About MyLancashire

Way back in the early 1990s I was working in Kent and, knowing my family connections with Lancashire, one of my colleagues told me that she and her husband were taking their touring caravan for a holiday to Lancashire. Of course, I told her what a beautiful and interesting county it was (and still is) and how I was really delighted to hear they were going on such a trip; a place where not all that many 'southerners' visit. Naturally, I informed her what an outstandingly beautiful county Lancashire was and how much she would enjoy her visit.

On their return, I was dismayed beyond belief when she told me that they hadn't particularly enjoyed their holiday as they hadn't found much to see or enjoy. My colleague then went on to say something like "Lancashire must be one of those places that you really have to know in order to see the beauty there and to be able to find the places of interest". The sentiments she expressed have stuck in my mind from that day to this, more than 25 years later, and now I hope to set the record straight and show users of this website as much as I can of the beauty of Lancashire and the places of great interest they can visit. This site is primarily a photographic record of the places in Lancashire I have visited over the years. It is not aimed at the historian or academic. It is aimed at people who would like to visit a county previously unknown to them so that they can plan their visit according to the locations they find most attractive.

One of the greatest records of history is contained in the wonderful parish churches that adorn the landscape of our country in great number - probably more than 16,000 of them in total, some dating back to medieval times. Sadly, most people overlook these buildings as they drive through the great British landscape, probably ignorant of the fact that so many of them are well worth a visit. This website will contain a large number of photographs of these buildings in the hope that many viewers of this site will stop and pay them a visit instead of driving all too quickly past them. As a note of caution, it is well worth contacting the church you wish to visit before you go as many of them are only open at certain times (and days) to receive visitors.

Of course, this website is very much an ongoing project - one that is unlikely to be completed as there is such a wealth of locations that are of interest or of outstanding beauty to the extent that I'll never be able to visit them all in the remaining years of my life. However, it's a start, and I will add to this website as often as time permits until such time as I depart from Lancashire into the next world from which I can't communicate - let alone build websites.

War Memorials and Graves:

Throughout our country there are memorials to those who have sacrificed their lives during times of war. Almost all villages have memorials to the fallen, as do many churches. I try to include these in the photographs I take and include them on this website. I also send many of these photographs to the Imperial War Museum who publish them on their website too.

Many of the places I visit to take photographs, particularly churchyards, contain graves that are amongst those managed by the Commonwealth War Graves Commission. As my family, throughout at least four generations, has served our country either in the military or Merchant Navy for more than a century I do make an effort, where time and weather permit, to photograph these memorials to those who have sacrificed their lives for our country. Some of these photographs are also sent to the CWGC and other appropriate organisations for inclusion on their website.

Lancashire:

Unlike most websites that provide information about Lancashire, this site will portray the area of Lancashire prior to the county border changing following the re-organisation of local governments after the passing of the Local Government Act 1972. Therefore, for example, some places that are now designated to lie in Cumbria will be included as being in Lancashire.  A map of the former county borders can be found in many public libraries, or online, or in some of the older editions of books such as those published in Arthur Mee's The Kings England series of more than forty wonderful books of county histories.

Administrative map of the ancient county of Lancashire in 1832. Showing Hundreds, Parishes and Boroughs. Source data on parish boundaries - Kain, R.J.P., and Oliver, R.R. (2001) "Historic parishes of England and Wales: Electronic Map - Gazetteer - Metadata", Colchester: History Data Service. ISBN 0 9540032 0 9. Source data for Boroughs: H.M.S.O. Boundary Commission Report 1832 (courtesy of www.visionofbritain.org). This is a file from the Wikimedia Commons located at URL: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Lancashire_Administrative_Map_1832.png . Commons is a freely licensed media file repository.

Another map of the parishes of Lancashire prior to 1832 can be viewed on ancestry.com and at URL: https://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/earth/earthnews/10908937/Historic-atlas-with-ancient-counties-and-boundaries-published-online.html which refers to the maps digitised by family history website Ancestry, the Atlas and Index of Parish Registers, contains 57 separate county maps, which show how Britain's ancient parish and county boundaries have changed shape over the centuries.

It is said that the reason the original country borders extended as far north as to include parts of what are now deemed to be in Cumbria was so that the 'Sands Route' across Morecombe Bay which the attacking Scots would use when invading the county during the Middle Ages could be easily defended.

Many of the books I've used to assist in researching the content of this website are now out of print. However, many wonderful books about Lancashire's history can be purchased in your local second-hand bookshop or even from on-line booksellers. I am particularly indebted to St. Catherine's Hospice Ashton Charity Book Shop in Wellington Road, Preston for supplying me with a large number of Lancashire history books very inexpensively in their efforts to raise money for their very worthwhile charity. Their website is located at URL: http://www.stcatherines.co.uk

A Lancashire map from 1610 Courtesy of Lancashire County Council at URL: https://www3.lancashire.gov.uk/environment/oldmap/speed/speed.jpg

A Lancashire map from 1929 Courtesy of Lancashire County Council at URL: https://www3.lancashire.gov.uk/environment/oldmap/lcc1929/lcc1929.jpg

Should anyone be remotely interested, the photographic equipment used to take most of the photographs displayed on this website includes: Canon EOS 5D - Mk I, Mk II and Mk III models equipped with the Canon EF 17-40 mm f4 L USM, the Canon EF 24-105 mm f4 L IS USM - Mk I and Mk II models and the Canon EF 70-200 mm f4 L IS USM lenses.

I recently purchased a Canon EF 11-24 mm f4 L USM lens which should have proved to be a great asset when taking architectural photographs for this website. Sadly, it wasn't to be as it didn't produce the photographs I wanted because of a technical problem regarding uneven focus across the frame. I returned it to the dealer for a refund. I really don't know if the lens was completely at fault as the dealer couldn't replicate the problem I had with it and suggested that it just wasn't happy working with my camera body. That said, I believe the lens was optically flawed with the possbility that one or more of the elements in the lens was misaligned. I haven't yet decided whether or not to purchase another one of these lenses or not. At about £3000 a go, it's a considerable sum of money although the dealer did give me a full refund and paid the carriage costs, so no complaint there.