Photo: Malcolm Street · CC BY-SA 2.0No one from Weir is on the famous people list yet
A short trip away, Burnley (5 mi) counts 209 famous people, Ian McKellen among them. Preston’s 346 names make the longest list in Lancashire. After Preston, the next longest list in Lancashire is Blackburn’s, with 269. In all of Lancashire, the famous people on record come from 73 towns.
Who’s listed here
We list people whose Wikidata birthplace is in Weir’s built-up area and whose English Wikipedia article agrees they were born here. Wikidata has nobody with an English article born in Weir yet.
Famous people born near Weir
Burnley has the longest list next door: 209.
Burnley · 5 miIan McKellen & 208 more
Todmorden · 4 miJohn Cockcroft & 35 moreWFHaslingden · 6 miWilliam Foster & 26 more
Littleborough · 7 miAgyness Deyn & 24 more
Rawtenstall · 4 miJane Horrocks & 20 more
Bacup · 2 miJohnny Clegg & 19 more
Wardle · 6 miChris Schofield & 2 more
Huncoat · 7 miHarold Davenport & 2 moreQuestions about famous people from Weir
Who counts as from Weir?
People Wikidata records as born in a place inside Weir’s built-up area (the ONS 2022 boundary), a hospital or district within it included, whose English Wikipedia article agrees. People who only lived here, adult performers and people known mainly for crimes aren’t listed.
Why is someone missing?
Their Wikidata birthplace may be a bigger area (“London”), another town, or missing, or their article may give no birthplace. We only list people both sources agree on; editing Wikidata or Wikipedia changes this page at the next refresh.
From Wikidata (CC0: birthplaces, descriptions, years, occupations) and English Wikipedia (each person’s article confirms the birthplace; linked, not quoted). Birthplaces are placed in the town by the ONS 2022 built-up-area boundary (Office for National Statistics, Open Government Licence v3.0). Ranked by how many Wikipedia languages cover each person. Fields are read from Wikidata’s description and occupations. “The usual town”: everyone listed across UK towns. Portraits: each person’s Wikidata image, from Wikimedia Commons under the licence below (our copy, resized).
Photo credits (7)
- Ian McKellen: Raph_PH, CC BY 2.0, Wikimedia Commons
- John Cockcroft: Nobel foundation, Public domain, Wikimedia Commons
- Agyness Deyn: Nate "Igor" Smith from Brooklyn, NY, USA - Drivenbyboredom.com, CC BY-SA 3.0, Wikimedia Commons
- Jane Horrocks: richiiebam, CC BY-SA 2.0, Wikimedia Commons
- Johnny Clegg: davidata, CC BY-SA 3.0, Wikimedia Commons
- Chris Schofield: Gareth Williams from Redhill, England, CC BY 2.0, Wikimedia Commons
- Harold Davenport: Konrad Jacobs, CC BY-SA 2.0 de, Wikimedia Commons
Contains public sector information licensed under the Open Government Licence v3.0. Contains HM Land Registry data © Crown copyright and database right 2026. Contains OS data © Crown copyright and database right 2026 (ONS boundaries). Northern Ireland: Source: NISRA; contains Land & Property Services data and Ordnance Survey of Northern Ireland information, © Crown copyright, licensed under the Open Government Licence v3.0. Scotland: contains National Records of Scotland data, Registers of Scotland data and SEPA data, © Crown copyright / © SEPA 2025, licensed under the Open Government Licence v3.0.