Changes

A geographically large area of the county is served by Lancashire County Council, although this serves the [[Forest of Bowland]] in Yorkshire as well and excludes more than half of the county's population.

A geographically large area of the county is served by Lancashire County Council, although this serves the [[Forest of Bowland]] in Yorkshire as well and excludes more than half of the county's population.

== History ==

== History ==

Shortly after the [[Normans|Norman conquest]] in 1066, a [[motte-and-bailey]] [[castle]] was built at [[Penwortham]] (immediately south of the River Ribble from Preston), to guard the Ribble estuary and a ford crossing the river.

In the early 1070s, a few years after the [[Normans|Norman conquest]] in 1066, the land between the Ribble and Mersey, with the addition of Amounderness, was granted by [[William the Conqueror]] to [[Roger of Poitou]]. On the order of Roger of Poitou, [[motte-and-bailey]] [[castle]] was built at [[Penwortham]] (immediately south of the River Ribble from Preston), to guard the Ribble estuary and a ford crossing the river.  

At the time the [[Domesday Book]] was compiled in 1086 on the order of [[William the Conqueror]], Lancashire was one of only two counties to not yet exist in its own right; the other was [[Rutland]], which was then an detached part of [[Nottinghamshire]]. The part of Lancashire between the Rivers Ribble and Mersey was known as ''Inter Ripam et Mersam'' (Latin: "between the Ribble and the Mersey") in the Domesday Book and was included in the returns of [[Cheshire]]; some interpretations state that this shows southern Lancashire to have been a part of Cheshire at the time (as were parts of north Wales), but this view is far from universal. The largest recorded settlement in ''Inter Ripam et Mersam'' in 1086 was [[Salford]], with 60 household. Present-day Lancashire north of the Ribble (including Lancaster, Preston and the Furness peninsula) may have formed part of [[Yorkshire]] ([[West Riding of Yorkshire|West Riding]]) in the 11th century.

At the time the [[Domesday Book]] was compiled in 1086 on the order of [[William the Conqueror]], Lancashire was one of only two counties to not yet exist in its own right; the other was [[Rutland]], which was then an detached part of [[Nottinghamshire]]. The part of Lancashire between the Rivers Ribble and Mersey was known as ''Inter Ripam et Mersam'' (Latin: "between the Ribble and the Mersey") in the Domesday Book and was included in the returns of [[Cheshire]]; some interpretations state that this shows southern Lancashire to have been a part of Cheshire at the time (as were parts of north Wales), but this view is far from universal. The largest recorded settlement in ''Inter Ripam et Mersam'' in 1086 was [[Salford]], with 60 household. Present-day Lancashire north of the Ribble (including Lancaster, Preston and the Furness peninsula) may have formed part of [[Yorkshire]] ([[West Riding of Yorkshire|West Riding]]) in the 11th century.