Lancashire is a county in north-west England. In the 1800s it was the heart of Britain’s cotton industry: mill towns full of factories that spun and wove cloth. Liverpool and Manchester were once inside Lancashire; they now have their own local government, so a modern map is smaller than the old county people still talk about in history. Traditionally there has been a long rivalry with Yorkshire, the county next door — once a fight between noble houses, and now mostly football, cricket, and teasing. You will also meet the name on food: Lancashire hotpot is a famous lamb stew, and there is a Lancashire cheese. Say it roughly “LAN-kuh-shur.” It is not Lanarkshire in Scotland.