Preston
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PRESTON, a town, a township, a parish, a sub-district, and a district, in Lancashire. The town stands on a tabular eminence, adjacent to the S end of the Lancaster canal and to the N bank of the river Ribble, at aconvergence of railway s, near the expansion of the Ribbleinto estuary, 14 miles E N E of that estuary's mouth, and 21¼ S by W of Lancaster; is so situated, with referenceto the Ribble's navigation, as to be a head port; and has railway communication with all parts of the kingdom, by lines diverging at or near it toward Lancaster, Fleetwood, Liverpool, Warrington, Manchester, Blackburn, and Longridge. The town has a head post-office, two receiving post-offices, a general railway station, two telegraph offices, five banking offices, and five chief inns; is a seat of quarter sessions, petty sessions, and county courts, and a polling place; and publishes two weekly and two bi-weekly newspapers. Markets are held on Wednesdays and Saturdays; a fair for horses begins on the Monday before the Saturday after Epiphany, and continues a week; and fairs for cattle and earthen-ware are held on 27 March, 25 Aug., and 7 Nov. A cotton trade struck root early, grew rapidly, and is now carried on in 72 factories. There are also three flax-mills, several iron and brass foundries, and a variety of establishments for the making of engines, steam-boilers, rollers, mules, and spindles. Ship-building is carried on in four yards; and the making of railway carriages, railway wagons, and all other kinds of railway stock and plant, is carried on by an extensive company. The township of P. comprises 2,081 acres. Real property, in 1860, £314,390. Pop. in 1851, 68,537; in 1861, 81,101. Houses, 14,732. more ...

John Marius Wilson, Imperial Gazetteer of England and Wales (1870-72)

Archives and libraries

Local studies information is held at the

Reference & Information Dept. Harris Library, Market Place
PRESTON PR1 2PP
Telephone 01772 532676
Fax 01772 555527
Email: mailto:harris.reference@lcl.lancscc.gov.uk

Cemeteries

The LFH&HS have published monumental inscriptions with burial register/ grave occ. lists for St George the Martyr: July 1742 - May 1899 and for St Mary's: Mar 1843 - July 1855.

Census

Details about the census records, and indexes for Preston.

Church History

Church Records

You can also perform a more selective search for churches in the Preston area that are recorded in the GENUKI church database. This will also help identify churches in nearby townships and/or parishes. You also have the option to see the location of the churches marked on a map.

If you keep this page loaded for a very long time and the database is updated since loading it, the church links above may become stale and may display the wrong church. If this happens, reloading this page will correct them.

Civil Registration

The Register Office covering the Preston area is Preston and South Ribble

Description and Travel

A description of Winckley Square.

You can see pictures of Preston which are provided by:

Gazetteers

Ask for the gazetteer for a calculation of the distance from Preston to another place.

Historical Geography

In 1835 the parish of Preston contained the townships of Preston, Ashton, Lea, Cottam and Ingol, Barton, Broughton, Haighton, Ribbleton, Grimsargh and Brockholes, Elston, and Fishwick.

History

The history of Preston from Pigot's Lancashire directory, 1830.

A description of Preston in times past.

Maps

View maps of Preston and places within its boundaries.

You can see maps centred on OS grid reference SD540294 (Lat/Lon: 53.758913, -2.699217), Preston which are provided by:

Poor Houses, Poor Law

The Workhouse site has an interesting description of Preston workhouse.

Probate Records

For probate purposes prior to 1858, Preston was in the Archdeaconry of Richmond. The original wills for the Archdeaconry of Richmond are held at the Lancashire Record Office.

Societies

You can also see Family History Societies covering the nearby area, plotted on a map. This facility is being developed, and is awaiting societies to enter information about the places they cover.