Page:The National Gazetteer - A Topographical Dictionary of the British Islands, Volume 3.djvu/263

Rh PRESTHOPE. 251 PUESTON. The par., which is of large extent, containing 7,780 acres, includes, besides the town of Presteign, the chplry. of Discoed, and the tnshps. of Combe, Willey, and four others. It is situated in a valley on the Lug, a river celebrated for trout and grayling, and which here separates the co.unties of Radnor and Hereford. The town of Presteign is small, and a borough by prescrip- tion, contributing, under the Reform Act, to New Radnor in returning one member to parliament. It first rose into importance under the patronage of Martin, Bishop of St. David's, who procured for it the grant of a market and many privileges about the close of the 13th century, and- as New Radnor subsequently declined Presteign became the capital of the county. During the civil war of the 17th century Charles I. stayed with the Taylors at Lower Heath, near the King's Turning, when flying from Cromwell. It contains a shire hall, situated in Broad-street, and built in 1829, the county gaol, built in 1820, a townhaU, commercial bank, a good hotel, and a bridge of three arches. The population of the parlia- mentary borough in 1851 was 1,617, inhabiting 345 houses, which had increased in 1861 to 1743 persons, and 378 houses. To the W. of the town is a public promenade, called the Warden, occupying an eminence formerly the site of the castle of Presteign, but presented to the inhabitants by Lord Oxford, and now laid out in walks. In the neighbourhood are many scats, the princi- pal of which are Boultibrooke, on the Knighton road, be- longing to Sir H. Brydges, Bart., Evenjobb, the residence of Mrs. Harley, and between Presteign and Radnor, Knill Court, the seat of Sir J. Walsh, in the grounds of which is the ivy-grown church of Knill, where Sir Samuel Romilly lies buried. The assizes and quarter sessions are held in Presteign, and the county courts here and at New Radnor alternately. It is also the headquarters of the county militia, the seat of a Poor-law Union, comprising 4 pars, in Radnorshire and 5 in Hereford- shire, and the head of a superintendent registry district. Races take place occasionally in the vicinity of the town, on a flat course of seven-eighths of a mile. The living is a rect.* with the cur. of Discoed annexed, in the dioc. of Hereford, val. 1,380. The church, dedi- cated to St. Andrew, is an ancient structure with a square embattled tower, and bearing an inscription over the great chancel window on the exterior, " M. P. L., 1244." It contains a stained-glass window, a brass, and some monuments and tablets to the families of Owen, Price, Davies, and Parsons, also a piece of tapestry, in good preservation, representing Christ's entry into Jerusalem, said to have been worked by some ladies of the name of Taylor, then residing at Little Brampton, near Presteign. There are two places of worship for Protestant Dissenters, also a free school, founded by John Beddoes in the reign of Elizabeth, which has an endowment of 150 per annum. The principal antiquities are Offa's Dyke, which runs close by, crossing the wooded hills of Herrock and Knill Garraway, and about 3 miles to the S.E. of the town is Wapley encampment, a Roman fortification occupying a towering eminence 1,100 feet above the level of the sea. Between Knill and Presteign is the rock of Nash Scar, formed of the Woolhope limestone, but subse- quently fused into one subcrystalline mass of igneous rock. Market day is on Saturday. Fairs are h<Jd on the Saturday before 13th February, on 9th May, 20th June, 13th and 14th October, and llth December. PKESTHOPE, a tnshp. in the par. of Much Wen- lock, co. Salop, 10 miles S.E. of Shrewsbury. It is situated under VVenlock Edge. PRESTLEIG11, a hmlt. in the par. of Doulting, co. Somerset, 2 milts S.E. of Shepton Mallet. STON, a par., market and manufacturing town, and municipal and parliamentary borough in the hund. of Amoundcmess, co. Lancaster, 21 miles S. by E. of Lancaster, and 218 from London by road, or 210 by the London and Xorth- Western railway. There is a joint elation for the East Lancashire, North Union, and ion and Wyre lines, which, with the Lancashire !, afford ready communication with all the (treat VOL. in. centres of manufacturing industry in the N. of England- The par., which is of large extent, comprises, besides the borough of Preston, the chplries. of Ashton-on-Ribble, Broughton, and Grimsargh, and the tnshps. or hmlts. of Barton, Claughton, or Gloton, Fishwick, Haighton, Lea, and Ribbleton. The manor was held by Earl Tosti, brother of Harold II., before the Norman conquest, but was subsequently forfeited, and came in the reign of Richard I. to Theobald, brother of Archbishop Hubert. The town, which was anciently called Prettum, or Priesta- town, from the number and extent of its ecclesiastical establishments, stands on an eminence near the head of the estuary of the river Eibble, about 10 miles from the sea at Lytham. It is of great antiquity, and is supposed to have arisen from the ruins of the Roman station Coccium, or Riyoduimm, 11 miles higher up the river, now occupied by the village of Ribchester, near Stony- hurst. It was mado a borough by Henry II., who granted the merchant guild, which is still commemo- rated by a jubilee held by the corporation every twenty years. It was assaulted and partly destroyed by fire by the Scots under Robert Bruce in 1323. In the civil war of Charles I. it declared for the king, and was besieged and taken by the pailiamentary forces under General Fairfax. In 1648 the Scottish army, under the Duke of Hamilton, advanced to Ribbleton Moor, in the neigh- bourhood of the town, but were there met by the parlia- mentary forces under Cromwell and Lambton, and sus- tained a severe defeat. In 1715 the town wa's occupied by Foster, Derwentwater, and other adherents of the Pretender, who erected barricades for its defence, but after a brave resistance were routed by General Willes. In 1745 it was occupied by the retreating forces of tho Pretender, Charles Stuart, but was evacuated on the approach of the royal forces under the Duke of Cum- berland. The town is situated in a fertile country abounding in rich scenery, including Aveuham Walk and Moor Park. The first charter was granted to the town by Henry II., and no less than eleven different royal charters were subsequently granted before the end of the reign of Charles II. Preston returns two members to parliament, and is a polling-place for the northern division of the county. Since the passing of the Act of 1835 it has been divided into six wards, and comprises an area of 2,736 acres. It is governed by a mayor, 12 aldermen, and 36 councillors, with the style of " mayor, bailiffs, and burgesses of the borough of Preston." The corporation revenue is about 12,000, including the fishery of the Ribble, which is well stocked with salmon, smelt, and eels. The population in 1851 was 69,542, with 11,348 inhabited houses, which in 1861 had increased to 82,985, with 15,050 inhabited houses. The inhabitants are chiefly employed in the manufacture of cotton goods, Preston being one of the largest centres of that trade. Richard Arkwright, who was a native of this town, first introduced spinning by rollers towards the close of the last century, since which time the manu- facture of cotton has rapidly increased, until Preston has become second to no town in England in manufac- turing importance. There are also several linen factories, flax mills, iron and brass foundries, and machine works. Malting and brewing, rope making, and tanning are carried on to some extent. Although the port of Preston has had restored to it the privilegeo of a free port, its foreign commerce is small, owing to the difficulty of ascending the river ; but a considerable coasting trade is carried on, especially with Ireland, and at spring tides vessels of large tonnage can ascend the Ribble to within a quarter of a mile of the lower bridge. The navigation has been very much improved of late years by the Ribble Navigation Company, and large bonded ware- houses have been lately erected near the New Quay, at the Marsh, for the accommodation of shipping and merchants trading to the port. There is also a yard for ship-building near the Old Quay one where iron vessels are occasionally built. Coal is conveyed in barges or lighters by means of the navigation of the Douglas river, which joins the Ribble 8 miles below the town. Tho Ribble is crossed by two bridges one a three- L L