LANCASHIRE, a great commercial and manfacturing county in the north-west of England. This district, which is situated between long. 2. 18. and 3. 7. W., and lat. 53. 23. and 54. 24. N., has Cumberland and Westmoreland on the north-east and north, Yorkshire on the east, Cheshire on the south, and the Irish Sea on the west. Its extreme length is about seventy-four miles, and its greatest breadth forty-four and a half; but the boundaries being very irregular, its outline is about 342 miles, which comprehends an area of 1765 square miles, or 1,129,600 acres. Lancashire forms part of the northern circuit, is situated within the province of York and diocese of Chester, and is divided into sixty-one parishes. The other divisions are hundreds, of which there are six, namely, Lonsdale on the north; Amounderness, Blackburn, and Leyland, in the middle; and Salford and West Derby on the south. Most of these are again popularly subdivided, according to their relative situation, or the names of their towns.

The greater part of this county, from Rossall Point on the north, to the Mersey on the south, except where it is indented by the estuary of the Ribble on the west, lies tolerably compact, in the form of an irregular square. To the north of Rossall Point, till it meets the county of Westmoreland, it is very narrow, with a sinuous boundary [7:13:52]on all sides; and to the north-east there is a considerable tract called Furness, separated from the rest by extensive sands, where the river Ken, from Westmoreland, discharges itself into the Bay of Morecombe. Opposite the south point of Furness is the island of Walney, and other seven, of which the largest is Old Barrow. On the northeast and north much of the surface is occupied with hillsand moors, particularly in Furness, where the highest grounds have the name of Fells ; and also on the east, where it is bounded by Yorkshire; but the south and west quarters spread out for the most part into low and fertile tracts, though not without being interrupted by pretty large fields of moss. Chat Moss, near Worsley, and Pilling Moss, farther to the north, are the most extensive; but many other, though smaller, tracts occur in various parts. Along the coast there is also a considerable extent of sandy marsh land, particularly towards the north, near Lancaster and Warton, at the estuaries of the Leven and Duddon, in the north-east or Furness district, and about the banks of the island of Walney.

The climate of Lancashire is chiefly distinguished for its humidity. According to a register kept at Liverpool from 1784 to 1792, the least quantity of rain yearly was twenty-four and an eighth inches in 1788, and the greatest fifty-four and a fourth in 1792. At Lancaster, in the latter year, the quantity of rain was nearly sixty-six inches. Four inches have been known to fall in the course of a night. The mean heat at Lancaster, from 1784 to 1790, was 51° 8'. The prevailing winds are from the south, south-west, and north-east. As fogs are not frequent, nor the stagnant waters of any considerable extent, the climate is not insalubrious.

The soils of this extensive district are necessarily various. The higher grounds, covered with heath and broken with rocks, have a sterile moorish soil; but towards their base, and in the valleys which they form, it is for the most part of the nature of holme. Loam and clay of various degrees of consistence prevail on the flat grounds, with portions of sand, gravel, and moss; and on the banks of the rivers, and at their estuaries, there are large tracts of an alluvial description. The under stratum of the heathy grounds is sandstone or freestone of different colours; a blue rock, popularly called whinstone, is more common in the fell tracts of Furness. Limestone prevails on the north-west, and towards the eastern boundaries. This and the freestone rock occasionally come in contact with one another in a very remarkable manner, a striking instance of which occurs near the town of Chipping, at the termination of the high ridge of Long-ridge Fell. In some places towards the eastern border, coal approaches so near the surface, as to constitute the substratum of the soil, and may be seen cropping out at Townley Park, and on the rising grounds on both sides. Marl is frequently found below the soil in the low grounds, and also under the mosses. Much of the vale land consists of rich pastures and meadows; what part of it is under tillage is very productive, and in many instances or a quality to yield turnips and other green crops, as well as grain. A strong clayey loam, however, appears to be the predominant soil throughout the low grounds on the south and west, which, with the wetness of the climate, renders cultivation more difficult and hazardous than in many other districts.

The principal mineral substances are coal, copper, lead, and iron. The first, and in a manufacturing district by far the most important, of these, is in great abundance in several parts of the county. The great coal tract commences below Prescot on the south, and, crossing the county in a north-east direction, passes into Yorkshire; but coal abounds farther to the south-east, near Manchester, and also to the north above Lancaster. Its quality, as well as the thickness of the beds, and the depth at which it is wrought, has considerable diversity; but it is chiefly of a bituminous description. Cannel coal is found near Wigan, and at other places, and sometimes in contact with the black coal, or a little mixed with it, as at the pits near Layton Hall. Copper is met with in the rough barren mountains, towards the northern extremity of the high Furness or Fell district, particularly at Coniston, Muckle Gill, and Hartriggs; but has not been found to the south of Lancaster Sands in such quantities as to be wrought with advantage. Lead occurs towards the north and north-east parts of the county, but in no great quantity. Iron is wrought to the north of Lancaster Sands, in the liberty of Furness. Though found in other quarters, it is not in such abundance, so as to make the working of it profitable. In the northern part of the high Furness tract, quarries of blue slate have been opened. Sandstone is wrought in most parts of the county south of the Sands, and limestone, though it is found also in the Furness district, is most abundant on the Lancaster side. The main tracts of this rock are in the northern divisions above Lancaster, and near Chipping and Clitheroe, towards the borders of Yorkshire. More to the south, that is, throughout the larger and more valuable portion of the county, it occurs but seldom, and not to a great extent.

Lancashire is naturally well supplied with waters, of which its inhabitants have industriously availed themselves in their manufacturing establishments, and in facilitating the transport of their products of all kinds. The principal rivers are the Mersey, the Irwell, the Ribble, and the Loyne or Lune. The Mersey, after receiving the Etherow and the Goyt from Cheshire, and the Tame from Yorkshire, becomes a large river at the town of Stockport, and, after a winding course between this county and Cheshire, enters the Irish Sea a little below the town of Liverpool. By means of an artificial cut, it has been made navigable for vessels of sixty or seventy tons from Liverpool to the mouth of the Irwell, up which river the navigation is continued to Manchester.

The Irwell, which has its source amongst the hilly ranges to the south of Haslingden, also receives several streams, and flowing through a part of Manchester, where it is advantageously employed by the different manufactories, especially those of spinning, dyeing, and calico printing, falls into the Mersey a little below Fíixton. The Ribble is a large river, which intersects the county from east to west. It enters Lancashire from Yorkshire, above the town of Clitheroe, and, flowing through the beautiful vale of Ribblesdale, joins the Irish Sea a little below the town of Preston, to which it is navigable for small vessels. The Loyne or Lune, also a large river, has its source in the fells of Westmoreland, and comes into Lancashire a little below Kirkby-Lonsdale, and, passing by the town of Lancaster, afterwards expands into a broad estuary, and empties itself into the Irish Sea, The Alt, the Douglas, the Wyer, the Winster, the Leven, the Crake, and the Dudden, are also considerable streams; and many others, though in a general description not worthy of notice for their size, afford the most important facilities to the manufactories established on their courses. There are several pieces of water in the county, known by the names of lakes, waters, meres, and tarns. Of these the most considerable is Coniston Lake or Thurston Water, and Esthwaite Water, both in Furness. With these may be mentioned the Lake of Windermere, which, though not properly belonging to Lancashire, enters it by its southern point, and forms its boundary for eight or ten miles. Mineral springs have been found at Cartmel, Fluke-borough, Wigan, Latham House, near Ormskirk, and other places.

Of the canals by which a great part of this county is traversed in almost every direction, it would be difficult to [7:13:53]give an intelligible description without references to a map, and the limits of this article admit only of noticing them very generally. The great importance of an interior communication by water had been recognised in this quarter a considerable time before any attempt was made to form one entirely artificial. The first object was to render some of the rivers navigable, as in the instance of the Mersey and Irwell, already mentioned, to effect which, acts of parliament were obtained in 1719 and 1720. But the droughts and tides which affect the navigation of these and other rivers have been found to occasion so much inconvenience, that more recently a preference has been given to channels of communication formed wholly by human labour. The first work of this description in Lancashire, and probably in England, was the Sankey Canal, from the Mersey to near St Helen’s, which, including its branches, extends nearly twelve miles. It was finished about sixty years ago. Besides this canal, the county is intersected by nine others, four of which communicate with the populous town of Manchester. Of these we can only notice the more considerable. The Duke of Bridgewater’s Canal, in as far as it belongs to Lancashire, commences in the suburbs of Manchester, and terminates at Pennington, near the town of Leigh. Under the town of Manchester a portion of it passes into arched tunnels, from one of which coals are hoisted up out of the barges below, through a shaft, and delivered into a large coal-yard in the main street. Before it reaches the coal-works at Worsley, it is carried under ground for three quarters of a mile. The Lancaster Canal commences at Kirkby-Kendal in Westmoreland, and terminates at West Houghton, to the eastward of Wigan, after a course of 75^ miles. The principal object in executing this great work was to open a ready communication between the coal and limestone districts, and between the port of Lancaster and the populous towns on the north and south. It is on an average seven feet deep, and is navigable by boats of sixty tons burden. The Leeds and Liverpool Canal is of still greater length. It extends between the towns of Liverpool and Leeds, along a line of 107^ miles, and communicating at the latter place with the Aire, which is navigable to the German Ocean, and at the former with the Mersey, which falls into the Irish Sea; the navigation is thus completed between the eastern and western seas. On this canal flats of forty-two tons are employed in the coal trade between Leeds and Wigan, and passage-boats are in constant use between these towns. The other canals, though works of great importance when each is considered by itself, are much inferior to those we have mentioned.

A considerable portion of the territory of this county belongs in property to his majesty, as Duke of Lancaster. The greater part of this consists of what is called forest lands, all of which are situated in the most northern parts. It is held in general on leases for thirty years, and yields but an inconsiderable revenue. A few other estates are also of considerable extent; but, generally speaking, landed property is much subdivided, and hence Lancashire has a greater number of land-owners than any other county in England, Middlesex excepted; many of the estates not affording a rental of L.200 a year, and not a few being below L.50.

Lancashire does not excel in its agriculture. Only about a fourth of its surface is computed to be under corn and other tillage crops, the other three fourths, subject to a deduction for wastes, roads, &c. being chiefly occupied in grazing and for the purposes of the dairy; and it has been estimated that it does not raise corn sufficient for the support of its population for more than three months in the year. All the different sorts of corn, however, are cultivated, and, where the soil is naturally fertile, the crops are often abundant; but turnips and other ameliorating crops are not in general use, nor always, where grown to some extent, properly attended to. Potatoes, however, are cultivated not only upon a large scale, but with great care and success; this root, with oatmeal, forming the principal food of the working classes. They were introduced into this county from Ireland, and are said to have been cultivated here long before they had found their way into most other parts of England. Lancashire was long noted for its breed of horned cattle, but a variety of other breeds have been introduced, particularly the Holderness, or short-horned, which are preferred to the Lancashire in the milk dairies near the town, and sometimes also in those at some distance, where the principal object is butter. The native breed is the kind more commonly kept for the cheese dairies, farther into the interior. A cow yields, upon an average throughout the year, from eight to twelve quarts of milk daily, or from four to six pounds of butter in the week, or from three to four hundredweight of cheese in the year. A considerable number of good horses are bred and reared, but its sheep stocks are inconsiderable, and seldom of a valuable description. Farms are in general small, and held either on short leases or without any lease at all, so that a tenant has no encouragement to invest capital in the improvement of the soil.

This district, however, is greatly distinguished by its manufactures and commerce, which afford employment to three fourths of its crowded population. Of the former, that of cotton, which is here conducted in all its branches on the most extensive scale, has long been the most considerable. The town of Manchester, where it seems to have had its origin in England, is still its principal seat, though several of the other towns, such as Preston, Garstang, Blackburn, Clitheroe, Middleton, Burnley, Wigan, Bury, Bolton, and Ashton, have a considerable share of it; and, indeed, it is more or less spread over the greater part of the county. At Ravenhead, near Prescot, plate-glass and mirrors are made to a considerable extent; brass, pewter, and copper works are carried on at Wigan and at St Helen’s; Warrington has manufactures of sail-cloth, linens, and checks, with the making of pins and glass, and iron-founderies; and Rochdale and Ashton furnish a variety of the coarser articles of woollen.

From the great extent and variety of its manufactures, it is natural to infer that its commerce must be upon a scale proportionally extensive, and it is so. Liverpool, as a commercial town, is now perhaps second only to London; and to this rank it has attained from a very low beginning little more than a century ago. In prosperous times, the enterprise of its merchants exchanges the products of British capital and industry with those of almost every climate; and, at all times, it carries on an extensive commerce with America and the West Indies, and with Ireland; to which has been recently added a large share of the East India trade. The ports of Preston, Poulton, Warrington, Ulverston, and Lancaster, the county town, are chiefly employed in the coasting trade.

As a considerable portion of the people of Lancashire are employed in working up goods for a foreign market, the condition of the labouring classes, in particular, is much affected by the changes which occur from time to time in that market, and which it is not always possible to anticipate. They are sometimes in the receipt of wages more than sufficient for their comfortable subsistence, and at other times many are thrown out of employment altogether, and the rest retained at wages confessedly inadequate to their support. This is true in an especial manner of its great staple, the cotton manufacture. From this cause, and perhaps also owing to the inconsiderate habits and want of foresight which such fluctuations are apt to engender, the poor-rates of this county amounted, in 1815, to about L.400,000, whereas, forty years before, they were [7:13:54]little more than L.50,000. Since that period up to the present time (1836), though the whole number of the inhabitants has increased nearly half a million, there has not been a corresponding increase on the assessments for the poor, but, on the contrary, a diminution, nor, except in the year 1832, has the amount quite reached that of 1815 and 1816.

The whole population of the county, at the three decennial enumerations, has been as follows :—In 1801, 672,731; in 1811, 828,309; in 1821, 1.052,859; and in 1831, 1,335,800; thus showing a doubling of the inhabitants in thirty years. The burials, including both the registered and unregistered, appear, between the years 1821 and 1833, to have been one in forty-five of the whole of the number then living. The illegitimate births bear a higher proportion to the whole births than in any other county of England, except Hereford and Shropshire, where, as in this county, they are one in thirteen, whereas in the whole of England they are only one in twenty.

According to the laborious production of Mr Rickman, the occupation of the people is thus described.
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By the law of 1832, called the reform bill, the borough of Newton, in this county, was disfranchised, and CIitheroe, which had two members, was reduced to one. By the same bill, the towns of Ashton, Bury, Rochdale, Salford, and Warrington, have been created boroughs, with the right of choosing one member each; and Manchester, Bolton, Blackburn, and Oldham, with the right of electing two each.

The county is formed into two divisions, for the purpose of elections. These are denominated the North, whose pollingplaces are Lancaster, Hawkeshead, Ulverston, Poulton, Preston, and Burnley; and the South, whose polling places are, Newton, Wigan, Manchester, Liverpool, Ormskirk, and Rochdale.