpool Canal, Ribble Link River Ribble, River Douglas, River Tawd, River Lostock, River Irwell, River Roch, Historical Geography The administrative area is an area rather smaller than that of the historic county as a result of the Local Government Act 1972. From April 1, 1974 the Furness area (the area of Lancashire north of Morecambe Bay) was given to the new county of Cumbria, the south east being given to Greater Manchester, and the south-west becoming Merseyside. Warrington town and surrounding districts including the villages of Winwick and Croft and Risley and Culcheth were annexed to Cheshire. A part of the West Riding of Yorkshire near Clitheroe, was transferred to Lancashire also. Lancashire is divided into a number of local government districts. These are Chorley, Fylde, Hyndburn, Lancaster, Pendle, Preston, the Ribble Valley, Rossendale, South Ribble, West Lancashire, and Wyre. External links Lancashire County Council - http://www.lancashire.gov.uk/ Friends of Real Lancashire - http://www.forl.co.uk/ This article is from Wikipedia. All text is available under the terms of the GNU Free Documentation License.