Place:


Lancashire England

 

Names from historical writing:

The following appear as names for Lancashire. Follow the links for what the author actually said:

Name Author Source
LANCASHIRE John Bartholomew Gazetteer of the British Isles (Edinburgh: Bartholomew, 1887).
John Marius Wilson Imperial Gazetteer of England and Wales (Edinburgh: A Fullarton & Co., 1870-72).
LANCASHIRE OR LANCASTER John Bartholomew Gazetteer of the British Isles (Edinburgh: Bartholomew, 1887).
LANCASTER John Bartholomew Gazetteer of the British Isles (Edinburgh: Bartholomew, 1887).

NB: These variant names come from our collections of historical travel writing and descriptive gazetteers:

  • The above links take you to the first reference to this particular version of the name within a book of travel writing, or to the relevant gazetteer entry.
  • Some names may derive from research by antiquarian writers such as William Camden and Thomas Pennant into the Roman, Saxon and medieval names of places. Their claims are not always supported by modern place-name researchers.
  • References by travel writers to the place using its "normal" name are not included. Descriptive gazetteer entries are included only if the name does not appear anywhere else.

    • Names for administrative units:

    These names were used for units associated with Lancashire. Click on the links for details of the units and their names:

    Name Unit Type Source
    CENTRAL LANCASHIRE New Town London Gazette, No. 45079, p. 4187, 14 April 1970; Central Lancashire New Town (Designation) Order, 1970.
    LANCASHIRE Administrative County F. Youngs, Local Administrative Units: Northern England (London: Royal Historical Society, 1991), p. 676.
    Ancient County F. Youngs, Local Administrative Units: Northern England (London: Royal Historical Society, 1991), p. 139.
    Constituency (PCon) Richard H.A. Cheffins, Parliamentary Constituencies and their registers since 1832 (London: The British Library, 1998)
    Modern (post 1974) County Census of Population (2001 Key Statistics)
    Poor Law/Registration County F. Youngs, Local Administrative Units: Northern England (London: Royal Historical Society, 1991), p. 139.
    LANCASHIRE COUNTY 1841 Occupation reporting area 1841 Census of Great Britain, Table [1], 'Occupation Abstract'.
    LANCASHIRE NORTH EASTERN Constituency (PDivCon) F.W.S. Craig (ed.), British Parliamentary Election Results 1832-1885 (London: The Macmillan Press Ltd, 1977)
    LANCASHIRE NORTHERN Constituency (PDivCon) Richard H.A. Cheffins, Parliamentary Constituencies and their registers since 1832 (London: The British Library, 1998)
    Constituency (PDivCon) F.W.S. Craig (ed.), British Parliamentary Election Results 1832-1885 (London: The Macmillan Press Ltd, 1977)
    LANCASHIRE SOUTH EASTERN Constituency (PDivCon) F.W.S. Craig (ed.), British Parliamentary Election Results 1832-1885 (London: The Macmillan Press Ltd, 1977)
    LANCASHIRE SOUTHERN Constituency (PDivCon) Richard H.A. Cheffins, Parliamentary Constituencies and their registers since 1832 (London: The British Library, 1998)
    LANCASHIRE SOUTH WESTERN Constituency (PDivCon) F.W.S. Craig (ed.), British Parliamentary Election Results 1832-1885 (London: The Macmillan Press Ltd, 1977)
    LANCASTER Administrative County F. Youngs, Local Administrative Units: Northern England (London: Royal Historical Society, 1991), p. 676.
    Ancient County F. Youngs, Local Administrative Units: Northern England (London: Royal Historical Society, 1991), p. 139.
    Poor Law/Registration County F. Youngs, Local Administrative Units: Northern England (London: Royal Historical Society, 1991), p. 139.
    NORTHERN LANCASHIRE NORTH EAST LANCASHIRE Constituency (PDivCon) Richard H.A. Cheffins, Parliamentary Constituencies and their registers since 1832 (London: The British Library, 1998)
    NORTHERN LANCASHIRE NORTH LANCASHIRE Constituency (PDivCon) Richard H.A. Cheffins, Parliamentary Constituencies and their registers since 1832 (London: The British Library, 1998)
    NORTH LANCASHIRE NORTH Constituency (PDivCon) Great Britain Historical GIS Project
    NORTH LANCASHIRE NORTH EAST Constituency (PDivCon) Great Britain Historical GIS Project
    NORTH LANCASHIRE NORTH EAST LANCASHIRE Constituency (PDivCon) Richard H.A. Cheffins, Parliamentary Constituencies and their registers since 1832 (London: The British Library, 1998)
    NORTH LANCASHIRE NORTH LANCASHIRE Constituency (PDivCon) Richard H.A. Cheffins, Parliamentary Constituencies and their registers since 1832 (London: The British Library, 1998)
    SOUTH LANCASHIRE SOUTH EAST Constituency (PDivCon) Great Britain Historical GIS Project
    SOUTH LANCASHIRE SOUTH EAST LANCASHIRE Constituency (PDivCon) Richard H.A. Cheffins, Parliamentary Constituencies and their registers since 1832 (London: The British Library, 1998)
    SOUTH LANCASHIRE SOUTH WEST Constituency (PDivCon) Great Britain Historical GIS Project
    SOUTH LANCASHIRE SOUTH WEST LANCASHIRE Constituency (PDivCon) Richard H.A. Cheffins, Parliamentary Constituencies and their registers since 1832 (London: The British Library, 1998)
    WEST LANCASHIRE Constituency (CCon) Richard H.A. Cheffins, Parliamentary Constituencies and their registers since 1832 (London: The British Library, 1998)

    NB: These are all the names of all the administrative units which we have associated with Lancashire, and you must judge whether all or even any of them are variant names for the place. They may well include the names of other locations or areas:

    • For cities, the associated administrative units will usually include parishes, especially ecclesiastical parishes, one of whose names is the name of the city followed by a saint's dedication, with just the saint's name as another variant. Parish names will sometimes also include "places" within towns.
    • Districts usually contain more than one settlement, and some districts had their names changed to take the name of a completely different settlement. As we link each administrative unit to just one of our "places", usually the last place the unit was named after, in these cases the name for a completely different place will appear on this page.
    • Similarly, a unit may sometimes be named after a particular settlement it contains and sometimes to indicate its location within a higher level unit. This was very common among British parliamentary constituencies in rural areas, one name referring to their main town and another indicating that they were in, say, the southern part of the relevant county.

    Every name listed here is linked to the particular historical source in which it appears, but we cannot claim that these are all the historical names of Lancashire, or that our references are to the first usage of the names. Similarly, we have tried to ensure that names included here are not transcription errors by ourselves, but it is possible they are the result of errors made when the historical sources were printed, or the result of visiting authors or census officials mis-hearing local names.

    How to reference this page:

    GB Historical GIS / University of Portsmouth, History of Lancashire | Place names for the county, A Vision of Britain through Time.

    URL: https://www.visionofbritain.org.uk/place/17463/names

    Date accessed: 19th March 2025