Description
Preston, a parish, a market and manufacturing town, a municipal, a parliamentary, and county (council) borough in the Amounderness hundred of Lancashire. It is the most centrally situated town in the county, and is nearly equidistant-diagonally to the W-between the capitals of England and Scotland, being by rail 210 1/2 miles from London and 191 from Edinburgh; occupies an elevated and beautiful position on the northern side of and contiguous to the river Ribble, which debouches into the sea about 15 miles W; is one of the most important railway centres in the kingdom, lines converging at it from north, south, east, and west; and by means of its river possesses good navigable facilities for coasting and medium-sized foreign vessels. As to the derivation of its name, the generally-accepted opinion, supported by philology, is that Preston means Priest-town, and that it got this name through either the early settlement of a number of priests, or in consequence of having within its boundary certain ecclesiastical or monastic property. Preston has from time immemorial contained a strong papal element, and at present about one-third of its inhabitants are of the Roman Catholic persuasion.
History.-After Walton and Ribchester-the former about a mile S and the latter about 9 miles E-were vacated by the Roman forces Preston came into prominence, and for many years was the principal " port" of Lancashire. The great Roman road Watling Street passed on the north-eastern side, about a mile distant, but the town was never occupied by Roman soldiers, nor have any remains relating to them been found in it. There is a tradition to the effect that Athelstan gave Preston to the monks of Ripon, that at a later period (when the place had undergone some change or development) he purchased it from them, and that in or about 930 he made a grant of it, with other property, to the Archbishop of York. At the time of the Danish invasion the property thus granted to the archbishop passed into the hands of a brother of Harold II. (Earl Tosti), who became lord of the manor. During the Norman ascendency Preston was granted to Roger de Poicton; in the time of Stephen it became Crown property; and in the reign of Richard I. the manor was conferred upon Theobald Walter. The rents of Preston were confirmed to Henry Fitz-Warren de Lancaster in the reign of John; Ed' ward III. held the manor in 1339; and in 1631-Preston having at this time become the seat of the palatine and duchy courts-John of Gaunt was the lord of the manor. After this there is no record of absolute individual manorial possession on the preceding lines. By degrees municipal rather than ducal or baronial authority became the controlling force; and so the process of local management went on generation after generation, changes being occasionally made to meet altered circumstances, until at length the result appeared in the form of the municipal institutions now held and enjoyed by the inhabitants generally. The oldest known laws by which Preston was governed are contained in a document now in possession of the corporation, called " The Custumale." It is conjectured that these laws were originally adopted at Preston in the 12th century. They are apparently related to or founded on the Breton Law. Fourteen royal charters have been granted to Preston, the first by Henry II. and the last by George IV. The principal one was granted by Elizabeth. These charters relate to trade, burgess privileges, and municipal government. In the reign of Edward II. Preston was partially burned by Bruce during his southern march. In 1643 the town, having espoused the cause of Charles I., was besieged and captured by General Fairfax, but not long afterwards it was retaken by the Earl of Derby in the interests of the king. In the summer of 1648 the forces under Cromwell's command defeated the Royalist soldiers led by the Duke of Hamilton at Ribblebridge, close to Preston, on the southern side. In 1715 the " Scotch rebels" took possession of Preston ; but being environed by the Royal troops under the command of Generals Carpenter and Wills, they were soon obliged to capitulate. Several of them were executed at Preston on Gallows Hill, a small eminence on the northern side, which was levelled several years ago, and on which now stand various buildings, including a Roman Catholic church. In 1745 Prince Charlie and his followers passed through Preston on their way south. They met with a somewhat cheerful reception here, but on reappearing soon afterwards, on their retreat, they encountered frowns rather than greetings, and lost no time in departing from the place. Preston was one of the first towns which obtained political enfranchisement. Its elective franchise was granted in 1295. Up to the Restoration the corporation claimed and exercised the right of choosing parliamentary representatives. In 1661 this right was disputed, and a committee of the House of Commons at length decided that the power of electing members was vested in " all the inhabitants " of the borough-a decision which practice defined to be all male inhabitants twenty-one years of age and upwards who had lived six months in the town and were not tainted with crime or pauperism, and this plan remained in vogue until the passing of the Reform Bill in 1832, which permitted to remain on the roll all voters who had been enfranchised on the " manhood " basis named, but precluded any addition to their ranks by that particular qualification. The old pre-Reform elections extended over periods ranging from four to fifteen days ; they were as a rule costly, and occasionally very riotous affairs; and one of them (which took place in 1820) actually cost the triumphant parties £11,559 12s. 8d. The borough has now, as it had before the Reform era set in, two parliamentary members. For municipal purposes the borough is divided into six wards, and its corporation consists of a mayor, 12 aldermen (the mayor usually being one), and 36 common councillors.
Population, Trade, &c.-Nothing of a reliable character is recorded as to the population prior to 1660. At that time it is said the inhabitants numbered between 5000 and 6000. For about 100 years afterwards the population was virtually stationary, but between 1760 and 1801, through the introduction of the cotton trade, it rose from about 5500 to 11,887. In 1851 it was 67,600; in 1881, 96,524; in 1891,107,866; and in 1895 it was estimated by the municipal officials to be 112,638. Cotton spinning and manufacturing constitute the staple trade. In 1769 Arkwright, a native of the town, fitted up his first spinning machine in one of the rooms occupied by the master of Preston Grammar School-a building at the bottom of Stonygate, subsequently for many years used as a tavern, called the " Arkwright Arms," and now utilized as a model lodging-house. The first cotton factory here was erected in 1777, but the real foundations of Preston's greatness in the cotton trade were not laid until some years afterwards, the chief person in the initial work being Mr John Horrocks, a native of Edgworth, near Bolton, who commenced operations at Preston in or about 1791 as a muslin manufacturer in a small room or warehouse down a dingy passage called Turk's Head Yard, in the centre of the town. During recent years the local cotton trade has been decreasing or quiet rather than showing any signs of substantial increase, only one additional mill having been erected for a considerable time. Preston used to be the great battle-ground of disaffected Lancashire cotton operatives, and it has been the scene of serious strikes and lock-outs. The " great lock-out," resulting through a strike for an increase of wages, commenced in Aug., 1853, and continued until May, 1854, the number of operatives thrown out of employment being estimated at from 20,000 to 26,000. They were defeated. The total loss to the community through this serious conflict was computed at £533,250. There are now about 40,000 hands employed in the local cotton trade. Attempts to introduce new branches-of industry-railway carriage and waggon building, iron, shipbuilding, &c.-have been made, but they have not been attended with any marked success; indeed the carriage and waggon making enterprise was a serious failure. On the 13 Aug., 1842, there was a riot in Preston, attended with disastrous results. Uneasiness among the cotton operatives concerning wages, in conjunction with a clamorous Chartist spirit, caused it, the' military were called out, and before the disturbance could be quelled five persons were killed and eight injured. The ratable value of the borough is about £360,000. The average death-rate is about 19-60 per 1000 of the population. There is a very excellent water supply provided by the corporation. The reservoirs (five) have a capacity for 253,390,354 gallons. The actual average daily consumption of water is 3,500,000 gallons.
The Guild.-As a popular periodical pageant or carnival, "Preston Guild" may be reckoned the greatest and most attractive in provincial England. The earliest reference to this guild dates back to the year 1329. One of the leading original objects of it was the securing and conserving oi burgess rights, so far as such rights related to or involved. liberty to trade and vote in the town. Between 1329 and 1543 the guild festival was celebrated, apparently, at irregular periods, the intervals ranging from forty-two to sixty-eight years; but since 1562 it has been commemorated every twenty years, the last celebration being in the autumn of 1882. At one time the guild festivities lasted a month continuously; in 1822 the period was reduced to a fortnight, and in 1842 it was limited to a week-the like time being observed at the celebrations in 1862 and 1882. The chief objects of modern guilds have been " pageantry, parade, and pleasure-processions, feastings, and concerts."
Streets, Public Buildings, and Institutions.-The borough, including recent suburban additions, contains about 80 miles of streets, and the highest ground in it is between New Hall Lane and Ribbleton Lane on the east side, where the surface altitude is 191 feet above the sea level. The principal street is Fishergate, a thoroughfare running east and west along the centre, and very striking in its length and uniformity. The second in importance, and one of the oldest streets, is Friargate, which for some distance has a parallel bearing, and on the western side of which there was once a friary, founded by Edmund, Earl of Lancaster, in 1221, for grey friars of the Franciscan order. Through the chief streets tram lines run: they were made by the corporation, the first section being opened in 1879 and the remainder in 1882. The principal public buildings and institutions are the following :-Town Hall, located at the eastern end of Fisher-gate, on the site of former town-halls. It is built of stone, the design being Gothic. The late Sir G. Gilbert Scott was the architect. The foundation-stone was laid during the guild of 1862, and the building was opened in 1867, while the total cost of it was £69,412. Externally and internally it is very elaborate. It is used for general municipal purposes, and in one part of it, called the Guild Hall-a fine, highly-decorated room, capable of seating 1000 persons- high-class concerts, balls, &c., are held. Corn Exchange- opened in 1824 at a cost of £11,000; re-arranged in the area and centrally heightened in 1881-82, the cost being about £16,000. It contains accommodation for the weekly corn market in the centre; miscellaneous meetings, &c., in the front and rear; and great gatherings, concerts, and special entertainments in the middle part, which is called " The Public Hall," and is the largest room for popular purposes in Lancashire. At the western end of this hall there is a splendid organ, which cost £3000, and was presented to the town by a local coal merchant. Free Library: a library of this description was originally opened at the beginning of 1879 in the front basement of the Town Hall. It is now located in a specially-constructed building on the eastern (dde of the market-place, the site for which was given by the corporation, and amounted in value to about £30,000. This is a splendid building in the Greek style, after designs by a local architect (Alderman Hibbert). It was opened in 1893. The structure cost £80,000, and the equipments £20,000, the whole of the money being given out of the estate of the late Mr E. R. Harris, a local gentleman. The general library consists of about 19,000 books, and the reference department includes, with a collection from " Dr Shepherd's Library," about 9000 volumes. Many fine pieces of statuary, casts of the classic order, &c., are placed in different parts of the building. In one portion of it there is a museum, and in another an art gallery, the nucleus of the latter being formed by a bequest from the late Mr R. Newsham, of Preston, and consisting of pictures and drawings of the British school, valued at £40,000. Harris Institute: this was built originally as a mechanics' institution, opened in 1849, and was the immediate successor of the first place of that kind in the town -a building in Cannon Street wherein the late Professor Tyndall received, according to his own statement, his " first scientific impulse." A school of art was established in the present Harris Institute in 1860, and a school of science in 1864. In 1882 the building was handed over to new trustees and transformed into the Harris Institute. The total amount of money granted to it out of the Harris estate before-mentioned has been £70,000. Classes are held here for science, art, technology, and miscellaneous instruction, including music, languages, carving, typewriting, &c. There is also under its auspices a school of cookery in a neighbouring building. Connected with the institute are four scholarships of the respective value of £45 (two for science and two for art). For local students specially there are continuation classes in the elements of physiography, chemistry, mechanics, and physics-all the other classes being available to outside students. Grants of £350 for science, and £180 for art, are given annually by Government, and the County Council of Lancashire votes £650 annually for the benefit of the agricultural section, which is included in the science department. The number of students on the registers is over 4000. Victoria Jubilee Technical School: the sum of £15,000, the residue of the Harris estate, is being expended on a building of this kind with equipments. The site has been given by the corporation. The building will accommodate between 2000 and 3000 students, and the curriculum will include instruction in spinning, weaving, designing, engineering, plumbing, &c. There is no endowment, but it is expected that assistance will be forthcoming from the Local Taxation Act (Excise), the corporation receiving £1700 per annum from the fund. Orphanages:- The Harris Orphanage, for Protestant children, is situated in the suburb of Fulwood. The total cost of construction and maintenance (£100,000) was defrayed out of the Harris estate fund. There are now in the building 112 orphans. St Joseph's Orphanage, for Roman Catholic girls, at the S end of Theatre Street, was erected and partially endowed by a local Roman Catholic lady in 1872. Since then extensions have been made, chiefly, if not entirely, at the expense of the Roman Catholic community. The Infirmary is on the NE side, was opened in 1870, the total cost being £18,713, and is maintained by means of donations, subscriptions, and interest from bequests. In 1876 a fever ward, built at the expense of the late Mr E. R. Harris of Preston, was opened here. Blind Industrial Institute, opened in 1871; the principal work done consists of brush, basket, and skip making, and there are about fifteen persons employed on the premises. The Home for the Blind, in the suburb of Fulwood, is for blind persons in Preston, North Lancashire, and North-East Lancashire; cost about £8000, defrayed by local bazaars and public subscriptions; and contains accommodation for twenty-five boys and twenty-five girls. The Deaf and Dumb Institute is at the extreme E side of the borough. The movement for it originated through a gift of £5000 by a local lady; the building was opened in 1894, and the number of pupils on the roll is fifty-five. Public baths and wash-houses (the latter now closed) were erected by the corporation in 1851, at a cost of £11,217. Military Barracks: these, on the north-eastern side, in Fulwood, were built in 1848 at a cost of £137,921. In 1856-57 married men's quarters were attached, the cost thereof being £8500. The County Buildings, at the top of Fishergate Hill, near Central railway station, were opened in 1882, the total cost being about £50,000. Here are offices for the clerk of the peace, the treasurer, auditor, and head constable of the county, and in one part of the building-a large, artistically decorated hall- the county council of Lancashire periodically meets. Court House: this adjoins the gaol; it was built about 1829, waa duplicated several years ago, and in it criminal sessions trials, &c., take place. Preston was the first provincial town in England which publicly used gas. Its Gas Company wa� established in 1815. The present Gas Office stands in Fishergate, and was opened as the successor of the original one in 1877. The astronomical observatory in Stephenson Square, on the E side of the borough, was opened in 1881, is owned by the corporation, contains a large telescope given by a deceased local alderman, and is free to the public. In the Overseers' Buildings, erected in 1848, is conducted the business of the overseers, poor-law rate collectors, the guardians of the Preston union (who meet here every Tuesday), the rural district council, the superintendent registrar, &c. The General Post Office adjoins the Gas Office in Fishergate, and was opened as a new building in 1870, in succession to a smaller office in Lancaster Road. As auxiliaries there are in the borough twenty-one "receiving houses" for letters, money orders, and the transaction of savings bank business. The Police Station and Court, a new building for constabulary and court cases, was opened in 1858 at a cost of upwards of £4000. The borough police force consists of 112 all told-viz. one chief constable, one superintendent, one chief inspector, one detective inspector, four ordinary inspectors, one wan-ant officer, eight sergeants, four detectives, and ninety-one ordinary constables. The annual total cost of the force is £10,254, the cost to the local ratepayers being £5400, whilst the Government allowance is about £4500. Preston is by many deemed the " birthplace of modern teetotalism," and one of the most notable pioneers of the cause-Mr Joseph Livesey-died here in 1883 at the age of ninety. The Temperance Hall, which is a somewhat insignificant looking structure, was opened in 1856. The Theatre Royal, the main local histrionic building, was originally erected in 1802, and was enlarged as well as internally rearranged in 1869. Tulketh Hall, on the eastern side, is now a private residence. Tradition says that it was built by some Cistercian monks from Savigny, Normandy, in 1124. Union Workhouse, situated in Fulwood, was opened in 1868 at a cost, exclusive of the site, of £30,000. There are three public parks in Preston. Two of them- Avenham and Miller parks-are on the southern side, occupying beautiful positions near the river, and having an aggregate area of about 37 acres. The cost of laying them out was upwards of £14,000, and they were formally opened in 1867. In Miller Park there is a fine white marble statue of the fourteenth Earl of Derby (father of the present Lord Derby), which was unveiled in 1873. The cost of the statue was £2500, raised by public subscription, and of this the sum of £346 15s. 7d. was given by working men in penny contributions. The third park-Moor Park-is on the northern side. Its area is about 100 acres. It was laid out at a cost of about £13,000, and was opened in 1867. Within the town, on the S side, there is a beautiful quadrangular inclosure called Winckley Square. It is about 4 acres in extent, but it is not open to the public, access to it being exclusively confined to the occupants of the adjoining houses. On the E side there is a white limestone statue of the late Sir Robert Peel. It was put up by public subscription (total cost £620) in 1852. The reformatory in Fulwood is a large institution for boys, connected with the Roman Catholic diocese of Liverpool.
Courts.-The borough police court is held daily, Thursday excepted, in a large specially constructed room over the police station. The cases are heard before sections, chosen for each day, of borough magistrates, of whom there are altogether forty-three. The County Police Court is for the trial of cases from the Amounderness division chiefly, and is held every Saturday in the County Buildings, the bench being comnosed of county magistrates. The County Court is held fortnightly in the court-house adjoining the gaol, and its jurisdiction relates mainly to debts. The Borough Court, presided over by the recorder of the borough, is held every three weeks in a room connected with the Public Hall, and has jurisdiction in respect to debts. The Sheriff's Court, held at one of the local inns, has no regular fixed times for its sittings and its business, which is presided over by the acting under-sheriff and heard before a jury, refers to the assessment of damages in cases whose defendants have allowed judgment to go by default before some of the higher tribunals.
Banks and Clubs.-There are six banks here-the Preston, Lancaster, Manchester and County, Manchester and Salford, Lancashire and Yorkshire, and Savings Banks, all of which are branches, with the exception of the first and last named. The clubs, numbering seven, are-theWinckley (non-political), Conservative, Junior Conservative, Reform, Central (non-political), Maudland Ward Reform, and Catholic Men's (non-political).
Markets and Fairs.-The principal markets are the following-for cattle and sheep, every Wednesday; pork, each Friday during the season ; lean cattle, pigs, corn, butter, and eggs, every Saturday. Fairs for horses-first Tuesday, Wednesday, and Thursday in each new year; Saturday following, cattle; Feb. 15, cattle and horses; March 15 and 27, cattle; March 28, horses; April 13 and May 8, cattle; May 9, horses; Aug. 24, cattle; Aug. 26, horses; Oct. 3, cattle; Oct. 4, horses; Nov. 6, cattle; Nov. 7, horses; clieese, last Tuesday in each month except December; pots March 27 and two following days; Aug. 25 and seven fol lowing days; Nov. 7 and four following days, Sundays of course being excepted.
Places of Worship and Schools.-There are in Preston 53 places of worship, exclusive of mission rooms, &c.,viz.:- Church of England, 19; Wesleyan Methodist, 6; Congregational, 3; United Methodist Free Church, 3; Primitive Methodist, 4; Baptist, 3; Particular Baptist, 1; Strice Baptist, 1; Baptist Tabernacle, 1; Unitarian, 1; New Jerusalem Church, 1; Free Gospel, 1; Presbyterian Church of England, 1; Friends, 1; Roman Catholic, 7. The principal are-of the Church of England, the parish church; Nonconformists, Cannon Street (Congregational) chapel and Lune Street (Wesleyan Methodist) chapel; Roman Catholics, St Augustine's, St Wilfrid's, and St Walburge's. The parish church is a stately stone edifice with a spire 205 feet high. It occupies the site of a church built early in the 8th century dedicated to St Wilfrid, was rebuilt in 1518, dedicated to .St John (name still adhered to) in or about 1581, body rebuilt in 1770, tower rebuilt 1814, chancel reconstructed 1817, choir renovated 1823 ; whole structure except a portion of the tower pulled down, and the present church erected in its place, in 1853. It will accommodate about 1800. Cannon Street Congregational chapel (the direct successor of the oldest Congregational place of worship in the town, opened in 1772) was built in 1826, enlarged in 1852, and further enlarged some years ago. Lune Street Wesleyan Methodist chapel was erected in 1817 (its immediate predecessor being in Back Lane, built in 1787), and the cost of it was about £6000. In 1862 it was considerably enlarged and externally improved at a cost of about £5000. There is sitting room for 1250 persons. St Augustine's Roman Catholic church (Secular order) was opened in 1840, enlarged in 1879, and will accommodate upwards of 1000 persons. St Wilfrid's (Jesuit order) was opened in 1793, rebuilt and enlarged in 1839, and internally reconstructed in 1879-80 at a total cost, including decorations, new organ, &c., of upwards of £20,000. It will accommodate about 1100. St Walburge's (Jesuit order) occupies the site of an hospital dedicated to St Mary Magdalen founded in 1293, was opened in 1854; spire 299 feet 6 inches high erected in 1867, apse added to body of building in 1872; general structure subsequently strengthened and considerably decorated internally; total cost of construction, &c., about £50,000. It has accommo- dation for 1300. Mr J. A. Hansom, the well-known architect and the inventor of the " hansom" cab, designed the building, both body and spire. St Walburge's is built of white limestone, and its spire, which can be seen for miles, is one of the finest and loftiest in the kingdom. In respect to the public day-schools of the town (all conducted on the voluntary principle) the following figures show the present accommodation at them, the average attendance of scholars, and the amount of the yearly Government grant:-Church of England schools, accommodation, 15,530; average attendance, 7968 ; grant, £7215: Nonconformist, accommodation, 5959; average attendance, 3304; grant, £3084: Roman Catholic, accommodation, 11,093; average attendance, 5226; grant, £5420. In 1894, by means of subscriptions and a bazaar, a sum amounting to upwards of £20,000 was raised in the town for the purpose of meeting the requirements of the Governmental Education Department, but chiefly with the view of obviating the establishment of a School Board. The Grammar School, which belongs to and is subsidised by the corporation, is not included in the foregoing record. In 1479 a grammar school was endowed in Preston; in 1666 this was supplanted by one built near to and on the south side of the parish church; in 1841 the present school in Cross Street was erected by a body of shareholders; and in 1860 this building was purchased by the corporation. There are several scholarships and exhibitions attached to the school. On the west side of Winckley Square there is a "grammar school" connected with St Wilfrid's Roman Catholic Church, and established in 1865; and in the north-east corner of the same square there is a High School for girls, conducted under Church of England auspices, which was established in 1878. Neither of These is included in the above record.
Formerly there was a well-known and in some respects notorious building called " the Old Cockpit," near the parish church. The great-grandfather of the present Earl of Derby, along with various aristocrats, &c., patronised this place, and periodically they brought cocks to fight in it. After cock-fighting was declared illegal, meetings for the promotion of Chartism, teetotalism, &c,, were lield here. At a later period the building was used for dancing. In 1884 the roof collapsed, and not long afterwards the walls were pulled down entirely.
Local Press.-The earliest newspaper published here was the Preston Journal, in 1740. There are now three newspapers-one published every evening, one on Wednesday and Saturday, and one on Saturday only; two of them are Liberal and one Conservative.
Navigation.-Along the south-western boundary the river Ribble runs, and during recent years a very great amount of money has been spent upon dock construction, river deviation, channel improvement, &c. The Ribble Navigation Company was established in 1837, and it made considerable improvement in the waterway. In 1843 the work of constructing a new quay was commenced by the corporation, that body holding many shares in the Navigation Company. The quay was completed in 1845, and contiguous to it there were erected in the same year large warehouses for bonding and storage purposes. In 1846 a branch railway from the principal station to the quay was made. In 1882 the corporation purchased The whole of the rights and property of the old Navigation Company, including a farm consisting of nearly 600 acres of reclaimed land on the north side of the river, and about half a dozen miles below the town-the purchase money amounting to £72,501. A portion of this farm is now used for the reception and utilisation of the town's sewage. The corporation, since making the purchase named, have among other things deviated the course of the river for about a mile, built a new quay wall along a considerable portion of one side of The deviation, constructed a dock 40 acres in area (opened in 1892), and improved the waterway very greatly for about 14 miles seaward; but though there has been a material increase in the port business through the work thus far accomplished, the channel still needs further deepening; and in addition an immense sandbank, extending from the outward limit of the channel improvement to deep water, militates much against that full measure of shipping business and local prosperity which the municipal authorities of Preston anticipated when they originally embarked in this great undertaking. The number of vessels registered as belonging to the port in 1895 was 50 (3000 tons). The entrances and clearances each average 850 (105,000 tons).
