AMOUNDERNESS HUNDRED PRESTON 



years small weekly gifts of groceries, &c., in the to Friargate, and from Church Street Lancaster Road 

 nature of pensions have been given. The capital is and North Road run north to join Moor Lane. On 



now 6 1 8, producing about 14 6s. a year. 



the south side of Fishergate Chapel Street, passing 



Edmund Robert Harris of Ashton in 1876 left Winckley Square, goes down to the two parks by 



500 to provide a fund for gifts of clothing, bedding, 

 &c., to the poor of Ashton, Lea, Ingol and Cottam 

 on St. Thomas's Day yearly. The income is 15, 

 which is now usually given in money doles. 



PRESTON 



Prestnne, Dom. Bk. ; Preston, 1 1 69 ; Prestone, 

 1292. 



the Ribble, already mentioned, Avenham Park and 

 Miller Park. In Winckley Square there is a statue 

 of Sir Robert Peel, erected in 1852, and in Miller 

 Park one of the fourteenth Earl of Derby, 1873. 

 In Avenham Park are two of the Russian guns 

 captured in the Crimea. Cross Street, in which is 

 the grammar school, begins on the east side of 

 Winckley Square ; while lower down Avenham Lane, 

 an old thoroughfare, leads circuitously from the park, 



Approached from the south, Preston, in spite of by Stonygate, to the parish church. 



its factory chimneys, has a pleasing appearance, as 

 across the broad stream of the Ribble, which forms 

 the foreground, two well- planted public parks occupy 

 the ascending bank at the other side. The town 

 hall, which has a lofty clock-tower, 1 is about half a 

 mile north of the river, and from it the principal 

 thoroughfare of the town, the wide street called 

 Fishergate, goes west to the railway station, and then 

 turning to the south-west descends to the river- 

 lide,' and bending south* along the Ribble reaches 

 Penwortham Bridge. The continuation of Fishergate 

 east from the town hall is called Church Street, 4 the 

 parish church standing on its south side ; after a short 

 time it divides into three main branches to the 

 south-east and south as Stanley Street * and London 

 Road, crossing Fishwick to reach Ribble Bridge, the 

 main road southward ; to the east, as Ribbleton 

 Lane, to Ribchester ; and to the north as Deepdale 

 Road, in which stands the Infirmary. East from 

 Stanley Street begins New Hall Lane, which goes 

 past the cemetery and is continued as the Blackburn 

 Road. On the north side of the town hall is the 

 open market place, around which may be seen the 

 Harris Free Library, the new sessions house,* com- 

 pleted in 1903, and the post-office, opened in the 

 same year.' An obelisk in the square commemorates 

 the local men who fell in the Boer War. From this 

 square Friargate leads north-west for about a quarter 

 of a mile, when it divides ; Moor Lane leads north, 

 past Moor Park and then across Fulwood to Garstang 

 and Lancaster, while the Fylde road goes west to 

 Kirkham. From Fishergate Lune Street goes north 



1 The building wa deiigned by Sir 

 G. G. Scott. The ipire it 150 ft. high. 



Here it it called Fithergate Hill. 



Here called Broadgate. 



Anciently Kirkgate. 



Formerly Finkale Street. 



It hat a tower 179 ft. high. The 

 county recordt are preserved in this build- 

 ing, haying been collected from different 

 repositories The borough tettioni house 

 it near. 



' For the development of the local 

 pott office tee Hewitton, PrtiKit, 336-41. 



* The area of the county borough, ac- 

 cording to the Ctnmi Report of 1901, it 

 3,971 acret. It it that of the old town- 

 ihip, together with the whole of Fiih- 

 wick, large parti of Athlon and Ribble- 

 ton, and bitt of Grimtargh and Pen- 

 wortham ; theae were all united into one 

 townthip or civil parith in 1894.; Loc. 

 Govt. Bd. Order 31607. The 3,971 

 acret include 79 of inland water ; there 

 re beiidet 8; acret of tidal water and 

 14 of foreshore. 



The population of the larger area of 

 the county borough wat 1 1 2,989. 



10 The ttation wat on the tite of the 

 exiiting one. Thete detail! are derived 

 chiefly from A. Hewition, op. cit. 199, 

 Ac. 



11 The ttation wat on the north tide 

 of Fithergate, but wat toon afterwards 

 connected with the nation on the touth 

 tide, the line being thut made con- 

 tin uout. 



" The Blackburn terminut occupiet 

 itl original potition. 



u The Southport (Welt l.ancaihire) 

 line had itl terminut in Fithergate Hill. 



14 The terminut wat in Maudlandt. 



u Foot passengers can alto croti the 

 Ribble by the Eait Lancathire railway 

 bridge, that to Blackburn, by a tide walk. 

 Thit bridge had fitty-teven archet in all, 

 mottly touth of the river, but nearly all 

 have now been covered by an embank- 

 ment. 



" St. Stephen'! croii ii named in un- 

 dated deedt ; Add. MS. 32106, no. 1486, 

 1543, fol. 308, See. Fiihwick croii, 

 probably on the boundary, it named in 

 1339 (ibid. no. 1614) and the Butter 

 cron * 1562 ; ibid. no. 847. See alto 



91 



The whole township, which has an area of 2,127 

 acres,' is covered with a network of streets of dwelling- 

 houses and shop, among which rise the numerous 

 great cotton-spinning factories and other works which 

 produce the town's wealth. There was a population 

 of 101,297 in 1901.' 



The different railways had formerly separate termini, 

 but now all are made to meet at the large station 

 in Fishergate. The London and North-Western 

 Company's main line to Scotland is formed of the 

 Wigan and Preston Railway, opened in 1 838,' and 

 the Preston and Lancaster Railway, 1840." The 

 Lancashire and Yorkshire Company's system has 

 amalgamated the lines joining Preston with Black- 

 burn," Bolton, Liverpool and Southport." The two 

 companies together hold the Wyre Railway " and the 

 Preston and Longridgc line, which latter has a station 

 in Deepdale Road, its original terminus in 1840. 

 The Lancaster Canal, first formed in 1798, begins 

 on the north side of Fishergate, near the railway. 



The railways have three bridges across the Ribble ; 

 there is only one bridge for ordinary traffic, that to 

 Penwortham, and another for foot passengers, viz. 

 the old tramway bridge at Avenham Park." 



Fairs are held annually in the first week of each 

 year for horses, on 27 March, 25 August and 

 7 November for cattle and earthenware, and on the 

 last Friday of March, June and November for cheese. 



Though the town has a pleasant aspect and a long 

 history, its buildings are all modern. The ancient 

 crosses and wells have gone." In addition to public 

 buildings there are banks," clubs " and theatres. 



Lanci. and Ches. Antiq. Sot. xz, 15662. 

 The croitei known were the high croii 

 in the market-place, afterwards replaced 

 by an obclilk ; a butter crott in Cheap- 

 side ; a croat near New Street and another 

 in Friargate, and one on the Moor. Our 

 Lady't Well wat near the Friary. The 

 butter crosi wat taken down in 1739 by 

 order of the corporation, and the 

 material! uted to repair the market- 

 place, at appeart by the recordt. 



" The Old Bank wai opened in 1776 ; 

 for a long time the Pedder family were 

 chief proprietor!. It failed in 1861. 

 See Hewitton, op. cit. 238, where it 

 given a view of the houte (c. 1690) in 

 which butinett wai done. 



The Preston Banking Company, 

 founded in 1844, had itl head office in 

 Fithergate. It hat been abtorbed by the 

 London City and Midland Bank. Four 

 other bankt have branch office!. 



The Saving! Bank wai opened in 1816. 



18 Theie include the Contervative Club, 

 the Reform Club and the Winckley Club. 

 In 1824 there were two news rooms, one 

 in the corfee-houte in Church Street and 



