 The administrative centre is Preston.The borders of the ceremonial county were created by the Local Government Act 1972 (enacted 1974) and enclose a population of 1,449,300 and an area of .However, this is only a small portion of the extent of the historic county palatine, which includes the large cities of Manchester and Liverpool as well as the Furness and Cartmel peninsulas in the Lake District, and has an area of .