Lancashire is a maritime and industrial shire of northwest England, bounded on the west by the Irish Sea, on the north by Westmorland and Cumberland, on the east by Yorkshire, and on the south by Cheshire. It covers an area of 1875 square miles.
Lying chiefly between the estuary of the Mersey River and Morecambe Bay, with the detached District of Furness extending north between Cumberland and Westmorland counties, Lancashire's coast line is low and much broken by the Ribble, Wyre, Lune, and Mersey River estuaries. Furness reaches north to the southern part of England's famed Lake District and contains the beautiful lakes of Windermere and Coniston Water. Walney and other small islands lies off the southern shore of Furness. Along the eastern border runs the Pennine Mountains.
Because of its great industrial cities, Lancashire is the most thickly populated of English shires. It has two large ports: Liverpool on the Irish Sea and Manchester, accessible by canal to ocean ships.
