County Palatine of Lancaster

Lancashire
County
The Red Rose of Lancaster is the county flower of Lancashire, and a common symbol for the county.
Lancashire in England
Sovereign state	United Kingdom
Country	England
Region	North West England
Established	c. 1182
Ceremonial county
Area	3,079 km2 (1,189 sq mi)
• Ranked	17th of 48
Population (mid-2015 est.)	1,478,100
• Ranked	8th of 48
Density	480/km2 (1,200/sq mi)
Ethnicity	89.7% White British 6.0% S. Asian 2.1% Other White 0.9% Mixed 0.7% E. Asian and Other 0.5% Black 2005 Estimates
Non-metropolitan county
County council	Lancashire County Council http://www.lancashire.gov.uk
Executive	Conservative
Admin HQ	Preston
Area	2,903 km2 (1,121 sq mi)
• Ranked	16th of 27
Population	1,191,700
• Ranked	4th of 27
Density	410/km2 (1,100/sq mi)
ISO 3166-2	GB-LAN
ONS code	30
NUTS	UKD43
Districts of Lancashire
Districts	West Lancashire Chorley South Ribble Fylde City of Preston Wyre City of Lancaster Ribble Valley Pendle Burnley Rossendale Hyndburn Blackpool (Unitary) Blackburn with Darwen (Unitary)
Members of Parliament	Jake Berry (C) Julie Cooper (L) Rosie Cooper (L) Nigel Evans (C) Seema Kennedy (C) Mark Hendrick (LC) Lindsay Hoyle (L) Gordon Marsden (L) Mark Menzies (C) Paul Maynard (C) David Morris (C) Cat Smith (L) Graham Jones (L) Kate Hollern (L) Andrew Stephenson (C) Ben Wallace (C)
Time zone	GMT (UTC)
• Summer (DST)	BST (UTC+1)

Lancashire (/ˈlæŋkəʃər/, /ˈlæŋkəʃɪər/ or, locally, [ˈɫaŋkɪʃə(ɻ)]; archaically the County Palatine of Lancaster; abbreviated Lancs.) is a non-metropolitan ceremonial county in north west England. The county town is Lancaster although the county's administrative centre is Preston. The county has a population of 1,449,300 and an area of 1,189 square miles (3,080 km²). People from Lancashire are known as Lancastrians.

The history of Lancashire begins with its founding in the 12th century. In the Domesday Book of 1086, some of its lands were treated as part of Yorkshire. The land that lay between the Ribble and Mersey, Inter Ripam et Mersam, was included in the returns for Cheshire. When its boundaries were established, it bordered Cumberland, Westmorland, Yorkshire, and Cheshire.