Lancashire Facts

15 Lancashire Day Facts

by Northern Life

The 27th of November marks Lancashire Day, remembering the day in 1295 when King Edward I of England sent Lancashire’s first representatives to Parliament to attend what later became known as The Model Parliament. To celebrate Lancashire’s rich heritage, here are 15 fun facts about the red rose county…

  1. Lancashire was established in 1183
  2. The county covers an area of 3,075 sq km – making it one of the largest shire counties
  3. Dunsop Bridge in the Ribble Valley is the centre of the British Isles
  4. Bashall Town, near Clitheroe, is England’s smallest town
  5. You can see Blackburn and Burnley from the famous Pendle Hill. Pendle Hill is only 165ft shy of also being called a mountain
  6. Preston is one of England’s newest Cities, and in 2012, it celebrated the Preston Guild, which only happens every 20 years and is England’s oldest festival
  7. Britain’s shortest river is the Brun, which runs through Burnley
  8. The Lancaster Canal has the longest lock-free stretch of man-made waterway in the country
  9. In 1617, the legend is that King James I stayed with Sir Richard de Hoghton at his Tudor mansion in central Lancashire. He was so very impressed by the hospitality, especially with the loin of beef that he was served; he took out his sword and knighted the joint with the words ‘I knight thee, Sir Loin’, hence the modern name of sirloin steak. The huge table on which the loin of beef stood can still be seen at Hoghton Tower
  10. George Fox is believed to have had his vision in Pendle Hill in 1640, prior to founding the Quaker Movement.
  11. The trial of the Pendle Witches in Lancaster in 1612 is the UK’s most famous witchhunt, and in 2012, Lancashire marked its 400th Centenary
  12. Squires Gate, now known as Blackpool International Airport, was the UK’s first airport.
  13. Blackpool’s permanent electric street tramway was the world’s first when it opened in 1885
  14. Martin Mere, Lancashire’s largest lake, is said to be the last known home of King Arthur’s sword `Excalibur`
  15. Roger Bannister, the first person to break the four-minute mile, lived at what is now Pendle Heritage Centre in Barrowford