Lancaster, Lancashire

Roman bath house on Castle Hill

A Roman fort was built by the end of the 1st century AD on the hill where Lancaster Castle now stands, and possibly as early as the AD 60s, based on Roman coin evidence.[9][10] The coin evidence also suggests that the fort was not continuously inhabited in those early years.[11] It was rebuilt in stone around AD 102.[12] The fort's name is known only in an abbreviated form; the only evidence is a Roman milestone found 4 miles outside Lancaster, with an inscription ending L MP IIII, meaning "from L – 4 miles".[13] The name of the fort was probably Calunium.[14]

Roman baths were discovered in 1812 and can be seen near the junction of Bridge Lane and Church Street. There was presumably a bath-house belonging to the 4th-century fort. The Roman baths incorporated a reused inscription of the Gallic Emperor Postumus, dating from AD 262–266. The 3rd-century fort was garrisoned by the ala Sebosiana and the numerus Barcariorum Tigrisiensium.[15]

The ancient Wery Wall was identified in 1950 as the north wall of the 4th-century fort, which constituted a drastic remodelling of the 3rd-century one, while retaining the same orientation. Exceptionally the later fort is the only example in north-west Britain of a 4th-century type, with massive curtain-wall and projecting bastions typical of the Saxon Shore or in Wales. The extension of this technique as far north as Lancaster shows that the coast between Cumberland and North Wales was not left defenceless after the attacks on the west coast and the disaster in the Carausian Revolt of AD 296, following on from those under Albinus in AD 197.

The fort underwent further extensions: at its largest it covered9–10 acres (4–4 ha).[16] Evidence suggests that it remained in use until the end of Roman occupation of Britain.[17]

Little is known of Lancaster between the end of Roman rule in Britain in the early 5th century and the Norman Conquest in the late 11th century. Despite a lack of documentation in that period, it is likely that Lancaster was still inhabited. Lancaster was on the fringes of the kingdoms of Mercia and Northumbria, and over time, control may have changed from one to the other.[18] Archaeological evidence suggests there was a monastery on or near the site of today's Lancaster Priory by the 700s or 800s. For example, an Anglo-Saxon runic cross found at the Priory in 1807, known as "Cynibald's cross", is thought to have been made in the late 9th century. Lancaster was probably one of numerous monasteries founded under Wilfrid.[19]

Lancaster in 1728

After the Norman conquest of England in 1066, Lancaster fell under the control of William I, as stated in the Domesday Book of 1086, which has the earliest known mention of Lancaster in any document. The founding charter of the Priory, dated 1094, is the first known document specific to Lancaster.[20] By this time William had given Lancaster and its surroundings to Roger de Poitou. The document also suggests the monastery had been refounded as a parish church at some time before 1066.[20]

Lancaster became a borough in 1193 under King Richard I. Its first charter, dated 12 June 1193, was from John, Count of Mortain, who later became King of England.[21]

Lancaster from the south in 1825

Lancaster Castle, partly built in the 13th century and enlarged by Elizabeth I, stands on the site of a Roman garrison. In 1322, damage was done to the castle by Robert the Bruce, whose attack it successfully resisted, but it was restored and strengthened by John of Gaunt, 1st Duke of Lancaster, who added much of the Gateway Tower and a turret on the keep or Lungess Tower, which on that account has been named "John o' Gaunt's Chair".[22] In 1322 the Scots burnt the town, it was rebuilt but removed from its original position on the hill to the slope and foot. Again in 1389, after the Battle of Otterburn, it was destroyed by the Scots.[22] Lancaster Castle is well known as the site of the Pendle witch trials in 1612. It was said that the court based in the castle (the Lancaster Assizes) sentenced more people to be hanged than any other in the country outside London, earning Lancaster the nickname, "the Hanging Town".[23] Lancaster also figured prominently in the suppression of Catholicism during the Reformation, when at least eleven Catholic priests were executed. A memorial to these Lancaster Martyrs stands close to the city centre.

Lancaster in the 19th century

The traditional emblem for the House of Lancaster is the Red Rose of Lancaster, similar to that of the House of York, which shows a white rose. The names derive from emblems of the Royal Duchies of Lancaster and York in the 15th century. This erupted into a civil war over rival claims to the throne during the Wars of the Roses.

In more recent times, the term "Wars of the Roses" has been applied to rivalry in sports between teams representing Lancashire and Yorkshire, not just the cities of Lancaster and York. It is also applied to the Roses Tournament, in which Lancaster and York universities compete every year.[24]

St. George's Quay

Lancaster gained its first charter in 1193[25] as a market town and borough, but was not given city status until 1937.[26] Many buildings in the city centre and along St George's Quay date from the 19th century, built as the port became one of the busiest in the UK and the fourth most important in the UK's slave trade.[27] One prominent Lancaster slave-trader was Dodshon Foster.[28] However, Lancaster's role as a major port was short-lived, as the river began to silt up.[25] Morecambe, Glasson Dock and Sunderland Point served as Lancaster's port for brief periods. Heysham now serves as the district's main port.

Lancaster is mainly a service-oriented city. Products include animal feed, textiles, chemicals, livestock, paper, synthetic fibre, farm machinery, HGV trailers and mineral fibres. In recent years, a high-tech sector has emerged out of Information Technology and Communications firms investing in the city.

A permanent military presence was built up with the completion of Bowerham Barracks in 1880.[29] The Phoenix Street drill hall was completed in 1894.[30]

In March 2004, Lancaster was granted Fairtrade City status.[31]

Lancaster was home to the European headquarters of Reebok. After merging with Adidas, Reebok moved to Bolton and Stockport in 2007.[32]

In May 2015 Queen Elizabeth II visited the castle for commemorations for the 750th anniversary of the creation of the Duchy of Lancaster.[33]

Most of the city lies in the Lancaster and Fleetwood constituency for elections of Members of Parliament to the House of Commons. The current MP for Lancaster and Fleetwood is Cat Smith of the Labour Party. The Skerton part of the city lies in the Morecambe and Lunesdale constituency represented by David Morris of the Conservative Party.

Before Brexit, it was in the North West England European Parliamentary Constituency.

In the late 1990s and early first decade of the 21st century, the city council was under the control of the Morecambe Bay Independents (MBIs), who campaigned for an independent Morecambe council. In 2003, their influence waned and Labour became the largest party on the council. They formed a coalition with the Liberal Democrats and Greens. At the May 2007 local elections, Labour lost ground to the Greens in Lancaster and the MBIs in Morecambe, resulting in no overall control, with all parties represented in a PR administration. The 2011 elections saw Labour emerge as the largest party. They reached a joint administrative arrangement with the Greens.

The 2019 Lancaster City Council election result saw no party in overall control. The Council is run by a coalition of Labour, Green and Liberal Democrat parties with Conservatives and Independents in opposition. At 10 seats, Lancaster has one of the largest Green Party representations in the country.

There is a small portion of green belt on the northern fringes of Lancaster, covering the area above its urban area through to Carnforth, helping to keep the adjacent countryside open, and prevent further urban expansion between these and the nearby communities of Morecambe, Hest Bank, Slyne and Bolton-le-Sands.[34]

King Street with the castle in the background

The M6 motorway passes to the east of Lancaster, with junctions 33 and 34 to the south and north respectively. The A6 road passes through the city leading southwards to Preston, Chorley and Manchester and northwards to Carnforth, Kendal, Penrith and Carlisle.

The A6 is one of the main historic north–south roads in England. It currently runs from Luton in Bedfordshire to Carlisle in Cumbria. The road passes through Lancaster, giving access to nearby towns such as Carnforth, Kendal and Garstang. The Bay Gateway opened in 2016, linking Heysham and the M6 with a dual carriageway.[35]

The main bus operator in Lancaster is Stagecoach Cumbria & North Lancashire, which offers a comprehensive network of services from Lancaster bus station throughout the Lancaster District. It also provides frequent services to places outside the District including Kendal, Keswick, Kirkby Lonsdale, Preston, and Blackpool. There are frequent buses to Lancaster University, with the number 1 and number 2 services running every 10 and every 15 minutes respectively, both using double-decker buses, as well as the less frequent services 4, 41 and 42.[36] Other services are provided by Kirkby Lonsdale Coach Hire, including the 582 to Kirkby Lonsdale, Settle and Skipton as well as the 89 to Knott End-on-Sea.

Lancaster railway station

Lancaster (Castle)

Lancaster Green Ayre

Lancaster (Greaves)

Scale Hall

Railway station
Site of former railway station

Lancaster is served by the West Coast Main Line, which runs through Lancaster railway station. The station was formerly named Lancaster Castle, to differentiate it from Lancaster Green Ayre on the Leeds–Morecambe line, which closed in 1966. There are through train services to and from London, Glasgow, Edinburgh, Birmingham, Manchester, Leeds and Barrow-in-Furness, with a local service to Morecambe.

The long-term aim of the city council is to open a railway station serving the university and south Lancaster, although this is not feasible in the short or medium term with current levels of demand.[37] The Caton–Morecambe section of the former North Western railway is now used as a cycle path.

The Lancaster Canal and River Lune pass through the city.

The nearest airports are Manchester, Liverpool and Blackpool.

In 2005, Lancaster was one of six English towns chosen to be cycling demonstration towns to promote the use of cycling as a means of transport.[38] The project came to an end in 2011 and whilst considerable improvements were made to cycling facilities and the level of cycle traffic increased, recent years have seen no further improvements and a reduction in people cycling.

• Lancaster and Morecambe College

• Lancaster Royal Grammar School and Lancaster Girls' Grammar School are a selective-entry grammar schools. In 2016 both were rated in the top fifty state schools in the UK based on the achievement of its students by the Sunday Times.[49]
• Ripley St Thomas Church of England Academy
• Our Lady's Catholic College
• Central Lancaster High School
• Skerton Community High School (now closed)

• Lancaster Steiner School
• Scotforth St Pauls CofE Primary School
• Moorside Primary School
• St Bernadette's Catholic Primary School
• Bowerham Primary School
• The Cathedral Catholic Primary School
• Dallas Road Community Primary School
• Willow Lane (formally Marsh) Community Primary School
• Castle View (formally Ridge) Community Primary School
• Lancaster Christ Church CofE Primary School
• St Joseph's Catholic Primary School
• Skerton St Lukes CofE Primary School
• Lancaster Ryelands Primary School

Special Educational Needs (SEN) Schools

• The Loyne
• Morecambe Road School

• Joe Abercrombie (born 1974) – fantasy writer and film editor, was born in Lancaster and attended LRGS.
• Cherith Baldry (born 1947) – children's and fantasy writer, was born in Lancaster.
• Laurence Binyon (1869–1943) – poet and dramatist, was born in Lancaster.
• Hubert Henry Norsworthy (1885–1961) – organist and composer, died in Lancaster.
• Mabel Pakenham-Walsh (1937–2013) – artist, was born in Lancaster.
• Jon Richardson (born 1982) – comedian, grew up in Lancaster and attended LRGS.
• Thomas Thompson (1880–1951) – writer and broadcaster
• John Waite (born 1952) – rock musician, was born in Lancaster.
• Dustin Demri-Burns (born 1978) – actor, writer and comedian
• Andy Wear – television and stage actor, was born in Lancaster.
• Keith Wilkinson (living) – television news reporter, was born in Lancaster.

• Henry Cort (c. 1741–1800) – English ironmaster and inventor, was probably born in Lancaster.
• James Crosby (born 1956) – chief executive of HBOS until 2006, attended LRGS.
• Thomas Edmondson (1792–1851) – businessman and inventor of the Edmondson railway ticket, was born in Lancaster.
• James Williamson (1842–1930) – businessman and politician who created Williamson Park and Ashton memorial, was born in Lancaster and educated at LRGS.

• Lauren Jeska (born 1974) – a transgender athlete, was convicted of the attempted murder of an official, Ralph Knibbs.[79]
• Edward Stringer, (1819–1863) – convict and prospector, discovered the Walhalla, Victoria goldfield in Australia.[80]
• Buck Ruxton (1899–1936) – marital murderer, resided and practised medicine at 2 Dalton Square.

• Henry D. Gilpin (1801–1860) – Attorney General of the United States, was born in Lancaster.
• Erik de Mauny (1920–1997) – foreign correspondent, died in Lancaster.
• Sir Lancelot Sanderson (1863–1944) – Conservative MP and judge, died in Lancaster.

• J. L. Austin (1911–1960) – philosopher and developer of the theory of speech acts, was born in Lancaster.
• John Ambrose Fleming (1849–1945) – electrical engineer and physicist, was born in Lancaster.
• Edward Frankland (1825–1899) – chemist who originated the concept of valence, was born near Lancaster and educated at LRGS.
• Jaroslav Krejčí (1916–2014) – Czech-British sociologist, was a professor at the University of Lancaster and died in Lancaster.
• Geoffrey Leech (1936–2014) – linguistics researcher, was a professor at the University of Lancaster and died in Lancaster.
• Richard Owen (1804–1892) – biologist who coined the term "dinosaur", lived in Brock Street.
• William Turner (1832–1916) – anatomist and academic, was born in Lancaster.
• Paul Wellings (born 1953) – ecologist, served as a professor and Vice-Chancellor of Lancaster University.
• Gavin Wood (born 1980) – co-founded and headed Ethereum.

• Michael Allen (1933–1995) – international cricketer, died in Lancaster.
• Arthur Bate (1908–1993) – professional footballer, died in Lancaster.
• James Beattie (born 1978) – professional footballer, was born in Lancaster.
• Harold Douthwaite (1900–1972) – first-class cricketer, was born and died in Lancaster.
• Scott Durant (born 1988) – Olympic gold medal winning rower, was a pupil at Lancaster Royal Grammar School
• Trevor Glover (born 1951) – first-class cricketer and rugby union player, was born in Lancaster.
• William Gregson (1877–1963) – first-class cricketer, died in Lancaster.
• Sarah Illingworth (born 1963) – international cricketer (New Zealand), was born in Lancaster.
• Edward Jackson (1849–1926) – first-class cricketer, was born in Lancaster.
• John Jackson (1841–1906) – first-class cricketer, was born in Lancaster.
• Scott McTominay (born 1996) – professional footballer currently with Manchester United, was born in Lancaster.
• John Pinch (1870–1946) – international rugby union player, was born and died in Lancaster.
• Jason Queally (born 1970) – Olympic gold medal winning cyclist, was a pupil at Lancaster Royal Grammar School.
• Fred Shinton (1883–1923) – professional footballer, died in Lancaster.
• Alan Warriner-Little (born 1962) – champion darts player, was born in Lancaster.
• Matt Rogerson (born 1993) – professional Rugby Union player currently with London Irish, was born in Lancaster