PRESCOT, a parish in the hundred of WEST
DERBY, county palatine of LANCASTER, comprising the
market-town of Prescot, the chapelries of Rainford and
Great Sankey, and the townships of Bold, Cronton,
Cuerdley, Ditton, Eccleston, Parr,- Penketh, Rainhill,
Sutton, Whiston, Widness with Appleton, and Windle,
and containing 22,811 inhabitants, of which number,
4468 are in the town of Prescot, 51 miles (S.) from
Lancaster, and 197 (N.W.) from London. This town,
consisting chiefly of one long straggling street, on the
high road from Liverpool to Manchester, lies principally
on a substratum of coal, several mines of
which are excavated to its very edge, and which not
only furnish abundant employment to the labouring
class, but supply fuel at a cheap rate to the inhabitants,
and essentially promote the manufacturing interests
of the district, which has long been noted for the
superior construction of watch tools, and the more
minute parts of that beautiful piece of mechanism comprised
in what is termed motion-work. The drawing of
pinion wire, extending to fifty different sizes, and remarkable
for its exquisite adaptation to the requisite purposes,
originated here; and small files, considered to be
of unparalleled excellence, are made, and exported in
large quantities. The manufacture of coarse earthenware,
especially sugar moulds, has been established here for
a very long period, the clay of the neighbourhood being
peculiarly adapted to that purpose; and a few persons
are employed in the cotton business. The Liverpool and
Manchester railway passes about one mile south of
the town. A charter for a market and a fair was granted
in the 7th of Edward III.: there are now two markets,
on Tuesday and Saturday; a fortnight fair for cattle,
from Shrove-Tuesday to the first Tuesday in May, and
annual fairs on Ash-Wednesday, the Wednesday after
Corpus Christi, August 24th and 25th, October 21st,
and November 1st. The inhabitants have, since the
time of Henry VII., claimed exemption from serving on
juries, except within the manor, also from the payment
of all tolls to public markets, with divers other privileges.
A court baron is held six times a year; a court
leet annually, on the festival of Corpus Christi, when a
coroner for the manor and liberty is appointed; and a
court of requests, for the recovery of debts to any
amount, at which last, the steward of the manor presides;
petty sessions for the Prescot division of the
hundred also are held once a month. The living is a
vicarage, in the archdeaconry and diocese of Chester,
rated in the king's books at £24. 10., and in the patronage
of the Provost and Fellows of King's College,
Cambridge. The church, dedicated to St. Mary, is an
ancient edifice: in 1789, the old steeple was taken
down, and replaced by an elegant tower and spire, one
hundred and fifty-six feet high: in the interior arc some
modern monuments, particularly one of great elegance,
by Chantrey, to the memory of William Atherton, Esq.
There are places of worship for Independents, Wesleyan
Methodists, and Unitarians. The free grammar
school is of somewhat uncertain foundation: it has
been endowed by various benefactors, and, in 1759, the
present school-house was built by subscription; the
entire income is estimated at £159. 17. 4.; the stipend
of the master is £90 per annum; nearly fifty boys are
instructed, but classical education has not of late been
required. This school has a preference to seven fellowships
in Brasenose College, Oxford, and two exhibitions
to the same college, for boys being natives of
Prescot, and educated in it; several children not on the
foundation are instructed for pay. In 1824, Mrs. Jane
Chorley bequeathed to trustees the sum of £.2000,
for establishing and supporting a schoolmistress to
educate poor girls. Almshouses were founded and
endowed originally by Oliver Lyme, to which several
additions have been made; nineteen almspeople are
eligible under the direction of the trustees, preference
being given to inhabitants not receiving relief in Prescot
and Whiston, and to widows. Among the numerous
benefactions to the parish are funds for apprenticing
poor children. The celebrated tragedian, John Philip
Kemble, was born here, in 1757.