A HISTORY OF LANCASHIRE 



PRESTON 



RIBBLETOX 



GRI.MSARGH and BROCKHOLES 



PRESTON 



ELSTON 



FISHWICK 



BROUGHTON 



HAIGHTON 



BARTON 



LEA, ASHTON, INGOL and COTTAM 



The parish of Preston lies on the north bank of 

 the Ribble, and has an area of 16,116 acres, in- 

 cluding 207 \ acres of tidal water. The population 

 in 1 90 1 was 115,483, mostly within the borough 

 of Preston. The surface is undulating, with a general 

 rise towards the north and east. 



The history of the parish is practically that of the 

 town which has given its name to the whole. The 

 old portion of the town occupies the centre of a 



PRESTON 



table-land between two brooks which flow south-west 

 into the Ribble, 1 this navigable river completing the 

 boundary on the south side. Along each side of the 

 Ribble are level tracts of low-lying land, but just at 

 the town the surface rises sharply from the river to 

 the table-land named. To the west of the town was 

 the marsh, while a moor extended itself along the 

 northern boundary. The main street ran from east 

 to west, being the continuation of the road from 

 the south across Ribble Bridge, into which at the 

 entrance of the town came a road from Ribchester. 



The street had a continuation down to the riverside, 

 but its main line turned to the north-west, and after 

 passing out of the town divided, part forming the 

 main road north and part going west to Kirkham. 

 On the south side of the main street stood the parish 

 church, while on the opposite side, further west, 

 just at the turning was the moot hall, with the market 

 place behind it. These streets and buildings, though 

 improved and renewed on a grander scale, have 

 remained predominant features 

 of the town. 



The traces of early history 

 are but scanty. 3 From the 

 Roman station at Walton-le- 

 Dale on the south bank of the 

 Ribble, the north road, cross- 

 ing the river by a ford, passed 

 through Preston, 3 and as this 

 place had good communication 

 westward by water and stood 

 in the centre of two level and 

 fruitful districts — The Fylde to 

 the north-west and Leyland 

 to the south — it had probably 

 some importance from an early 

 time, and may well have been 

 part of 'the land by Ribble' 

 granted to St. Wilfrid for the 

 endowment of his monastery 

 at Ripon about 670. 4 On the 

 other hand it was obviously 

 exposed to the incursions of 

 the Norse pirates. 



Preston was at that time 

 within the kingdom of North- 

 umbria and diocese of York, 

 and at the Conquest was 

 fiscally still part of the county 

 of York. It was in 1066 the 

 head of a fee or lordship com- 

 prising the whole district of Amounderness, held by 

 Earl Tostig. Afterwards it was granted to Roger 

 of Poitou, 6 who probably created a borough there, 

 on which the privileges of a guild merchant were 

 conferred in 1 1 79, the town being then in the 

 king's hands. There is other evidence of its relative 

 importance, and it had a market and fair. 6 As a 

 borough Preston sent two burgesses to some of the 

 early Parliaments — from 1295 to 1331 — but the 

 burdensome duty fell into abeyance, not being 

 resumed till 1529 and 1545. 7 Even in 1601 the 



1 The northern brook, the position of 

 which is marked by Moorbrook Street, 

 fell into the Ribble at the division between 

 Preston and Ashton. The southern one, 

 named Swill Brook, formed the boundary 

 between Preston and Fishwick. 



1 For the ancient remains see Fishwick, 

 Preston, 3-7, and the sections of the 

 present work. 



* The bridge at Walton, emphatically 

 ' Ribble Bridge,' is supposed to be of post- 

 Conquest erection. 



4 See the account of the church. 



5 V.C.H. Lanes, i, 288a. The 

 manors within the limits of the 

 parish were assessed as 18 plough-lands 

 in all. 



72 



• See the account of the borough. The 

 assizes appear to have been held there in 

 1226 and 1229; Cat. Pat. 1225-32, 

 pp. 71, 284. 



7 Pink and Beaven, Lanes. Pari. Repre. 

 135-176, referring to W. Dobson, Presnn 

 Pari. Repre. (1868), and articles in the 

 Presttn Guardian ; L. and P. Hen. Vlll, 

 iv (3), p. 2692. 



