A History of Lancashire

A History of Lancashire is a popular work by Henry Fishwick. The preface says that the writer thought it almost impossible, by any process of selection, to produce within the compass of an ordinary octavo volume such a book as would be a popular history, and yet not fail to present a faithful picture of the county, and that the writer has made the attempt.

The text gives figures for the county: the whole county was assessed at £475, of which Liverpool had to find £15, and in the same tax for 1636 Lancashire was put down to find one ship of 400 tons burden, 160 men, and £1,000. The text says that Liverpool probably began to print a year or two before Manchester, and that the first book known to have been issued there is a volume of Hymns sacred to the Lord’s Table, by Charles Owen. The text names the antiquary John Leland, who went through Lancashire in 1533 and called Manchester the fairest, best built, quickest and most populous town in Lancashire.