Symbols The
Red Rose of Lancaster is the
county flower found on the county's heraldic badge and flag. The rose was a symbol of the
House of Lancaster, immortalised in the verse "In the battle for England's head/
York was white, Lancaster red" (referring to the 15th-century
Wars of the Roses). A flag consisting of a red rose on a gold field was designed by the
Friends of Real Lancashire, a pressure group which promotes the historic county, and registered with the
Flag Institute, a vexillological charity, in 2008. The flag has been flown from public buildings within the historic county boundaries on
Lancashire Day (27 November), including from
County Hall in
Preston,
St Helens Town Hall, and in parts of the
Metropolitan Borough of Oldham which were previously in Lancashire. It has also been flown from the
Ministry for Housing, Communities, and Local Government building in London. An alternative flag consists of a red rose on a white field. This design had already been registered by
Montrose in Scotland.
Sport Cricket Lancashire County Cricket Club has been one of the most successful
county cricket teams, particularly in the
one-day game. It is home to
England cricket team members
James Anderson and
Jos Buttler. The
County Ground, Old Trafford,
Trafford, has been the home cricket ground of LCCC since 1864. Local cricket leagues include the
Lancashire League, the
Central Lancashire League and the
North Lancashire and Cumbria League. Since 2000, the designated
ECB Premier League for Lancashire has been the
Liverpool and District Cricket Competition.
Football Football in Lancashire is governed by the
Lancashire County Football Association which, like most
county football associations, has boundaries that are aligned roughly with the
historic counties. The
Manchester Football Association and
Liverpool County Football Association respectively operate in
Greater Manchester and
Merseyside. Lancashire clubs were prominent in the formation of the
Football League in 1888, with the league being officially named at a meeting in Manchester. Of the twelve founder members of the league, six were from Lancashire:
Accrington,
Blackburn Rovers,
Bolton Wanderers,
Burnley,
Everton, and
Preston North End. The Football League is now based in Preston. The
National Football Museum was founded at
Deepdale,
Preston in 2001, but moved to Manchester in 2012. Six professional full-time teams were based in Lancashire at the start of the 2025–26 season: •
Premier League:
Burnley •
Championship:
Blackburn Rovers and
Preston North End •
League One:
Blackpool •
League Two:
Accrington Stanley and
Fleetwood Town The county's most prominent football rivalries are the
East Lancashire derby between Blackburn Rovers and Burnley, and the
West Lancashire derby between Blackpool and Preston North End. A further nine professional full-time teams lie within the historical borders of Lancashire but outside of the current ceremonial county. These include the Premier League clubs
Everton,
Liverpool,
Manchester City and
Manchester United.
Rugby league Along with Yorkshire and Cumberland, Lancashire is recognised as the heartland of Rugby League. The county has produced many successful top flight clubs such as
St. Helens,
Wigan,
Warrington,
Oldham,
Salford and
Widnes. The county was once the focal point for many of the sport's professional competitions including the
Lancashire League competition which ran from 1895 to 1970, and the
Lancashire County Cup which ran until 1993. Rugby League has also seen a representative fixture between
Lancashire and Yorkshire contested 89 times since its inception in 1895. In recent times there were several
rugby league teams that are based within the ceremonial county which include
Blackpool Panthers,
East Lancashire Lions, and
Blackpool Sea Eagles.
Archery There are many archery clubs located within Lancashire. In 2004 Lancashire took the winning title at the Inter-counties championships from
Yorkshire who had held it for 7 years.
Wrestling Lancashire has a centuries-long history of combat sports and wrestling, developing its own style called
Lancashire wrestling, and becoming a breeding ground for many of Britain's best amateur and professional wrestlers. Through travelling performers and immigration, the style spread abroad to British colonies, Europe, the United States, and other countries. It was a primary influence on
catch wrestling and its descendants including
freestyle wrestling, American
folkstyle wrestling, theatrical
professional wrestling, and
mixed martial arts. It was preserved due to the influence of Lancashire native
Billy Riley and his gym, popularly known as
The Snake Pit, and students such as
Karl Gotch and
Billy Robinson. It became particularly influential in Japan, where catch wrestling is popularly referred to as "Lancashire style" .
Music Folk music Lancashire has a long and highly productive tradition of music making. In the early modern era the county shared in the national tradition of
balladry, including perhaps the finest
border ballad, "
The Ballad of Chevy Chase", thought to have been composed by the Lancashire-born minstrel Richard Sheale. beside several local
Wassailing songs. In the
Industrial Revolution changing social and economic patterns helped create new traditions and styles of folk song, often linked to migration and patterns of work. A local pioneer of folk song collection in the first half of the 19th century was Shakespearean scholar
James Orchard Halliwell, but it was not until the second
folk revival in the 20th century that the full range of song from the county, including
industrial folk song, began to gain attention. Perhaps the most influential folk artists to emerge from the region in the late 20th century were Liverpool folk group
the Spinners, and from Manchester folk troubadour
Roy Harper and musician, comedian and broadcaster
Mike Harding. The region is home to numerous
folk clubs, many of them catering to
Irish and
Scottish folk music. Regular
folk festivals include the Fylde Folk Festival at
Fleetwood.
Classical music Lancashire had a lively culture of choral and
classical music, with very large numbers of local church
choirs from the 17th century, leading to the foundation of local choral societies from the mid-18th century, often particularly focused on performances of the music of
Handel and his contemporaries. It also played a major part in the development of
brass bands which emerged in the county, particularly in the textile and coalfield areas, in the 19th century. The first open competition for brass bands was held at Manchester in 1853, and continued annually until the 1980s. The vibrant brass band culture of the area made an important contribution to the foundation and staffing of the
Hallé Orchestra from 1857, the oldest extant professional orchestra in the United Kingdom. The same local musical tradition produced eminent figures such as Sir
William Walton (1902–88), son of an Oldham choirmaster and music teacher, Sir
Thomas Beecham (1879–1961), born in St. Helens, who began his career by conducting local orchestras and
Alan Rawsthorne (1905–71) born in Haslingden. The conductor
David Atherton, co-founder of the
London Sinfonietta, was born in Blackpool in 1944. Lancashire also produced more populist figures, such as early
musical theatre composer
Leslie Stuart (1863–1928), born in Southport, who began his musical career as organist of
Salford Cathedral. More recent Lancashire-born composers include
Hugh Wood (1932– Parbold), Sir
Peter Maxwell Davies (1934–2016, Salford), Sir
Harrison Birtwistle (1934–2022, Accrington),
Gordon Crosse (1937–, Bury),
John McCabe (1939–2015, Huyton),
Roger Smalley (1943–2015, Swinton),
Nigel Osborne (1948–, Manchester),
Steve Martland (1954–2013, Liverpool),
Simon Holt (1958–, Bolton) and
Philip Cashian (1963–, Manchester). The
Royal Manchester College of Music was founded in 1893 to provide a northern counterpart to the London musical colleges. It merged with the Northern College of Music (formed in 1920) to form the Royal Northern College of Music in 1972.
Popular music began in Liverpool before the city's county was changed from Lancashire to
Merseyside Liverpool, both during its time in Lancashire and after being moved to the new county of
Merseyside, has produced a number of successful musicians. This includes pop stars such as
Frankie Vaughan and
Lita Roza, as well as rock stars such as
Billy Fury, who is considered to be one of the most successful
British rock and roll stars of all time. Many Lancashire towns had vibrant
skiffle scenes in the late 1950s, out of which a culture of
beat groups emerged by the early 1960s, particularly around Liverpool and
Manchester. It has been estimated that there were at least 350 bands—including
the Beatles—active in and around Liverpool during this era, playing ballrooms, concert halls, and clubs. A number of Liverpool performers followed the Beatles into the charts, including
Gerry & the Pacemakers,
the Searchers, and
Cilla Black. The first musicians to break through in the UK who were not from Liverpool or managed by Beatles manager
Brian Epstein were Manchester's
Freddie and the Dreamers, with
Herman's Hermits and
the Hollies also hailing from Manchester. The Beatles led a movement by various beat groups from the region which culminated in the
British Invasion of the US, which in turn made a major contribution to the development of modern
rock music. After the decline of beat groups in the late 1960s, the centre of rock culture shifted to London, and there were relatively few Lancashire bands who achieved national prominence until the growth of a
disco scene and the
punk rock revolution in the mid-and-late 1970s.
Cuisine Lancashire is the origin of the
Lancashire hotpot, a
casserole dish traditionally made with
lamb. Other traditional foods from the area include: •
Black peas, also known as parched peas: popular in
Darwen,
Bolton and
Preston. • Bury
black pudding has long been associated with the county. The most notable brand, Chadwick's Original Bury Black Puddings, are still sold on
Bury Market, and are manufactured in
Rossendale. • Butter cake: slice of bread and butter. •
Butter pie: a savoury pie containing potatoes, onion and butter. Usually associated with
Preston. • Clapbread: a thin
oatcake made from unleavened dough cooked on a griddle. •
Chorley cakes: from the town of
Chorley. •
Eccles cakes are small, round cakes filled with currants and made from flaky pastry with butter, originally made in Eccles. • Fag pie: pie made from chopped dried figs, sugar and lard. Associated with
Blackburn and
Burnley, where it was the highlight of
Fag Pie Sunday (
Mid-Lent Sunday). •
Fish and chips: the first fish and chip shop in northern England opened in
Mossley, near Oldham, around 1863. • Frog-i'-th'-'ole pudding: now known as "
toad in the hole" •
Frumenty: sweet porridge. Once a popular dish at Lancashire festivals, such as Christmas and Easter Monday. •
Goosnargh cakes: small flat
shortbread biscuits with coriander or
caraway seeds pressed into the biscuit before baking. Traditionally baked on feast days like
Shrove Tuesday. • Jannock: cake or small loaf of oatmeal. Allegedly introduced to Lancashire (possibly
Bolton) by
weavers of
Flemish origin. •
Lancashire cheese has been made in the county for several centuries.
Beacon Fell Traditional Lancashire Cheese has been awarded EU
Protected Designation of Origin (PDO) status. • Lancashire Flat Cake: A lemon flavoured sponge cake, traditionally made with a couple too many eggs, best eaten after being chilled. •
Lancashire oatcake, resembling a large oval pancake, eaten either moist or dried • Lancashire Sauce, a lightly spiced mustard produced by the Entwistle family of Bury • "Stew and hard": a beef and cowheel stew with dried Lancashire oatcake • Nettle porridge: a common starvation diet in Lancashire in the early 19th century. Made from boiled stinging nettles and sometimes a handful of meal. •
Ormskirk gingerbread: local delicacy that was sold throughout South Lancashire. •
Parkin: a ginger cake with oatmeal. • Pobs or pobbies: bread and milk. • Potato hotpot: a variation of the Lancashire Hotpot without meat that is also known as
fatherless pie. • Ran Dan: barley bread. A last resort for the poor at the end of the 18th century and beginning of the 19th century. •
Rag pudding: traditional
suet pudding filled with minced meat, originating in
Oldham. •
Throdkins: a traditional breakfast food of
the Fylde. •
Uncle Joe's Mint Balls: traditional
mints produced by William Santus & Co. Ltd. in
Wigan.
Cinema Whistle Down the Wind (1961) was directed by Bryan Forbes, set at the foot of Worsaw Hill and in
Burnley, and starred local Lancashire schoolchildren. The tunnel scene was shot on the old Bacup-Rochdale railway line, location 53°41'29.65"N, 2°11'25.18"W, off the A6066 (New Line) where the line passes beneath Stack Lane. The tunnel is still there, in use as an industrial unit but the railway has long since been removed.
Funny Bones (1995) was set mostly in Blackpool, after opening scenes in Las Vegas. == Media ==