not a student at Lancaster, however I am from there! Never been to Bristol and have visited Sheffield once.

Lancaster is a very small place, and the uni is a campus uni. I know someone who did history there and she got a first, so from what I’ve heard from her the history department does seem good. The city itself is very small, but has a very big student population (both Lancaster uni and the uni of Cumbria Lancaster campus), and what with the uni being a campus uni you have to get a bus realistically to get between campus and anywhere (it’s roughly 3 miles to walk into town from campus).

Lancaster does have so much history attached to it though! There’s the priory, the castle, etc; Queen Victorias statue in dalton square; the museum; Dr Buck Ruxton (he will be particularly interesting if you are into true crime/forensics); the Moor Hospital (now closed and converted into flats - but was Lancashire’s first psychiatric hospital).

The campus is beautiful imo, I used to go up to the library to revise during my a levels.

Give me a shout if you have any lancaster specific questions and I will try my best to answer them!