WEST DERBY HUNDRED 



PRESCOT 



Prestecot, 1190 ; Prestecote, 1292 ; Prestcote and 

 Prescote, 1440. 



The township of Prescot, cut off from Whiston as 

 a manor for the rectory, is comparatively small, con- 

 taining only 270' acres, lying wholly upon the coal 

 measures. A little town has grown up near the 

 church, on the top and eastern slope of the hill, 

 which here attains 250 ft. The main street, 

 Eccleston Street, begins at the church and goes east- 

 ward. The market-place, where the town hall is 

 situated, opens out of it close by the church, on the 

 steep hill side. The town hall was built in 1755, 

 and has the arms of King's College, Cambridge, 

 on a panel over the doorway. It stands north and 

 south, with an apse at the south end, and a line 

 of shops on the ground floor, and though of no 

 particular merit, has considerable picturesqueness from 

 the steep southward fall of its site. The town con- 

 tains a good number of eighteenth-century houses; and 

 in Eccleston Street is a small timber house dated 1614, 

 a pretty little building. The Lyme almshouses on the 

 Rainhill Road, east of the town, were built in 1708, 

 and are simple in detail and a welcome break in the 

 absolute modernity of this part of Prescot. Near by 

 a little suburb of cottage houses of the usual type has 

 sprung up near the watch factory and the insulated 

 wire works, the principal industries of the place. 

 The dismantled windmill also stands here. The 

 woods of Knowsley Park make a pleasant background 

 to the north. At some little distance from the town, 

 but in Huyton, stands the Hazells (Mr. W. Windle 

 Pilkington) a fine old house, surrounded by picturesque 

 grounds. It belongs to Lord Derby. 



The ancient highroad from Liverpool to Warring- 

 ton passes through the town ; the South Lancashire 

 electric tramway system uses this, and also the road 

 from Prescot to St. Helens through Eccleston. The 

 London and North Western Company's line from 

 Liverpool to St. Helens crosses the township on the 

 south, and has a station within it (Prescot) about half 

 a mile from the church. The population was 7,855 

 in 1901. 



Leland, about 1535, described it as ' a little market ; 

 having no notable water about it ; four miles from 

 Mersey, up towards Liverpool.' * 



Tokens were issued by Prescot tradesmen in 1666 

 and 1 669 . 3 The town has long been celebrated for 

 the manufacture of various parts of watches/ for files, 

 and for pottery. 6 



The cotton manufacture was early introduced here, 

 but has died out ; there was formerly a sail-cloth 

 factory, while coal mines, now closed, were worked 



PRESCOT 



within the township last century. Samuel Derrick, 

 writing from Liverpool, gives the following account 

 of the town's appearance in 1760: 'About eight 

 miles off is a very pleasant market town called Prescot. 

 In riding to this place travellers are often incommoded 

 by the number of colliers' carts and horses which fill 

 the road all the way to Liverpool. It stands finely 

 upon an eminence having an extensive command. 

 The houses are well built and here are two inns in 

 which attendance and accommodation are cheap and 

 excellent.' 6 



Pennant, in 1773, recorded that ' the town abounds 

 in manufactures of certain branches of hardware, par- 

 ticularly the best and almost all the watch movements 

 used in England, and the best files in Europe. Here 

 is, besides, a manufacture of coarse earthen mugs, and 

 of late another of sail-cloth." 7 About 1 840 it was 

 said the district ' has long been noted for the superior 

 construction of watch tools and motion work. The 

 drawing of pinion wire, extending to fifty different 

 sizes . . . originated here ; and small files, considered 

 to be of unparalleled excellence, are made and ex- 

 ported in large quantities. The manufacture of 

 coarse earthenware, especially sugar-moulds, has also 

 been established 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 manufacture of glass bottles is 

 likewise carried on.' 8 



Thomas Eyres was a printer here in 1779, and 

 Thomas Taylor in 1 790.' 



In 1824 the market-days were Tuesday and Satur- 

 day, with special fortnightly cattle markets in the 

 spring ; there were five fairs on Ash Wednesday, 

 the Wednesday after Corpus Christi, 24-25 August, 

 21 October, and I November. 10 Afterwards these 

 were reduced to two, the Tuesday after Whitsuntide 

 and the Monday in the week in which fell 5 Novem- 

 ber. 11 There is now a Saturday market, and the fair 

 is held at Corpus Christi. 



Two newspapers are published here on Friday. 



The manor of PRESCOT, attached to 

 the rectory of the church, has descended 

 with it, the rectors being lords of the 

 manor. They were engaged at various times in suits 

 with their neighbours as to the lands and rights of 

 their church. 1 ' One of the most interesting of these 

 concerned the market established here by a charter 

 obtained by the rector in 1333, which also granted 

 an annual fair. 13 In 1355 the rector of Wigan peti- 

 tioned for leave to destroy the market at Prescot, 

 which had proved of great injury to his own market 

 at Wigan, the two towns being only eight miles apart." 

 Prescot retained its market, and a further grant was 

 made in October, 1458, by Henry VI. 14 



1 297 according to the census of 

 1901. A small portion was added to 

 Whiston in 1894, and at the same time 

 part of Eccleston was taken into Pres- 

 cot, by a Local Government Board order. 



8 Lanes, and Ches. Antiq. Sac. v, 87. 



4 The watch trade has long been a very 

 important one ; it is said to have been 

 introduced by a Huguenot refugee named 

 Woolrich, who settled at Coptholt. 



6 ' Prescot for pan-mugs,' says the old 

 rhyme ; Pal. Note Book, iii, 95. A coarse 

 red ware was the chief product, but at one 

 time there was a factory of white ware. 



8 Derrick, Letters, 29. The old inns 



have large stable accommodation, and 

 posting was an important business. 



^ Downing to Alston Moor, z I . Similar 

 but more detailed accounts of the trades 

 may be seen in Aikin's Country around 

 Manch. ( I795 ), 311; and in the Lan- 

 cashire volume of Britten's Beauties of 

 England and Wales, 1808, p. 226. 



8 Lewis, Gazetteer (ed. 1 844.) ; derived 

 from Baines' Lanes. Direc. of 1 824, ii, 467. 



Local Gleanings Lanes, and Ches. ii, 229, 

 239, 298. 



10 Baines, loc, cit. In 1795 

 day was Tuesday, and the fairs 

 June and November. 



11 Baines, Lanes, (ed. Harland), i 



353 



For one with John Travers see the 

 account of Whiston. Another with John 

 son of William de Farington concerned 

 land in Sutton ; Duchy of Lane. Assize 



'*Th'e market every Monday, and the 

 fair on the vigil, day, and morrow of Corpus 

 Christi ; Chart. R. 7 Edw. Ill, m. 9, n. 43. 



11 The case lasted some years ; see 

 Duchy of Lane. Assize R. 4, m. 5 ; 6, 

 m. 2 d., &c. The rector of Prescot re- 

 plied that he had found the market estab- 

 lished, and could not answer without the 

 bishop and the patron. 



15 Chart. R. 27-39 Hcn - VI, n. 13. 

 This was for a market on Fridays. 



45 



