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Picture: Hazel Harding, Leader of the Lancashire County Council
There are few parts of Britain held in such affection as Lancashire, a county of startling contrasts between ancient and modern, peacefulness and bustle, rural and metropolitan. Nestling between the Irish Sea and the Pennine Moors, Lancashire boasts lively coastal resorts which have drawn visitors for decades; elegant city centres with graceful architecture and cultural delights; and time-honoured mill towns, where hi-tech businesses flourish alongside more traditional industries.
The fourth largest shire county, Lancashire is located in the central north west of England, and the village of Dunsop Bridge in the Ribble Valley has the unique honour of being the officially designated exact centre of the British Isles.
The county is rich in natural beauty, from wild moorland with dry stone walls and free-roaming sheep, to gentle farmland and shady woodlands. There are dozens of traditional villages and hamlets throughout the county, many with ancient churches, picturesque pubs and village greens.
Lancashire is a county full of surprises. Here you will find the magnificent Wycoller Country Park which features Wycoller Hall, on which Charlotte Brontė based Jane Eyre's Ferndean Manor; and historic Hoghton Tower, where William Shakespeare first worked. You can visit medieval Lancaster Castle where women were hanged for witchcraft, the ruins of Whalley Abbey which once shielded traitors, mysterious early Christian burial grounds at Heysham, and Leighton Moss, Morecambe Bay and the Ribble Estuary which provide the windswept home of Britain's rarest seabirds.
Lancashire has a population of 1.1 million and is home to over 35,000 businesses. The county has transformed from its cotton industry roots to its present diverse economy made up of international and local leading-edge industries like Associated British Ports, British Nuclear Fuels, British Telecom, British Energy, Rolls Royce, Royal Bank of Scotland, Stagecoach, SITA (waste management operator), Leyland Trucks, Pilkingtons, Conlon Construction, Akzo Nobel and NPL Estates. However, manufacturing is still the main provider of the area's wealth accounting for a quarter of the 640,000 workforce and 30% of the local revenue.
This handbook has been produced by Lancashire County Council to give an insight into the wealth of Lancashire, past, present and future, and to show the excellent facilities available to those who live or visit Lancashire - the Red Rose County.
Signature: Hazel Harding, Leader of the Lancashire County Council Printer Friendly Version | About our website | Top of page | Office of the Chief Executive Copyright © 2008, Lancashire County Council | Site Terms What's New | (External) Tell us what you think about our site...