Blackpool Urban Area
Greater Blackpool is the informal name for the urban area surrounding Blackpool in Lancashire, England. The ONS define a Blackpool Built-up Area or Blackpool Urban Area, with a population of 239,409 in 2011 this is considerably down on the 2001 population of 261,088 mainly due to Fleetwood no longer being considered as part of the built-up area. The population of the Blackpool Urban Area has been declining for some time with the 2001 population down 0.1% from the 1991 figure of 261,355.
Blackpool
Blackpool gets its name from a historic drainage channel (possibly Spen Dyke) that ran over a peat bog, discharging discoloured water into the Irish Sea, which formed a black pool (on the other side of the sea, "Dublin" (Dubh Linn) is derived from the Irish for "black pool"). Another explanation is that the local dialect for stream was "pul" or "poole", hence "Black poole".