A HISTORY OF LANCASHIRE 



The earliest theatre of which there is any record was 

 near Fishergate, and described as 'old' in 1762. 

 The present Theatre Royal in Fishergate was built 

 in 1802 and the Gaiety or Prince's Theatre in 

 Tithebarn Street in 1882." Theold sports of cock- 

 fighting, bull-baiting, &c., have been suppressed. 10 

 The old-time punishments of cuckstool, pillory and 

 stocks have likewise ceased.' 1 Archery used to be 

 practised on the Spital Moss." 



For more than a century the cotton manufacture 

 has been the staple industry of Preston. There are, 

 however, a number of minor ones : breweries, iron 

 and brass foundries and engineering works, soap 

 manufactories, and others, including one of the few 

 in England of gold and silver laces and embroideries. 



The total abstinence movement found zealous 

 propagation in Preston, which is popularly known 

 as ' the birthplace of Teetotalism ' of the word at 

 least." 



The history of the manor of PRESTON 

 M4NOR is bound up with that of the hundred, 

 of which it was the head.' 4 Its ancient 

 assessment was six plough-lands. The lords of 

 Amounderness and subsequently the lords of the 

 honour of Lancaster were lords of Preston also," and 

 though the manor seems once or twice to have been 

 granted out, 86 the gift had no permanent result. The 

 king, therefore, as Duke of Lancaster, became lord of 



the manor of Preston, but the corporation, by obtain- 

 ing a grant of the feudal dues at a fixed rent, became 

 immediate lords of the manor, which lordship was 

 finally secured by their purchase of the rent in 

 1676. 



An extent of the manor made in 1244 showed 

 that if the town had remained in the king's hands it 

 would have yielded over 20 a year " ; while 

 another extent a century later showed that in addition 

 to the fee-farm rent of 15 paid by the community, 

 the Earl of Lancaster received only 5 it. id. a year, 

 derived, it would appear, from tenements which had 

 escheated to him and been granted out again.' 8 



The borough may have been created 

 BOROUGH by Roger of Poitou, 29 and there is an 

 allegation that Henry I granted a 

 charter in 1 1 oo,* but this is probably an error. The 

 first extant charter is one granted in or about 1179 

 by Henry II conceding to ' his burgesses of Preston ' 

 the borough therefore already .existing all the 

 liberties and free customs of Newcastle-under-Lyme, 

 saving the king's right of administering justice. 31 

 John in 1199 confirmed both his father's charter 

 and one he had himself granted while Count of 

 Mortain, adding the whole toll of the wapentake, 

 and a free fair on 1 5 August lasting for a week ; also 

 the right of pasture in Fulwood and liberty to take 

 wood for building on view of the forester. 3 * Henry III 



the other adjoining the Town Hall ; the 

 two, it was then said, connoted ' ancient 

 and modern Preston ; the coffee room is 

 the resort of the gentry and men of 

 leisure, and the Guildhall room affords 

 its more ample accommodation to com- 

 mercial gentlemen and tradesmen ' ; 

 Baines, Lanes. Dir. ii, 499. 

 19 Hewitson, op. cit. 354. 



80 Ibid. 1 1 8. A view of the cock-pit 

 is given ; it was near the south-west 

 corner of the parish church. 



Horse-races were run on Preston Moor 

 from 1726 to 1791. 



For a Corpus Christi play about 1620 

 see Lanes, and Ches. Antia. Notes, ii, 27. 

 The Easter-egg rolling in 1882 is spoken 

 of in Pal. Note-hit, ii, 108. 



81 The pillory was last used at Preston 

 in 1814; Hewitson, Preston, 126. The 

 stocks, in the churchyard, were in use 

 till 1825 ; ibid. Ct. LeetRec. 68. 



83 Hewitson, Preston, 126. 



83 Ibid. 226-30 ; a facsimile of the 

 first pledge, i Sept. 1832, is given, with 

 the signatures of the 'seven men of 

 Preston,' including that of Joseph Livesey, 

 the best known of them, 



8J See the account of Amounderness. 



afi Thus in 1292 Edmund, brother 

 of the king, proved that he was lord of 

 the manor ; Plac. de Quo Warr. (Rec. 

 Com.), 388. In 1361 Preston was 

 among the manors of Blanche daughter 

 of Henry Duke of Lancaster ; Fine 

 R. 162, m. 17. 



84 Soon after the Conquest the manor 

 was granted to Warine Bussel, who held 

 it for a time ; Lanes. Inq. and Extents 

 (Rec. Soc. Lanes, and Ches.), i, 35. 



Again in 1254-5 ' ne manor of Preston, 

 probably in Amoundernets, was given by 

 Prince Edward to Master Richard the 

 Physician ; Pat, 49 Hen. Ill, m. 82. 



In 1400 the king granted 10 marks a 

 year for life out of the profits of the vill 

 of Preston ; Duchy of Lane. Misc. Bks. 

 xv, fol. 21. 



87 Lanes. Inq. and Extents, i, 158-9; 



the lands to the ploughing of four ploughs 

 would yield 6, the fisheries the same, 

 the markets 3 and the mills 2, 

 toll and stallages the same, perquisites 

 of pleas 131. 4<A, meadows and pastures 

 the same ; escheats in the king's hands 

 produced 6s. S,/. 



To various tallages Preston paid as 

 follows: 1176-7, aid, 1 6 loj. j 1205, 

 tallage, 10 41. ; 1213-15, pleas of the 

 forest, ^6s. SJ. ; 1226, 10 01. 6J. ; 

 1*48-9, 12; 1261, zo 131. 4<i ; 

 Farrcr, Lanes. Pipe R. 35, 202, 251 ; 

 Lanes. Inq. and Extents, i, 135, &c. 



As implied above, escheated lands were 

 the king's. From a house escheated zs. 

 was accounted for in 1184-5; Farrer, 

 op. cit. 54. In 1201 2 Alexander de 

 Preston recovered a toft of which Roger 

 de Leicester had disseised him ; ibid. 132. 

 Again in 1226 the farm of a house which 

 had been Harvey's (hanged) amounted to 

 31. SJ. ; Lanes. In<j. and Extents, i, 138. 

 In 1 256-8 escheats in Preston produced 

 zis. t)d. during eighteen months ; ibid. 

 i, 222. These were in part held by 

 Richard le Boteler, who paid js. 6J. a 

 year in 1258-62 ; ibid. 230. 



88 Add. MS. 32103, fol. 147 ; of 1346. 

 For escheats William Chapman paid 

 51. 6(/. (an increase of if. 6</,) and John 

 de Ashton los., in addition to izd. to the 

 earl (part of the 15 fee-farm rent) and 

 9</. to the Prior of Lytham. This latter 

 tenement had belonged to Adam Buk- 

 monger, for whom see Final Cone. (Rec. 

 Soc. Lanes, and Ches.), ii, 15. 



The free tenants were : Nicholas de 

 Preston, holding i acre for which he paid 

 12 d. ; John Marshal and John Rennet, 

 in right of their wives Ellen and 

 Christiana, daughters of Richard Marshal 

 each paying 21. 6d, for half a burgage ; 

 Robert son of Henry Maggeson, a bur- 

 gage (once burnt by the Scots), 41. ; 

 Nicholas son of Henry Williamson, four 

 plots of land, by Court Roll, 41. 8</. ; 

 Thomas de Yomb(er)gh, a messuage 

 lately belonging to Roger son of John de 



Q2 



Wich, 5*. ; Henry Chapman, a messuage, 

 ioj. ; Albred son of Robert and Alice his 

 wife, a toft for life, 23. ; an acre in the 

 hands of the friars (held in alms) had 

 formerly paid 41. ; it was used for the 

 channel conveying the water to their 

 house. 



29 This was the opinion of Miss Bate- 

 son, who discussed the Custumal of the 

 town in Engl. Hist. Rev. xv, 496-512. 



80 Sir Thomas Walmesley about 1600 

 certified that he had seen a charter to the 

 burgesses so dated ; Abram, Memorials 

 of Preston Guilds, I. The charter of 

 Henry II may have been dated by him 

 conjecturally i Hen., for if there was an 

 earlier one extant it seems unaccountable 

 that it was not named or included in the 

 confirmations of the charter of Henry II 

 by successive kings. 



81 Ibid. 2, 3. The charter was given at 

 Winchester, where the king spent the 

 Christmas of 1 1 79. The year is not 

 named in the deed itself, but gathered 

 from the place and from the names of the 

 witnesses. 



In the Pipe Rolls of 1179-82 it it 

 recorded that the men of Preston gave 

 100 marks for the charter ; Farrer, Lanes. 

 Pipe R. 42, 46. The customs of New- 

 castle at that date are not known. 



M Abram, op. cit. 3 ; Cal Rot. Chart. 

 (Rec. Com.), 26. From the wording of 

 the confirmation it may be gathered that 

 the additions of the fair, pasturage, &c., 

 had been made by John when Count of 

 Mortain, 1189-94. The charter is dated 

 at Le Mans, 18 Oct. 1199. 



The burgesses paid 60 marks and four 

 chaseurs for the grant ; Farrer, op. cit. 1 1 6. 

 There was a dispute in 1201 as to the 

 right of gaol j ibid. 130, 136. 



The fairs are mentioned in a charter 

 of a few years later by which William de 

 Millom and Avice his wife (see Lanes. 

 Inq, and Extents, i, 40) gave to Henry son 

 of William son of Swain the fourth part 

 of two burgages (in Preston), formerly 

 tenanted by Noraaius and Aldwin, with 



