Crossword Dictionary
Lancaster
Lancaster - n
a city in northwestern England
Lancaster, urban area (from 2011 built-up area) and city (district), administrative and historic county of Lancashire, northwestern England, at the head of the estuary of the River Lune, 7 miles (11 km) from the Irish Sea.
Lancaster grew on the site of a Roman station, and traces of the Roman fortification walls remain. In the 11th century a feudal landowner, Roger of Poitou, founded or enlarged a castle on an eminence there and also founded the Priory of St. Mary as a cell of his Benedictine priory. The town grew around these institutions and was granted its first charter in 1193. Although twice destroyed by the Scots (in 1322 and 1389), Lancaster became a market centre, and in 1688 six trade companies were incorporated. It flourished briefly as a port in the late 18th century, but silting of the estuary caused its decline. In the English Civil Wars of the mid-17th century the castle, held by the Parliamentarians, was three times besieged by Royalist forces.