Friends of Real Lancashire – Online Newsletter

It seems that Caroline Spelman MP, Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affair, is about to decide on the proposed extension of the Yorkshire Dales National Park. As it is proposed to take parts of Westmorland and the Leck Fell area of Lancashire into the National Park, we wrote to the Secretary of State in September urging her to insist on a change of name should she approve this proposed extension. We wrote “Should parts of Lancashire and Westmorland be labelled as Yorkshire, it will be a further erosion of the geography of this country, which began with the ill thought out wording of the 1972 Local Government Act which labelled the new administrative areas as counties. The term county ought to apply only to the long standing traditional, historic and geographical counties which have existed in most cases for over a thousand years. Central government has on many occasions stated that the traditional counties remain unchanged by legislation drawn up to create new administrative areas. These statements ring hollow unless the boundaries of these traditional counties are respected and recognised.” We proposed that should the park be extended that a suitable name would be “The Yorkshire and Western Dales National Park”. We asked our MP patrons to write to the minister about this, which many of them did. Sir Bernard de Hoghton, our president, also wrote letters to various people about this proposed extension. At the time of writing we await the Secretary of State’s decision

Plans are well advanced for the positioning of boundary signs at a second site on the Lancashire/Yorkshire border in the Saddleworth area. The location of the signs is on the A669 at County End at Lees on the outskirts of Oldham. The signs will be affixed to stone plinths to be built on either side of the road which means that these signs will cost in the region of £1,000 each. FORL has contributed £500 towards the cost. We are grateful to the Saddleworth White Rose Society for all their hard work in raising funds and obtaining planning consent for the installation of these signs. Once the signs are in place there will be an official unveiling ceremony, hopefully in the Spring. The Saddleworth White Rose Society was instrumental in getting signs erected at Grains Bar, which were unveiled at a ceremony on 24th April 2010. They plan to erect further signs where roads cross the Lancashire/Yorkshire boundary in their area. This will be the sixth location where boundary signs have been erected to mark the boundary between the true counties of Lancashire and Yorkshire, all joint efforts by FORL and our fellow Yorkshire campaigners. The more of these signs there are, the more people will recognise the true county boundaries. However, the BBC and others will no doubt continue to ignore the true geography of Britain.

Having marked the most westerly and southerly points of Lancashire with plaques in 2011, we plan to mark the most northerly point, Nab Island, with one or more plaques situated where they will be seen somewhere in its vicinity. Nab Island is so remote a spot with no access to it, that no one would see a plaque placed there.

It is hoped that we can co-operate with the Yorkshire Ridings Society during the summer in marking Lancashire’s most easterly point with a boundary marker where the Pennine Way footpath crossed the boundary between our two counties near Bleakedgate Moor just south of the M62.

We would also like to mark the highest point in Lancashire, The Old Man of Coniston, with a plaque. Getting permission for this might be both difficult and expensive as a suitable plaque would probably have to be carved out of stone. Which would then have to be carried up the mountain and be cemented in position to deter thieves.

The Friends of Real Lancashire have embarked on a project to mark the extreme points of the traditional county of Lancashire, north, south, east and west with information plaques.

Sign outside The Queens Arms Biggar Village  

On Friday 19th August three plaques were placed on Walney Island the most westerly point of Lancashire by members of the Friends of Real Lancashire. Cllr John Murphy, the Mayor of Barrow in Furness, had identified three suitable places on the island for the plaques and had obtained permission for them to be installed. One was at Earnse Point, the second was at the Round House Restaurant and the third was at The Queens Arms at Biggar Village. Cllr Murphy lives on Walney Island and is very interested in the history and culture of the island.

At 1.00 pm The Mayor unveiled the plaque outside The Queens Arms at Biggar Village at a ceremony attended by members of the Friends of Real Lancashire.

These plaque are designed to remind people of the true extent of the traditional county of Lancashire, whose boundaries remain unchanged by the various Acts of Parliament introduced to create new administrative areas.

Plans are well advanced for the installation of plaques at Hale Head, on the banks of the River Mersey, to mark the most southerly point of the traditional county of Lancashire. Hale Village is the most southerly village in Lancashire.

The traditional county of Lancashire which is synonymous with the County Palatine of Lancaster still stretches from the River Mersey in the south to the River Duddon in the north. Lancashire shares its boundaries with the traditional counties of Cheshire, Cumberland, Yorkshire and Westmorland.

The most northerly and easterly points of Lancashire will be marked with plaques once permission has been obtained from the land owners.

This year Lancashire Day falls on a Sunday. For various reasons people may decide to hold their celebration of our County Day on Saturday 26th, the eve of Lancashire Day. Town Criers may feel that they will have a better audience for their reading of the Proclamation on the Saturday, especially where there is a market. Each year people celebrate Lancashire Day with events held over a ten day period often holding an event on their normal meeting day or evening. So celebrating Lancashire Day one day early will not really matter.

As in the past few years, Brian White our vice chairman, will be co-ordinating Lancashire Day events and drawing up a list to be published both in our Autumn Newsletter and on our website www.forl.co.uk . Please let Brian know of your event as soon as possible so that we can include details in our Newsletter which goes to press at the end of October, his email address is lancashireday@brianwhite.net or telephone 01204 883167.

You will be able to download the wording of the Lancashire Day Proclamation from the website, otherwise it will be printed in the Autumn Newsletter, together with details of your event if you let Brian know in time.

Brian White has a small list of entertainers if you are looking for someone to entertain your party at your Lancashire Night.

ABC promotes all the traditional counties throughout the United Kingdom. It was after attending a meeting of the Association at Coventry in 1992 that a few people from Lancashire who had contacted ABC met together in Great Crosby to discuss how we could promote the true identity of Lancashire. The result was the Friends of Real Lancashire, which over the years has grown into a respected organisation.

We have many more reasons to thank ABC for, here are just some of them.

1. The inclusion of traditional county names in the Royal Mail Postal Address File.

2. The gazetteer which lists the traditional county for some 50,000 places in the UK. Royal Mail and other companies use this as a reference, which helps to promote real counties.

3. Digital mapping of the traditional counties of the UK.

4. Offering financial support for projects such as the signing of traditional county boundaries.

5. Working with the Flag Institute to design and register flags for traditional counties that do not have a flag. So far 21 traditional county flags have been registered (including the Lancashire flag) with more in the pipeline.

So why not visit the ABC website www.abcounties.co.uk where you can access these features – and where you can become a member for £5 Full Membership or take out Supporter Membership free of charge.

Alternatively contact the chairman – Peter Boyce on 02920 333 728

Negotiations are taking place to obtain permission to mark the most southerly point of Lancashire at Hale Head on the banks of the River Mersey with an A4 size plaque. Hale is the most southerly village in Lancashire and is now part of the Borough of Halton. Hale is the only village in the world with a Lord Mayor, an office that dates back to 1317. The Freemen of Hale are also very active in the village and celebrate Lancashire Day with a Lancashire Night every year. We hope to involve the Lord Mayor and the Freemen in this venture. For more information about Hale visit www.visithalevillage.co.uk

Walney Island is the most westerly point in Lancashire and we have been given permission to fix three A4 plaques at various places on the island, to remind people that the island is still a part of the traditional county of Lancashire. The island is part of the Borough of Barrow-in-Furness and Cllr John Murphy, who is the Mayor, has kindly agreed to unveil one of the plaques for us.

The most northerly point of Lancashire is a spit of land running out into Elterwater where the River Brathay runs into and then out of Elterwater. We believe that this area belongs to the National Trust, but any local knowledge would be welcome. Please contact Chris Dawson 0151 928 2770.

Members of the Friends of Real Lancashire, the Yorkshire Ridings Society and the Saddleworth White Rose Society, met near Littleborough on Saturday 19^th March to discuss marking the boundary between Lancashire and Yorkshire where footpaths cross the border. Also present was Andy Strangeway who has over the past winter slept out for one night at each of the extreme points of Yorkshire and at the highest point of each of the three Ridings.

Map locations of places where footpaths, tracks and roads cross the boundary were identified from pre 1974 OS maps of the area supplied by Chris Dawson of FORL. Roger Sewell of YRS produced samples of 4 inch square aluminium plaques on which had been printed the name Yorkshire surmounted by a Yorkshire Rose. Similar plaques for Lancashire can be produced. He also produced plaques bearing the wording “Lancashire’s Most Northerly Point”, “Yorkshire’s Most Northerly Point”, etc. These plaques could be fixed to timber posts or existing fence posts, etc. with adhesive and screws.

After some discussion it was agreed to seek the permission of landowners to erect these signs on their land. Once permission had been granted, the group will decide which locations to mark first of all. It is envisaged that it will take some time to mark all the crossing points. A suggestion was made that it might be possible to eventually mark some of these locations with more permanent markers such as concrete posts, large boulders, cairns, etc. to which plaques can be fixed.

The most southerly point of Yorkshire has already been marked with a plaque and Andy Strangeway is planning to sleep overnight at the extreme points of Lancashire during the late summer. It is hoped to obtain permission to mark each of these points with plaques.

During the summer Andy Strangeway, who has slept overnight on most of the Scottish Islands, is planning to land on Rockall in July to replace the plaque claiming the rock for the Queen, that was placed there in 1955 by men from HMS Vidal. Two friends, one from Lancashire and one from Nottinghamshire will accompany him. They plan to sleep overnight on the rock and to also to plant a flag for each of their three counties.

Nat Lofthouse was one of the most lethal centre forwards ever to play for England, scoring 30 goals in 33 appearances. Nicknamed The Lion Of Vienna, the honest and gutsy footballer played for his hometown club Bolton Wanderers where he scored 255 goals in 452 league appearances.

Born in Bolton, Lancashire, the son of a coal-bagger for the Co-op, Lofthouse began playing football at a young age, in those all-or-nothing games on waste ground then common in the north of England. Going to watch his brother play for their school, Castle Hill, Lofthouse at the age of 11 found himself put in goal. He was wearing a new pair of shoes, but he did not dissent. He then asked for a regular game and, being big for his age, was installed at centre-forward. He would in fact succeed a still more illustrious Bolton-born centre-forward, Tommy Lawton, in the Castle Hill school team.

In Lancashires Romantic Radical The life and writings of Alan Clarke/Teddy Ashton by Paul Salveson (Little Northern Books) Salveson describes the Winter Hill Mass Trespass of 1896.

In Moorlands and Memories Alan Clarke describes the Winter Hill Mass Trespass of September 1896 when 10,000 Boltonians marched up Brian Hey to pull down a gate and protest against a footpath to Winter Hill being claimed and closed by the landlord.

As a keen climber and hill walker, I was well aware of the Kinder Mass Trespass of 1932 but totally ignorant of the Lancashire mass trespass. It would appear that the lads and lasses from Bolton were 36 years ahead of the much more well known mass trespass on Kinder.

John Doughty.