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Morecambe (ˈmɔːrkəm ) is a seaside town and civil parish in the City of Lancaster district in Lancashire, England. It is located in Morecambe Bay on the Irish Sea. The first use of the name was by John Whitaker in his History of Manchester (1771), when he refers to the "æstury of Moricambe". It next appears four years later in Antiquities of Furness, where the bay is described as "the Bay of Morecambe". That name is derived from the Roman name Moriancabris Æsturis shown on maps prepared for them by Claudius Ptolemœus (Ptolemy) from his original Greek maps. At this distance in time it is impossible to say if the name was originally derived from an earlier language (e.g. Celtic language) or from Greek. The Latin version describes the fourth inlet north from Wales on the west coast of England as Moriancabris Æsturis. Translated, this gives a more accurate description than the present name of Morecambe Bay as the Latin refers to multiple estuaries on a curved sea, not a bay, as then the word sinus or gulf would have been used. The name appeared in March 1862 on a steam locomotive built for the South Durham and Lancashire Union Railway, which could indicate it was already in unofficial use for the area. It was not until 1889 that the necessary legislation was passed to officially name the area Morecambe, comprising the hamlets of Poulton, Bare and Torrisholme (a township for the purposes of the Census of 1841 but shown as separate townships in the previous Census of 1831). In 1894, the Urban District Council was formed, thus freeing Morecambe completely from its governance by the Borough of Lancaster until 1974 when Lancaster again took charge. Before the creation of Morecambe, Poulton acquired two suffixes, "le Sands" and briefly "by Sands". The reason for these additions stems from the dearth of names of townships in earlier times with the same name recurring over again. In the days before free movement of people, this was not so important.

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Related concepts (9)

Irish Sea

The Irish Sea is an extensive body of water that separates the islands of Ireland and Great Britain. It is linked to the Celtic Sea in the south by St George's Channel and to the Inner Seas off the West Coast of Scotland in the north by the North Channel. Anglesey, North Wales, is the largest island in the Irish Sea, followed by the Isle of Man. The term Manx Sea may occasionally be encountered (Môr Manaw, Muir Meann Mooir Vannin, Muir Mhanainn).

Blackpool

Blackpool is a seaside resort in Lancashire, England. Located on the northwest coast of England, it is the main settlement within the borough also called Blackpool. The town is by the Irish Sea, between the Ribble and Wyre rivers, and is north of Liverpool and northwest of Manchester. At the 2011 census, the unitary authority of Blackpool had an estimated population of 139,720 while the urban settlement had a population of 147,663, making it the most populous settlement in Lancashire, and the fifth-most populous in North West England after Manchester, Liverpool, Bolton and Warrington.

Morecambe Bay

Morecambe Bay is a large estuary in northwest England, just to the south of the Lake District National Park. It is the largest expanse of intertidal mudflats and sand in the United Kingdom, covering a total area of . In 1974, the second largest gas field in the UK was discovered west of Blackpool, with original reserves of over 7 trillion cubic feet (tcf) (200 billion cubic metres). At its peak, 15% of Britain's gas supply came from the bay but production is now in decline.