Friargate upper

More Preston plans and maps here

The upper end of Friargate in the later 17th century based on a plan at Lancashire Archives (DDX194/9) and a copy of the plan at the Harris Reference Library, Preston, annotated with the names of property owners by Stephen Sartin. The annotation also identifies inns and taverns, barns and other buildings as well as indicating which properties extend to more than two storeys. The numbers are the ones on the annotated plan and relate to the list below. Note: DDX194/9 is an attempt at a visualisation based on original survey documents. Its accuracy is uncertain, but it does provide a feel for the townscape in 1685 (see The 1685 Survey of Preston for a detailed discussion of the 17th-century plans).

List of property owners

Spelling of names as in original Lancashire Archive documents: be aware of possible transcription errors.

155: Rd Burton 156: Geo Smith 157: Wm Darlington 158: Char de Loy 159: Tho Bramhill 160: Edw Craven senior – possibly Craven’s hostelry 167: Ed Leatherbarrow 168: x Woodburn 169: Sir John Mulenex 170: Jno Cottham 171: Jams Ashton 172: Hen Bramell senior 173: Jennett Taylor 174: Jno Haith 175: Jno Sanderson 176: Ralph Comanders 177: Hugh Swansey 178: Roger Headock – possible hostelry 179: Evan Hughson 180: James Mosse - currier 181: Jno Hall 182: Edw Weatherall 183: Jno Masden 184: Jno Powell 185: Jonat Seed 186: James Kicthen 187: Tho Higham 188: Law Bayley 189: Law Pickup 191: Edw Gredwell 192: Geo Cletherow 193: Wm Toogood 194: Tho Wamsley 195: Tho Wiggan 196: Jno Barrick 197: Tho Martin 198: Wm Gregson 199: Sart Ridgbey 200: Widow Gradwell 201: Hen Gradwell 202: Tho Beckinsell 203: James Wittell – innkeeper at the Boar’s Head 204: Jno Singleton senior 205: Wm Southcoat 206: Wm Charnock 207: Jno Gurnell 208: Roger Bannester 229: Jno Singleton junior 230: Will Marland 231: Natha Heatock 232: Wm Seddall 233: James Short 234: Geo Willison 235: Tho Fisher 236: Jno Ratcliff 237: Edw Riddihough 238: James Werden 239: James Dawson 240: Alice Lowther 241: Mrs Wall 243: Rd Hudson 244: Hen Bramwell 245: Rd Gracestock 246: Rd Tomlinson 247: James Cowell 248: Jno Baly 249: Hen Herdsey 250: Jno Harrison 251: James Pooll 252: Tho Hodgson 253: Tho Bullin 254: Jno Chorley 255: Mary Shessett 256: Hen Hogkinson 257: Jno Royle 258: Rt Fisher 259: James Cambers 260: Mary Shessett 261: Widow Sperier 262: Tho Addison 263: John Rawlinson 264: Jno Cowburn 265: Tho Coward 266: Jams Drinkwater 267: Tho Silcock 267: Wm Thorp 268: Thurston Durton 269: x Greenfeild esq 270: Wm Marsden 271: Hen Hall 272: Wm Helm 273: Randle Shurlacer 274: Matt Read 275: Wm Greenwood 276: Rt Riley 277: Tho Gradwell 278: Mrs Sumner – innkeeper at the White Horse

A selection of some of the other items on this site

Subjects

An 'Irish' district in Preston, Lancashire in 1851

Does the district known as Little Ireland that was firmly established in Preston by the middle of the 19th century qualify as a ‘ghetto’? It was home to Irish immigrants attracted by the town’s employment opportunities and driven by the famine that was devastating their country. See Irish ‘ghettoes’ in 19th-century Preston

When the 1871 census seemed to show just how much land was held in so few hands the Radicals were jubilant. The Conservative Earl of Derby was prodded to stand up in the House of Lords to demand a recount by way of a government survey. The result showed who owned most of the land in Lancashire. See Who owned Lancashire?

Desirable Dwellings
– Nigel Morgan’s ‘lost book’: the best guide to middle-class housing in Victorian Preston and a detailed source for the social history of the town. Rediscovered only very recently. See Desirable Dwellings – Nigel Morgan’s ‘lost book’

Why did so very few conscripts from Preston’s working-class districts find a place in the officer’s mess, and what does it say about the class divide in Edwardian Preston? See Great War conscription and Edwardian Preston’s ‘class ceiling’

People

The diaries of Thomas Bellingham (above) and Lawrence Rawstorne open a window on life in 17th-century Preston, and reveal the web of family and social connections that enabled the gentry to govern Lancashire. See Bellingham/Rawstorne diaries

Septimus Tebay - Rivington Grammar School headmaster

From the back streets of Preston to the back streets of Farnworth by way of Cambridge and headship of Rivington Grammar School, the life of Septimus Tebay is a remarkable story of clogs to clogs in one generation. See Septimus Tebay — maths prodigy

Fr Bernard Page in his army chaplain's uniform

A number of Catholic priests from Preston volunteered to serve as army chaplains in the Great War. They included Fr Bernard Page who saw service on the Western Front and in revolutionary Russia. Clerics in khaki

Alexander Rigby, one of the key figures in the Civil War in Lancashire, never let principles get in the way of a good deal: he was ‘never knowne to bee worth one [thousand] till hee became a publicke robber by law: but you must remember hee had beene a lawyer and a bad one.’ Alexander Rigby and his family.

More biographies

Places

Kim Travis has traced the history of the Tulketh district of Preston and its hall from pre-Norman times up to the present day. It is a marvelously detailed reconstruction. See Tulketh and its hall.

One of the foulest of the many obnoxious trades of Victorian England was the tanning of leather. The Dixon family of Bank Parade, Avenham, developed Preston’s largest tannery on their own doorstep. See Frenchwood Tannery.

Preston’s claim to have created Britain’s first public park with the opening of Moor Park in the first half of the 19th-century was, some years ago, called into question by a leading academic. Was he right? Preston’s first park.

Plan of Stand Prick fields in 18th-century Preston

Bow Lane, the Preston address of Lancashire Archives, was earlier named Spring Street. Even earlier it had a somewhat indecorous name. See Stand Prick Lane.