A HISTORY OF LANCASHIRE 



The earliest theatre of which there is any record wa> 

 near H>hergatc, and described as * old ' in i~^z. 

 The present Theatre R< a al in Fishergate was built 

 in 1802 and the Gaiety or Prince's Theatre in 

 Tithebarn Street in 18S2. 1 * The old sports of cock- 

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

 The old-time punishments of cuckstool, pillory and 

 stocks have likewise ceased" 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 

 MANOR is bound up with that of the hundred, 

 of which it wa» the head." Its ancient 

 averment was six plough-lands. The lords of 

 Amoundcrness and subsequently the lords of the 

 honour of Lanca tor were lords of Preston also, 15 and 

 though the manor seems once or twice to have been 

 granted out," the gift had no permanent re ult. The 

 kin>% therefore, as Duke of Lancaster, became lord of 



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

 ing a gr.int of the feudal dues at a fixed rent, became 

 immcviiute lords of the manor, which lordship was 

 finally secured by their purchase of the rent in 

 1676. 



An extent of the manor made in 124.4 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 £\ 5 paid by the community, 

 the Earl of Lancaster received only 51/. %d. a year, 

 derived, it would appear, from tenements which had 

 escheated to him and been granted out again." 



The borough may have been created 

 BOROUGH by Roger of Poitou, rt and there is an 

 allegation that Henry I granted a 

 charter in I ioo, 10 but this is probably an error. The 

 first extant charter is one granted in or about I 179 

 by Henry II conceding to 'his burgesses of Preston ' 

 — the borough therefore already existing — all the 

 liberties and free customs of Newcastle-under-Lymc, 

 saving the king*s right of administering justice." 

 John in 1 1 99 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 I 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. 31 Henry III 



the other adjoining the Town Hall j the 

 two, it ws% then said, connoted * ancient 

 a"id modern Preston ; the coffee r<i-»m ii 

 the retort of the gentry and men of 

 le'.« ire, .m J the C. jildhall room affords 

 iti more am \c acvommo lation to com- 

 mercial gentlemen and tradesmen ' ; 

 Bainct, Ljna. Dir. ii, 499. 



19 Hew t«nn, op. cit. 354. 



"' Ibid. 118. A view of the cock-pit 

 ii given ; it was near the south-west 

 corner of the pariih church. 



Horse-races were mn on Preston M -or 

 fr-m 1726 to 1-91. 



For a L rput Christi play about 1620 



ice I.jrci, and Chei. An 



?• 



II, 27. 



The Easter-egg rolling in 1882 it spoken 

 of in Pal. Aofe-hk. ii, 108. 



" The pillory was i.nt .*ed at Preston 

 in 1814; Hewition, P'triton, 116. The 

 stocks, in the churchvar !, were in use 

 till 182^ ; ibid Ct. Lett Rec. 68. 



n Hcwitson, Prat t, 116. 



n Ibid. 226-30; a facsimile of the 

 first pietJ-rr, 1 Sept. 1 8 j z, is given, with 

 the M^n.ttures nf the * *cven men of 

 Preston,' including that of Joseph Livcsey, 

 the be*t known of them. 



f * See the account of Amounderness. 



Sj Thus in 1292 Edmund, brother 

 of the kin;:, proved that he was lord of 

 the manor ; Plac. de Quo ff'i--. (Rec. 

 Com.), 388. In 1 361 Preston was 

 iraon; the manors of Blanche drjghtcr 

 of Henry Duke of Lancaster ; Fine 

 R. 162, m. 1 - . 



,s Soon after the On:uest the manor 

 was granted to Warine BujscI, who held 

 it for a time ; Lzici. Irj. ami Extents 

 (Rec Soc Lanes, and Ches.^, L, 35. 



Again in 12^4-5 the manor of Preston, 

 probably in Amounderness, was given by 

 Prince Edward to Master Richard the 

 Physician ; Pat. 40 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. 

 rv, foL 2 1 . 



,; Ljr.j. Inj. and Exter:: y i, 158—9; 



t';-- lands to the ploughing of four ploughs 

 would yield £6 f the fisheries the same, 

 the market! £} and the mills £z t 

 toil and stallages the same, perquisites 

 of picas 1 31. 4*/., meadows and pastures 

 the lame ; escheats in the king's hands 

 produced 61. 8</. 



To various tallages P re * t ■ ■ n pa id as 

 follows: 1 176 -, aid, £ 1 6 ioj. ; 1205, 

 tallage, £10 +1. ; 121 3-1 5, j-ic is of the 

 ff.-rcit, ^261. %d. \ 1226, ^10 os. fi i. ; 

 124S-9, £12; 1^1, £xo \\u 4^.; 

 Farrer, Lanes. Pipe R. \ s, 202, 251 ; 

 Lana. ln^. and Extents* i, 115, &€• 



As implied af—ve, eschc.-ited lands were 

 the king's. From a house escheated 21. 

 was .icounte 1 for in 1 1 84-5 ; Y irrer, 

 op. cit. 54. In 1201—2 Alexander de 

 Prestnn recovered a toft of which Roger 

 de Lciceiter had disseise i him ; ibid. 1 32. 

 Again in 1226 the farm of a house which 

 had been Harvey's (hanged) amounted to 

 T,t, %d. \ La-. 1. lnp and Extents, i, 138. 

 In 1 : 56 8 escheats in Preston produced 

 2ij. 9^. during eighteen months; ibid. 

 i, 222. These were in part hell by 

 Richard le Bolder, who paid 71. 6d. a 

 year in 12; 8-62; ibid. 230. 



w Add. MS. 3210;, foL 147; of 1346. 

 For escheats William Chapman paid 

 51. 6d. (an increase of is. 6d.) and John 

 de Ashton 101., in addition to i2<^. to the 

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

 f)J. 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, holdine 1 acre for which he paid 

 lid. ; John Marshal and John Bennet, 

 in right of their wives — Ellen and 

 Christiana, daughters of Richard Marshal 

 — each paying zi. 6d. for half a burgage ; 

 Robert son of Henry Maggeson, a bur- 

 gage (once burnt by the Scots), 4J. ; 

 N cholas son of Henry Williamson, four 

 plots of land, by Court Roll, 41. id. ; 

 Thomas de Y r mb'erj^h, a messuage 

 lately belonging to RogeT son of John de 



Wich, ci. ; Henry Chapman, a messuage, 

 ioj. ; A Hired son of Robert and Alice his 

 wife, a toft for life, 21. ; an acre in the 

 hands of the fri.irn (held in alms) had 

 formerly pnid 41. ; it was used for the 

 channel conveying the water to their 

 house. 



w This was the opinion of Miss Bate- 

 son, who discussed the Custumnl of the 

 town in Engl. Hist. Rev. xv, 496-1512. 



80 Sir Thomas Walmesley about rfioo 

 certified that he had Been a charter to the 

 burgesses so dated ; Abram, Memorials 

 of Preston Guilds, 1 . The charter of 

 Hmrv II may have been dated by him 

 conjccturally t" H<-n., 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 1179. 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 is 

 recorded that the men of Preston pave 

 100 marks for the charter ; Farrer, Lanes. 

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

 castle at that date are not known. 



82 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, pasturagr, Ac, 

 had been made by John when Count of 

 Mortain, 1189-94. The charter is dated 

 at Le Mans, 18 Oct. 11 99. 



The burgesses paid 60 marks and four 

 chaseurs for the grant; Farrer, op. cit. 116. 

 There was a dispute in 1201 as to the 

 right of giol ; ibid. 130, 136. 



The fairs are mentioned in a charter 

 of a few years later by which W:i jam de 

 Millom and Avice his wife (see Lar.ci. 

 In <j. and ExtentSy i, 40) gave to Hrnry son 

 of William son of Swain the fourth fart 

 of two buries (in Preston), formerlt- 

 tenanted by Norauus and Aldwtn, with 



