PRESTON, a parish in the hundred of AMOUNDERNESS, county palatine
of LANCASTER, comprising the borough of Preston, which has a
separate jurisdiction, the chapelries of Broughton, and Grimsargh
with Brockholes, and the townships of Barton, Elston, Fishwick,
Haighton, Lea (with Ashton, Ingol, and Cottam), and Ribbleton,
and containing 27,300 inhabitants, of which number,
24,575 are in the borough of Preston, 21 miles (S.
by E.) from Lancaster, and 217 (N. W. by N.) from
London. This place, which is supposed to have grown
out of the ruins of the ancient Rerigonium, a Roman
station, of which the site is now occupied by the town
of Ribchester, is supposed, from its having belonged to
the monks, to have obtained the appellation of Priest's
town, of which its present name is a contraction.
Though it may be difficult to ascertain its precise
origin, it was unquestionably a place of considerable importance
prior to the Conquest, soon after which it was
granted to Tosti, fourth son of Godwin, Earl of Kent.
In 1307, the town was burnt and nearly levelled with
the ground by the Scottish army under Robert Bruce,
and, in 1333, Edward III. passed through it, on his
way to Halidown Hill, where he defeated the Scots,
with the loss of twenty thousand men, and took
Baliol, their king, prisoner. The same monarch, in
recompense for the assistance he derived from the
inhabitants, gave the corporation a common seal,
and invested them with several valuable privileges.
During the war between the houses of York and Lancaster,
the Earl of Derby raised considerable supplies
of troops in the town for the service of the Lancastrian
cause. Soon after the commencement of the parliamentary
war, a battle was fought on Ribbleton common,
to the east of the town, in which the parliamentarians
were commanded by General Fairfax; and in
1645, another battle took place, in which the mayor,
and several of the principal inhabitants became the
victims of their attachment to the royal cause. In
1648, a fierce engagement took place at the pass of
Walton bridge, between the English and Scottish allied
forces, commanded by the Duke of Hamilton and Sir
Marmaduke Langdale, and a detachment of the parliamentarian
troops under the command of General Lambert,
in which the former were defeated, and the duke
and his officers, who had retired into the town, were
compelled to effect their escape by crossing the river at
the ford below Walton bridge. Throughout the whole
of this contest the town of Preston suffered materially
for its adherence to the royal cause, and the inhabitants
were treated by the parliamentarians with the utmost
severity. In 1715, the party in the interest of the Pretender
obtained possession of the town, which they endeavoured
to fortify against the assault of the king's
forces; but being attacked suddenly by General Wills,
aided by the subsequent arrival of General Carpenter,
with a party of dragoons, they were compelled, after an
obstinate resistance, to surrender at discretion. The town
suffered severely also during this contest, a considerable
part of it being burnt by the inhabitants, who were in
the interest of the king, to assist the movements of the
besiegers, and many of the houses of those who assisted
the rebels having been given up to plunder after the town
was taken. The Lords Widdrington, Derwentwater, and
Nairn, were taken in the town, and sent prisoners to
London, where they were condemned and executed;
and sixteen of the rebels were hanged on Gallows' Hill
for high treason. The rebels again made their appearance,
in 1745, and attempted to intrench themselves
in the town; but on the approach of the royal forces
under the Duke of Cumberland, made their escape from
Preston, only a few hours before the duke's arrival.
The town is pleasantly situated on an eminence
rising from the north bank of the river Ribble, over
which are Walton and Pemvortham bridges; the former,
a neat structure of three arches, leading from the
London road, was erected in 1782; and the latter, a
handsome bridge of five arches, leading from the Liverpool
road, was built by act of parliament in 1759. The
streets are spacious and well paved; the houses are
neatly and substantially built of brick, and many of
them are handsome and of large dimensions; the inhabitants
are partially supplied with water conveyed by
cast-iron pipes from a large reservoir, called the Folly,
at the bottom of Mid Spit Wiend, into which it is
raised by an engine constructed in 1729; and with
spring-water by carts, at a moderate price. A company
was established for lighting the town with gas
in 1816, and considerable improvements are daily taking
place. The environs, in which are many handsome villas,
inhabited by opulent families, abound with richlydiversified
scenery, and the high grounds afford extensive
and interesting prospects. There are several pleasant
and extensive promenades, of which the principal
are, Avenham Walk, belonging to the corporation, by
whom it is kept in order; Common Bank, from which
are extensive views; and the Marsh, along the margin
of the river, by which an ancestor of Sir Walter Scott,
with his comrades, escaped to Liverpool, during the
siege of Preston in 1715. The library was founded by
R. Shepherd, Esq., M. D., twice mayor for the borough,
who, in 1761, endowed it with £50 per annum for its
augmentation, and with the interest of £200, as a
salary to the librarian; it is open to the inhabitants
under certain regulations. A botanical society was established
in 1804, from which a smaller establishment
has branched; and a Literary and Philosophical Society
was instituted in 1810, of which the members hold their
meetings in the town hall. A society for promoting the
study of natural history was established in 1823, to
which is annexed an appropriate library, and a museum
is about to be added to it. There are also a law society,
consisting principally of attorneys' clerks, a mechanics
institution, two principal news-rooms and several on a
smaller scale, and various book societies. The theatre, a
neat and well-arranged building, erected by a proprietary
in 1802, is opened occasionally; and assemblies are held
in a handsome suite of rooms, built at the sole expense
of the Earl of Derby. A choral society was established
in 1819, and a musical academy has been instituted,
which is well supported, and ably conducted. Warm
and cold baths have been constructed, which are
arranged with every attention to the convenience of the
visitors, and fitted up with the requisite accommodation;
and races are annually held in July on Fulwood moor,
which are well attended.
The trade of the town, till within the last half century,
principally consisted of the manufacture and sale
of linen cloth, which, from a petition of the mayor and
corporation to parliament, for preventing the exportation
of Irish linen to the colonies, and of Scotch linen
into Ireland, appears to have been for ages the staple
trade of the town and neighbourhood for twenty
miles round. The manufacture of cotton goods was introduced,
in 1791, by John Horrocks, Esq., to whose
public-spirited enterprise the town is indebted for its
present prosperity. There are at present numerous
factories, many of -which are upon a very large scale;
that in the township of Fishwick is said to be the
largest in England. Machinery impelled by steam has
been introduced with great success into the factories,
in which the raw material, supplied from Liverpool, is
conducted, through every process, to the printing and
dyeing of the manufactured article. The greater portion
of the goods is sold to the Manchester merchants,
and the remainder is sent to London, or into foreign
markets; in connexion with the machinery employed
in the factories, several iron-foundries have been established
in the town. At spring tides, vessels of one
hundred and fifty tons' burden can navigate the Kibble
to Preston Marsh, where convenient quays have been
constructed, and, by an act of parliament passed in
the 46th of George III., commissioners were appointed
for improving the navigation of the river; buoys
have been placed to mark out these parts, which have
been deepened by excavation. The river is supposed,
by Dr. Whitaker, to have been formerly navigable to
Ribchester, and the discovery in that neighbourhood
of anchors, and of the hull of a larger vessel than could
now be floated so far up the river, seems to confirm that
opinion. The port of Preston includes Lytham, Freckleton,
Hesketh, and Poulton; a few vessels sail annually
to foreign parts, and a coasting trade is carried on
to a moderate extent: there are forty-five vessels belonging
to it, averaging a burden of seventy-one tons.
The custom-house, a neat and commodious building
in Fox-street, is under the management of the usual
officers. The fishery on the river is of very ancient
establishment, and forms part of the revenue of the
borough; salmon, plaice, eels, and smelts, are found in
abundance, and of good quality. In the years 1715 and
1774, the river is said to have ceased to flow, in the latter
year for five hours, and for a length of three miles to have
been dry, except in the deeper places; at the expiration
of that time the water returned with a strong current.
Common and cannel coal are brought to the town by
the river Douglas, which, by an act of parliament obtained
in 177, was made navigable from the mouth of
the Ribble to within one mile, of Orrnskirk, whence a
short line, parallel with its course, by which the navigation
is continued to Wigan, has been since constructed
by the proprietors of the Leeds and Liverpool
canal, who have purchased the right of the Douglas
navigation. The Lancaster canal passes by the west side
of the town, and, after being conducted through a tunnel
about two miles in length, which crosses the river
Ribble, joins the Leeds and Liverpool canal one mile
north of Chorley, affording a communication with the
principal navigable rivers in England. The market
days are Wednesday, Friday, and Saturday, the last
being principally for corn. The market-place is a spacious
well-paved area, in the centre of which is an obelisk,
supporting a gas-light; and the sides of the quadrangle
contain several good buildings, and shops well
stored with wares of every kind: the cattle market is
held in the north road, and that for vegetables in Cheapside.
The fairs are" the week before the first Sunday
after Epiphany, which is a great horse fair; the spring
fair, March 27th, which continues for three days; the
summer fair, August 26th, which continues for eight
days; and the winter fair, November 7th, which continues
for five days; to all these fairs is attached a
court of pie-powder.
The borough has received numerous charters from
successive sovereigns, of which the first was granted
by Henry II., and the last by George IV. The government,
is vested in a mayor, recorder, two bailiffs, seven
aldermen, and seventeen common council-men, assisted
by a town clerk, Serjeants at mace, and subordinate,
officers. The mayor and other officers are elected by a
jury of twenty-four guild burgesses, empannelled by two
elisors, who are appointed for that purpose, on the Friday
before the festival of St. Wilfred. The mayor, recorder,
and aldermen, are justices of the peace, and have
power to hold quarterly courts of session for all offences,
but the prisoners are generally referred to the quarter sessions
for the county. A court of record is held every third
Friday, before the mayor and two or more of the aldermen,
for the recovery of debts to any amount; and a
court leet, twice in the year, for the examination of
weights and measures, and for the presentation of nuisances.
The Preston guild, or Guilda Mercatoria, a jubilee
celebrated every twentieth year, is the tenure by
which the freemen retain their privileges; it was originally
granted by Henry II., and confirmed by the
charters of Charles II. It commences in the last week of
August, and is proclaimed to continue twenty-eight days;
the festivities, however, have been limited to a fortnight:
the last guild was held in 1822. The celebration of
this jubilee is conducted under the superintendence of
the mayor and three aldermen, appointed as stewards,
who, with the other officers of the corporation, dressed
in their robes of ceremony, and preceded by their in-
signia of office and the regalia of the borough, walk
from the guildhall, attended by the several trading companies,
with their banners and bands of music, and by
the principal gentry resident in the neighbourhood, to
the ancient cross, or obelisk, in the market-place,
where a proclamation is read, calling upon all the burgesses,
resident and non-resident, to appear before the
stewards of the guild and three senior aldermen, in
open court, and renew their freedom. During this festival,
various processions of the municipal bodies take
place; balls, concerts, dramatic representations, public
banquets, and every species of amusement, are provided,
and attract an immense concourse from the surrounding
districts, to assist at the ceremony, and partake of the
festivities. The quarter sessions for the hundreds of
Amounderness, Blackburn, and Leyland, are held here,
by adjournment from Lancaster; the hundred court for
Amounderness, for the recovery of debts under 40s., is
held every third Wednesday -, and the county court, every
fourth Tuesday, for the recovery of debts under the same
sum, of which the jurisdiction extends through the whole
county, with the exception only of Salford hundred: the
quarter sessions for the county, the meetings of the deputy
lieutenants, and other county meetings, are held here;
and, from its central situation, the offices of the courts
of chancery, common pleas, and other courts of the
duchy of Lancaster, unless when the officers attend
the assizes at Lancaster, are also held at Preston.
The principal officers of the duchy court are, the vicechancellor,
the registrar, the cursitor, the clerk of the
crown, the clerk of the peace, and the deputy prothonotary
of the common pleas. The offices of the under
sheriff and treasurer for the county are also in this
town. The town hall is a neat brick building with
quoins and cornices of stone, surmounted by a turret and
dome; the interior comprises a court-room, in which
the borough sessions are held, a council chamber, a
news-room, and various offices: it was rebuilt on the
site of the ancient moot-hall, which fell down in 1780,
within a few hours after a party that had assembled
there for a ball had departed. The sessions-house and
house of correction is a capacious building, enclosed
within a lofty boundary wall, including every requisite
accommodation for the county sessions, the meeting of
the county magistrates, a house for the governor, two hospitals,
a chapel, and extensive workshops: the prison
is on the radiating principle, and is well adapted to the
classification of prisoners, including day-rooms, airing-
yards, a tread-mill, and other things requisite for the
employment of the prisoners. The borough, which made
returns to parliament in the 23rd, 26th, 33rd, and 35th
of the reign of Edward I., and in the 1st of Edward II.,
intermitted till the reign of Edward VI., since which time
it has regularly returned two members: the right of
election is vested in all the inhabitants having resided
six months, and not receiving parochial relief within
twelve months prior to the election, of whom the number
is about five thousand; the mayor and bailiffs are
the returning officers.
The living is a vicarage, in the archdeaconry of Richmond,
and diocese of Chester, rated in the king's books
at £15. 3. ll., and in-the patronage of the Trustees of
the late Mr. Hulme, Manchester. The church, formerly
dedicated to St. Wilfred, was a very ancient structure,
repaired by Wilfred, Archbishop of York, in 700: it has
been rebuilt, and dedicated to St. John, and has a handsome
square embattled tower crowned with clustered
pinnacles, which was erected in 1814; the whole style
is a mixture of the later Norman and the early English;
the interior contains some good stucco-work
and some ancient monuments. St. George's church,
built in 1723, is a cruciform structure of brick, with
a square embattled tower crowned with pinnacles,
and chiefly in a style resembling the Norman: the
living is a perpetual curacy, endowed with £ 800 private
benefaction, £ 800 royal bounty, and £1300 parliamentary
grant, and in the patronage of the Vicar of Pres-
ton. The church of the Holy Trinity, a neat stone
edifice in the later style of English architecture, with
a square embattled tower crowned with pinnacles, was
erected in 1814, at an expense of £9080. 9 3., of which
£4000 were donations, and the remainder was raised by
subscription; the living is a perpetual curacy, endowed
with £400 private benefaction, and £2200 parliamentary
grant, and in the patronage of the Trustees and the
Vicar alternately. St. Paul's, a handsome structure in
the later style of English architecture, with four turrets,
and containing one thousand two hundred and fifty-nine
sittings, of which eight hundred and thirteen are free,
was erected in 1825, by grant from the parliamentary
commissioners, at an expense of £6063. 17. 10.; and
St. Peter's in the Fylde road, a handsome edifice in the
same style of architecture, with a small campanile turret,
and containing one thousand two hundred and fifty
sittings, of which eight hundred and sixty-one are free,
was erected by the same means, at an expense of
£6638. 10. 2.: the livings are both perpetual curacies,
in the patronage of the Vicar. There are two places of
worship for Independents, and one each for Baptists, the
Society of Friends, Primitive and Wesleyan Methodists,
and Unitarians, also two Roman Catholic chapels, one
of which, dedicated to St. Wilfred, is a stately and
elegant structure.
The free grammar school is of uncertain foundation;
it is under the direction of the officers of the
corporation, who appoint the master and usher, each
having a salary of £45 per annum, arising from ground
given by Mr. R. Worthington; it is open to all boys
of the town. A National school, for children of both
sexes, is supported by subscription; the school-house,
a handsome and capacious brick building, was erected
in 1814; the Blue-coat charity schools, founded in
1701, by Mr. Roger Sudell, have been incorporated with
this institution. The Roman Catholic school was established
in 1814; and a large day school is supported
by the Wesleyan Methodists. The dispensary was instituted
in 1809, and is well supported; a room in
the building is appropriated to the use of a committee
of ladies, who superintend the lying-in charity connected
with this establishment; and a house of recovery
from fever and other contagious diseases was
opened in 1813. The corporation almshouses, built in
1790, in lieu of sixteen others, the site of which is now
occupied by the house of correction, have no endowment,
and afford only a rent-free residence to the in-
mates. Adjoining these are others rebuilt by the corporation,
in lieu of some originally founded, in 1663, by
Mr. Worthington, which, having neither endowment nor
funds for their maintenance, fell into decay. There
are also numerous benevolent and benefit societies,
and various charitable bequests for distribution among
the poor. There were anciently a convent of Grey
friars on the north-west of the town, founded by Edward,
Earl of Lancaster, son of Henry III., and an hospital,
dedicated to St. Mary Magdalen'e, of which there
are no remains.