The County of Lancashire (3)
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Industrialisation
in Victorian Lancashire
The industrialisation
of Lancashire was fast and furious from the 1750s onwards. Towns,
factories and industry developed rapidly amongst the many small
villages of central Lancashire as textile industries were established
within the county. Fuelled by water and then driven by steam power,
and hastened by technological advances, entrepreneurialism and
commercial acumen, by the middle of the 19th century the county
had become the major manufacturing base of Britain. As the burgeoning
factories needed expanding labour forces, mass migrations took
place from agricultural Lancashire into towns like Manchester,
Salford, Darwen, Blackburn, Burnley, Oldham, Rochdale, Accrington
and Haslingden. It was to become the model for world wide industrialisation.
Canals and
railways made the importation of raw materials and exportation
of finished manufactures feasible and inexpensive and many fortunes
would be made by irresponsible and callous mill owners at the
expense of their workers. The typical working day was 14 hours
long, but many were much longer, as, without regulation, unscrupulous
mill owners could demand any terms they liked. (See: "Working
Conditions in Victorian Manchester") . East Lancashire
pits and coal mines at Worsley made the fuel of industry readily
available. The Manchester
Ship Canal made international trade a reality without the
need for slow or expensive overland transportation.
Cotton dominated
Lancashire (See: "King
Cotton"). By the mid-19th century Lancashire cotton
dominated the world market in textiles - by the end of the century
its output exceeded 1 billion kilos and contributed around 11%
of the national economy, employing around 5% of the population
of England.
Map of Contemporary
Lancashire © John Moss 2003
Contemporary
Lancashire
After 1914,
many of Lancashire's smaller townships and parishes were rationalised
and combined, as was the case with Lytham St Anns, Morecambe and
Heysham. By 1955 Lancashire had 17 county boroughs, 26 municipal
boroughs, 66 urban districts and 14 rural districts.
1974 saw massive reorganisation and rationalisation, with the
county effectively being truncated as three major areas were taken
out of its domain: Boroughs like Wigan, Rochdale, Oldham and Bolton
were absorbed into the newly created Greater Manchester Metropolitan
County.
Similarly,
parts of Sefton, Liverpool and St Helens were incorporated into
the new Merseyside Metropolitan County. Finally, the Furness and
Cartmel Peninsulas in the southern Lake District were taken out
of Lancashire and since then have been part of the county of Cumbria.
Few of these
"removed" areas were happy with the arrangement, and
the people of Bolton, Oldham and Rochdale proudly insist that
they still live in Lancashire and largely spurn all attempts to
persuade them to accept Greater Manchester as anything more than
an unfortunate administrative concoction. Other parts of Greater
Manchester were taken from the old county of Cheshire, (Stockport
and Altrincham, for example), and they in like manner cling to
Cheshire as their native county.
See Also:
Map of 17th Century Parishes
of Lancashire
Lancashire
County Council
PO Box 78,
Christ Church Precinct, County Hall,
Preston, Lancashire PR1 8XJ
Lancashire
Related websites
- This is
Lancashire: http://www.thisislancashire.co.uk
- Lancashire
Online: http://www.lancashire-online.co.uk
- Lancashire
Tourism Partnership: http://www.lancashiretourism.com
- West Lancashire
District : http://www.westlancsdc.gov.uk
- About Lancashire:
http://www.about-lancashire.com
- Friends
of Real Lancashire: http://www.forl.co.uk
- Lancashire
Environment & Countryside website: http://www.lancsenvironment.com/countryside/index.htm
- Historic
Maps of Lancashire: http://www.lancashire.gov.uk/environment/oldmap/index.asp
Lancashire
& Regional Tourist Information Centres
- Accrington:
Town Hall, Blackburn Road, Tel: 01254 872595.
- Barnoldswick:
Post Office Buildings, Fernlea Avenue,
Barnoldswick, B18 5DL. Tel: 01282 666704.
- Blackburn:
15-17 Railway Road. Tel: 01254 681120/53277.
- Blackpool:
1 Clifton Street. Tel: 01253 478222.
- Burnley:
The Bus Station, Tel: 01282 423125.
- Chorley:
35-39 Market Street, Tel: 01257 241693.
- Clitheroe:
12/14 Market Place, Tel: 01200 442226.
- Fleetwood:
15 North Albert Street, Tel: 01253 772704.
- Hebden
Bridge: 1 Bridge Gate, Tel: 01422 843831.
- Ingleton:
Community Centre. Tel: 015242 41049.
- Lancaster:
Bus Station, Tel: 01524 841656.
- Leyland:
2 Sandy Lane, Tel: 01772 621857.
- Lytham:
4 Clifton Square, Tel: 01253 794405.
- Morecambe:
Station Buildings, Central Promenade, Tel: 01524 582808.
- Nelson:
The Bus Station, Broadway, Tel: 01282 698533.
- Pendle:
Pendle Heritage Centre, Park Hall, Colne Road,
Barrowford, BB9 6JQ. Tel: 01282 661701.
- Preston:
The Bus Station, Tithebarn Street, Tel: 01772 556618.
- Rawtenstall:
41/45 Kay Street. Tel: 01706 244678.
- Rossendale:
41/45 Kay Street, Tel: 01706 213677.
- Settle:
Town Hall, Cheapside. Tel: 01729 825192.
- Skipton:
35 Coach Street, Skipton. Tel: 01756 792809.
- Southport:
112 Lord Street. Tel: 01704 533333.
See Also:
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