North West

Counties: Cheshire, Cumbria, Greater Manchester, Lancashire, Merseyside.

Main cities and town: Manchester, Liverpool, Warrington, Blackpool, Preston, Bolton, Sale, Stockport.

The North West's borders are made up by the Pennines Mountain Range to the east, the Scottish border to the north, the Irish Sea to the west, and the Welsh Mountains to the south.

North West is diverse and beautiful. It was once a heartland of the Industrial Revolution and is still home to the country's most beautiful landscapes - the Lake District is one of them.

Lake District

Moreover, North West has a wide diversity in language. The most common accents and dialects are:

- Scouse (from Liverpool);

- Lancastrian;

- Mancunian (also known as Manc);

- the Cumberland dialect (from Cumbria).

Cheshire

/ˈtʃɛʃər, -ɪər/

This county is mostly rural. There are a lot of small towns and villages which produce Cheshire cheese, silk, salt and other things.
Cheshire's county town is the City of Chester. Other major towns include Warrington (the largest one), Crewe, Runcorn, Widnes, etc.
Its name was originally derived from an early name for Chester meaning "the shire of the city of legions".
It is believed that the county was created in around 920 by Edward the Elder.
The highest point of Cheshire is Black Hill (582 m) that is located near Crowden.
There are large salt deposits mined for hundreds of years around Winsford in the eastern part of the county. It has a name of Upper Triassic Mercia Mudstone.
The county can boast of many prehistoric burial grounds which have been discovered at the Bridestones near Congleton. There is also Robin Hood's Tump near Alpraham.

Merseyside

/ˈmɜːrzisaɪd/

The county takes its name from the River Mersey.
There are five metropolitan boroughs: Knowsley, St Helens, Sefton, Wirral and the city of Liverpool.
Merseyside is divided into two parts by the Mersey Estuary. On the west side the Wirral Peninsula is situated and the rest of the county is located on the east side.
Some of the main places of interest: The Beatles Story Museum, St George's Hall in Liverpool, Lady Lever Art Gallery in Wirral, Meols Hall (a historical manor house) in Sefton, etc.

Lady Lever Art Gallery in Wirral

Greater Manchester

The county comprises ten metropolitan boroughs: Bolton, Bury, Oldham, Rochdale, Stockport, Tameside, Trafford, Wigan, and the cities of Manchester and Salford.
Greater Manchester was established in 1974, but the history of this area goes back centuries. The evidence of Iron Age and Celtic traces have been reported (e.g. Stretford is believed to have been occupied by the Celtic Brigantes tribe).
Also, there is evidence of Roman occupation in Manchester - the 1-st century forts at Castlefield, and Castleshaw Roman fort in Saddleworth.
The rivers that run through the county are Mersey, Irwell and Tame.
Nowadays, Greater Manchester is the economic centre of the North West of England.
The county has a large number of native delicacies. They include Eccles cake, Manchester tart, Uncle Joe's Mint Balls (sweet mints manufactured in Wigan since 1898).

Lancashire

The county administrative centre is Preston, while Lancaster is still the county town.
Lancashire was founded in the 12th century and its lands were historically much larger (the cities of Manchester and Liverpool used to be part of Lancashire).
The county lost 709 square miles of land to other counties of Merseyside and Greater Manchester were formed.
The rivers of Lancashire include the Ribble, Wyre and Lune. The highest point of the county is Gragareth, near Whernside (627 m).
Lancashire is famous for music making - ballads, folk songs, classical music and the Beatles, of course (Liverpool at that time was a part of Lancashire). It is said that only in Liverpool there were 350 bands.
The county is also a native land for many traditional dishes: Lancashire hotpot (a casserole dish traditionally made with lamb), butter pie, Chorley cakes, frumenty (sweet porridge), Lancashire cheese, etc.

Cumbria

/ˈkʌmbriə/

Cumbria's county town is Carlisle.
The county consists of six districts: Allerdale, Borrow-in-Furness, Carlisle, Capeland, Eden and South Lakeland.
Cumbria has a UNESCO World Heritage Site which is considered one of the most beautiful in England - the Lake District National Park.
In Roman Britain Cumbria was inhabited by Cumbric-speaking native Romano-Britons.
The county is notable for its dialect. Some of the reasons why people speak with specific dialect there include those that Cumbria was a Celtic speaking region until Viking invasion and Old Norse, spoken by Norwegian settlers who arrived in Cumbria in the 10th century, influenced on the modern dialect a lot.
Ones of notable historic sites in Cumbria are Bough Castle, Carlisle Castle, Furness Abbey, Hadrian's Wall, Hardknott Roman Fort, etc.

landmarks

Hardknott Roman Fort

- This archeological site represents the remains of the Roman fort.

- It was built between 120 and 138 but was abandoned a decade later. In about 200 it was reoccupied and was in use for two centuries.

- Nowadays, the fort is maintained by English Heritage.

Brough Castle

- The castle is situated in the village of Brough, Cumbria.

- It was built around 1092 by William Rufus as a protection for a key route through the Pennines.

- In 1521, Henry Clifford (who was in possession of the castle) held a Christmas feast there, after which a big fire destroyed the castle.

- Between 1659 and 1661 it was restored and now is a tourist attraction.

The Beatles Story

- It is a museum about the Beatles and their history, located in Liverpool, on the historical Royal Albert Dock.

- There are a lot of historical items that used to belong to each man of the band.

- The museum was once said to be one of the best tourist attractions of the UK.

- Located in Bretherton, Lancashire, it is a Jacobean mansion which was built on the site of an older house in 1608 by the Banastres, lords of the manor.

- The building was used as a location for the 1969 film The Haunted House of Horror.

- Bank Hall has been vandalized many times and thus was in a really bad condition. In 2010, the building was in a ruinous state.

- Restoration work began in 2017. Now it is surrounded by gardens, parkland and an arboretum created by George Anthony Legh Keck.

Bank Hall