Robert Wright (Letters, 6 August) may well lament the loss of Lancastrian acres to the Yorkshire Dales national park. However, this is but a “paper loss”. Far more grievous to those from the Broad Acres were the huge political losses of 1974, when Mickle Fell, Sedbergh, Dent and Saddleworth were lost to Cumbria and “Greater Manchester”; though Westmoreland also disappeared and Cumbria swallowed Barrow and Coniston. Perhaps it would be some compensation if the historic boundaries were displayed on roadsides (as still exists on the M62), then we could rejoice in Coniston, Lancashire and Sedbergh, West Riding of Yorkshire.
Granville Heptonstall
York
• What has Lancashire done to deserve this? Well, I will tell you. In 1974 Lancashire seized Barnoldswick from the West Riding and made it part of Pendle. This was akin to the recent annexation of the Crimea by Russia and the inhabitants of Barlick are still hurting. The amalgamation of the huge area surrounding the Howgills into the Dales national park is a small price for Lancashire to pay 42 years after that dastardly act. The good people of Barnoldswick will take some comfort from the acquisition but still long to return to Yorkshire, or so my partner asserts, having lived there for 30 years.
David Handley
Gargrave, North Yorkshire
• Present day “administrative” Lancashire is but a shadow of its former self. From the summit of the Old Man, looking south the length of Coniston Water, over the Furness and Cartmel peninsulas, from Walney to Warrington, Liverpool and Manchester, all would have been within the county. The Forest of Bowland is but a welcome consolation prize for the litany of lost lands that once were Lancashire.
Austen Lynch
Garstang, Lancashire
• Simon Green (Letters, 9 August) missed the biggest disadvantage of towns such as Barnoldswick being transferred to Lancashire from Yorkshire in 1974. Lancashire is a far wetter county than Yorkshire and therefore since 1974 the unfortunate people of Barnoldswick have had significantly more rainfall.
David Price
Cockermouth, Cumbria
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