Find out how well you know Lancashire.
Q1: Where could a snotterstone be found?
Answer: A snotterstone was an ancient boundary marker. The one we are seeking was the one marking the boundary of Banks and Hundred End in West Lancs which was removed mysteriously.
Q2. What future Prime Minster was first elected for parliament in 1945 for the Ormskirk constituency?
Answer: Harold Wilson
Q3. What West Lancs man lost his head over events in Bolton in 1644?
Answer: Lord Derby who was tried and executed in 1651. The trumped up charges related to the Battle of Bolton in 1644 when valiant Royalist forces defeated the parliamentary rebels.
Q4. What does the word nesh mean?
Answer: Nesh means soft, delicate, meek; frightened of the cold
Q5. What does the word Parky mean?
Answer: Parky means bitter cold. Use of this word invites the retort you are nesh.
Q6. Legend has it that King Arthur had his sword returned by Sir Percival to the Lady of the Lake – in what Lancashire water did this occur?
Answer: Martin Mere in West Lancs which was England’s largest lake until the enterprising locals drained it.
Q7. What is a Boggart?
Answer: A boggart is a mythical Lancashire creature similar to a troll who attacks lonely travellers on moonless nights. The county abounds with similar creatures such as the bogwoppits who inhabit Martin Mere.
Q8. Tarleton is an attractive and populous village with a hardworking and friendly residents - what however does however ‘Tarleton’s Quarter’ refer to?
Answer: ‘Tarleton’s Quarter’ was a phrase drummed up by Yankee rebels to defame a loyalist commander Colonel Banastre Tarleton who was falsely accused of not taking prisoners. Colonel, later General, Tarleton was born in Liverpool but a possible link with the village of the same name is suggested by the fact that the original squires of Tarleton were a family named Banastre.
Q9. What market town in Lancashire has a church with both a tower and a steeple side by side?
Answer: Ormskirk
Q10. Who was Demdyke?
Answer: She was the leader of the Pendle witchs.
Q11. What was the name of Demdyke’s cat?
Answer: Tibby
Q12. What Prince visited Banks after crossing the River Ribble on horseback?
Answer: Prince Rupert and his troopers, advancing in a different direction after the battle of Marston Moor forded the River Ribble at low tide guided by a local man and thereby evaded the rebel army.
Score:
1-3: Welcome to Lancashire
4-6: Get to know your county a little better
7-9: Excellent
10: perhaps you should go out a little more …
11: get a life!
12: cheat!
