Lancaster

A brief history of Lancaster

By Tim Lambert http://www.localhistories.org/lancaster.html

Roman and Early Lancaster

Lancaster began when the Romans built a fort in the area about 80 AD. A small town grew up alongside the fort because the soldiers provided a market for the townspeople’s goods.

Roman civilisation declined in the 4th century and in the 5th century the Romans abandoned Britain. The Saxons invaded Eastern England eventually they conquered what is now Lancashire. The Celtic word for the local river was Lune meaning pure or clean. The Saxons called any group of Roman buildings a caester. They called the old fort Lune Caester. In time this changed to Lancaster.

By 630 there was a church on the site of St Mary's and there must have been a small settlement there. St Peters church in Heysham was built about 637.

Lancaster in the Middle Ages

The Normans built a castle on the site of the old Roman fortress. The stone keep was built in 1170. Early in the 13th century King John built a wall with towers and a massive gateway around the keep. In 1094 the church of St Mary was given to a Norman Abbey. They formed a priory (a small abbey) to go with the church.

Lancaster probably became a town at the end of the 11th or beginning of the 12th century. But it gained its first charter (a document confirming the rights of the townspeople) in 1193. The charter confirmed the right to hold a weekly market and an annual fair. (A fair was like a market but was held only once a year and attracted buyers and sellers from all over the country). From 1196 Lancaster castle was used as a prison, and as it is still used as such, it has become the world’s oldest gaol.

About 1260 Dominican friars came to Lancaster and founded a friary east of the town roughly where Dalton Square is today. The friars took oaths of poverty and chastity like monks but instead of withdrawing from the world they went out and preached.

By the 13th century there was a grammar school in Lancaster.

In 1322 the town suffered disaster when the Scots attacked and burned large parts of it (although the Scots were not able to capture the castle). Another Scottish raid followed in 1389.

In 1349, like the rest of England, Lancaster suffered the Black Death, which killed half the population of the town.

In 1357 the leper hostel dedicated to St Leonard was founded. It gave its name to Leonardsgate.

In 1414 the priory was taken from the French and given to a Convent in Middlesex. In 1430 St Mary's became the parish church of Lancaster.

Lancaster in the 16th and 17th Centuries

In 1536 came the pilgrimage of grace when northerners, angry about Henry VIII's closure of the smaller monasteries rose in rebellion. The rebels came to Lancaster but later dispersed.

In 1539 Henry closed the priory.

At the beginning of the 17th century a writer described Lancaster thus: 'The town at this day is not very well peopled nor much frequented and all the inhabitants therefore are given to husbandry (agriculture).'

In 1612 the famous trial of the Pendle witches was held in Lancaster. Of the 20 people accused one died in prison, 8 were acquitted and 11 were found guilty. Of those 10 were hanged. One person was treated leniently and was only sentenced to a term in the stocks.

In 1642 came civil war between king and parliament. At first Lancaster castle was in the hands of the royalists but soon supporters of Parliament took it. In March 1643 Royalists attacked the town. They demanded its surrender. The townspeople refused. After a fight the royalists captured the town. They attempted to take the castle but failed. The royalist soldiers were needed elsewhere and after a time they gave up. Before they left they burned much of Penny Street.

After the execution of Charles I his son was declared King of the Scots. In 1651 he was also declared King of England in Lancaster. But his army was routed by Cromwell at Worcester and he was forced to flee abroad.

At the end of the 17th century a travel writer called Celia Fiennes visited Lancaster and said: 'The situation of Lancaster town is very good. The church is neatly built of stone, the castle is just by. Both are on a very great ascent above rest of the town and so are in open view’. She also said "Lancaster town is old and much decayed. There had been a monastery, the wall of part of it remain'. Furthermore "In the river there are great weirs made for salmon fishing where they hang their nets and catch great quantities of fish'.

In the late 17th century Lancaster benefited from the growth of colonies in North America and the West Indies. Being on the West coast Lancaster was, obviously, in a good position to trade with those places. Mahogany was imported through Lancaster. So was sugar. (Sugar processing was an important industry in the town).

Lancaster in the 18th Century

George Fox, founder of the Quakers was imprisoned in Lancaster castle for two years. But persecution of religious sects had largely ceased by the end of the 17th century. The Meeting House was built in 1708.

The writer Daniel Defoe visited Lancaster in the early 18th century and he was not impressed. He said it had: 'Little to recommend it but a decayed castle and a more decayed port'. He also said it had 'little or no trade and few people'.

But others did not share his opinion. In the mid 18th century another writer said: ' It is, at present a populous, thriving corporation trading to the West Indies with hardware and woollen manufactures and in return import, sugar, rum, cotton etc.'

In the late 18th century another writer said: 'The streets are well paved and thronged with inhabitants busied in a prosperous trade to the West Indies and other places. Along a fine quay noble warehouses are built'

Although Lancaster was a flourishing port in the 18th century it was also famous for furniture making. Gillow started making furniture there in and others followed him. Mahogany from Lancaster was transported along the coast to other parts of Britain. Other important industries in Lancaster in the 18th century were candle making, sailcloth making, rope-making and (in the later part of the century) shipbuilding. Several new buildings were erected in Lancaster in the 18th century. Penny’s hospital was built in 1720 with money left in the will of William Penny (He died in 1716). Assembly Rooms were built nearby in 1759.

In 1745 it was the turn of the Scots again, when Bonnie Prince Charlie briefly occupied the town during the Jacobite Rebellion of 1745, and of course they occupied it again swiftly afterwards when they returned with their tails between their legs after reaching as far aas Derby amid internal squabbles and wrangling.

A port commission was founded in 1749 to improve the facilities of St George's Quay. The old custom house was built in 1764. Skerton Bridge was built in 1788.

St Johns church was built in 1755. The Presbyterian Church of St Nicholas was built in 1787. The Palantine Hall was built in 1798. It was, at first, a Roman Catholic Church. The first purpose built catholic chapel since the reformation. A canal from Lancaster to Preston opened in 1792. The Lune aqueduct opened in 1797. In the late 18th century amenities in Lancaster improved. In 1781 a dispensary where the poor could obtain free medicines opened. The Grand theatre was built in 1781. The old Town Hall was built in 1783 (now the museum).New houses were built. Dalton Square was laid out about 1784 by a man of that name. He also built the neighbouring streets and named them after members of his own family.

Lancaster in the 19th Century

In 1801 at the time of the first census Lancaster had a population of just over 6,000. By the end of the century it had risen to 25,000. Most of this growth happened in the late 19th century. In 1871 it was still only 9,713. It more than doubled in 30 years. Skerton was absorbed by the town after boundary changes in 1888.

In 1801 Lancaster gained its first newspaper. Ryelands House was built in 1836. The militia barracks in White Cross was built in 1854.

From about 1800 Lancaster declined dramatically as a port. This was mainly because of competition from Liverpool, which was a much larger town. Lancaster could not compete with Liverpool's facilities.

In the 19th century there was a considerable cotton industry in Lancaster but it did not dominate the town in the way it did towns further South. Much of the prosperity of the town depended on making oilcloth and linoleum. This new industry began in the mid 19th century.

St Peters Roman Catholic church was built in 1859.

Amenities in Lancaster improved during the 19th century. Gas street lighting was introduced in 1825. The first electric street lighting came in 1892. The first cemetery in Lancaster was laid out in 1855. Lancaster gained a piped water supply in 1853.

Ripley hospital was built in 1853 (it was actually an orphanage). Lancaster infirmary was opened in 1896.

Furthermore a railway to Preston opened in 1840. A branch line to Morecambe opened in 1861.

The 20th Century

In 1900 the boundaries of Lancaster were extended to include Skerton.

In 1903 Corvell Cross was built. It was named after a keeper of the castle. Trams began running in Lancaster in 1905. They stopped in 1930 and were replaced by buses. The Queen Victoria monument in Dalton Square was built in 1906. In 1909 the Dalton monument was erected.

In 1909 a new Town Hall was built. In 1925 St Peter’s church was made the Roman Catholic cathedral. In 1923 Lancaster gained its first museum.

In 1937 Lancaster was made a city.

Furniture production in Lancaster ended in 1962. During the 20th century the prosperity of Lancaster still largely depended on the manufacture of linoleum. There was also an engineering industry in Lancaster.

Lancaster University was founded in 1964.

Today the population of Lancaster is 50,000 with another 20,000 students from several vocational colleges of teaching, nursing and of course the university itself.

History of the Duchy of Lancaster

The Duchy of Lancaster is one of the two Royal Duchies in the United Kingdom, the other being the Duchy of Cornwall.

The Duchy of Lancaster was created for John of Gaunt, a younger son of King Edward III of England, when John had acquired its constituent lands through marriage to the Lancaster heiress. Despite the name, the duchy is effectively a property company (though it pays no corporation tax), and it consists of lands in many parts of England, as well as large holdings in Lancashire.

The Duchy has retained some rights in respect of Lancashire. The Local Government Act 1972 extended this to the whole of Greater Manchester and Merseyside (but not to any of the other counties - Cheshire and Cumbria - that inherited part of Lancashire's historic territory). For example, the appointment of Sheriffs is handled very differently.

The duchy is not the property of The Crown, but is instead the personal (inherited) property of the monarch and has been since 1399, when the Dukedom of Lancaster, held by Henry of Bolingbroke, merged with the crown on his appropriation of the throne (after the dispossession from Richard II).

The Loyal Toast, 'The Queen, the Duke of Lancaster' is still in regular use within the UK and particularly the Duchy itself.

The chief officer of the Duchy is the Chancellor of the Duchy of Lancaster, a high position which is sometimes a cabinet post. Since, for at least the last two centuries, the estate being run by a deputy, the Chancellor rarely has had any significant duties pertaining to management of the Duchy itself, he is usually available as a minister without portfolio. In recent times his duties, administrative, financial and legal, have been said to occupy an average of one day a week.

The monarch derives the Privy Purse from the revenues of the Duchy. The lands of the Duchy are not to be confused with the Crown Estate, whose revenues have been handed to the Treasury in exchange for receiving a yearly civil list payment since the 18th century.

Both the Duchy of Lancaster and its counterpart in Cornwall have special statutory rights not available to other estates held by Peers: for example, the rules on Bona Vacantia operate in favour of the holder of the Duchy (as opposed to the Crown generally), and there are separate Attorneys General for the estates. Generally, though, the exemptions all tend to follow the same line: any rights pertaining to the Crown generally in most areas of the country instead pertain to the Duke of the Duchy. Generally, any Act of Parliament relating to these sorts of rights will specifically set out the special exemptions for the two Duchies and specify the extent to which they apply to the Duchy. They are also, however, subject to strict regulation, especially with respect to auditing and alienation of land.

• Getting to Lancaster
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