Preston

Preston, in the county of Lancaster, is situated on as eminence to the north of the river Ribble, distant 217 miles from London, 32 from Manchester and 32 from Liverpool. It is a vicarage in the archdeaconry of Richmond and diocese of Chester. It is said to have risen from the ruins of an ancient city, called Ribchester, (which is now an inconsiderable village in the neighbourhood) and to take its name (Priest's town) from its having then been the residence of considerable numbers of religious men. The present names of several of the streets sanction this etymology, as the Churchgate, the Friargate, &c. It has a parish church and one chapel of ease, erected about a century ago: the new chapel, a beautiful stone building, of a Gothic design, is finished and made free for the poor. It has also a charity school for twenty-four boys and the same number of girls; a free grammar school; an excellent public library and an extensive house of correction, which is on Howard's plan. It is a borough, sending two members to Parliament. The present members are E. Hornby and S. Horrocks, Esqrs. The town is governed by a Mayor, four Aldermen and seventeen Common Councilmen, with the Recorder and Town Clerk. Perhaps few corporate bodies can exhibit a series of charters in such complete preservation as Preston, one of whose extant charters was granted by king John, in the year previous to Magna Charta. A court of record for the trial of causes is held every Friday and a sessions for the punishment of felonies, &c. committed within the borough, quarterly, before the Mayor and Aldermen and the Recorder or Town Clerk. Every twentieth year a Guild Merchant, or kind of Jubilee, is held here, which begins in the last week of August and continues a month, the last was in the year 1802, in the mayoralty of Nicholas Grimshaw, esq. and was unusually splendid. The principal law officers for the county palatine, viz. the vice Chancellor, the Registrar of the Chancellor, the Cursitor, the Clerk of the Crown and the Clerk of the Peace, the Prothonotary and the Sheriff, have their respective offices in this town, except during the assizes, when they attend at Lancaster. The court of chancery for the county palatine is occasionally held here and the quarter sessions for the hundreds of Amounderness, Leyland and Blackburn, are also held here by adjournment from Lancaster, where they commence for the county. The general sessions, meetings of the Deputy Lieutenants and many other county meetings are also held here on account of its central situation and the county court for trial of causes under forty shillings and replevins, without writ and above that sum to an indefinite amount, by writ of justices issuing out of the Chancery of Lancashire, is held here every fourth Tuesday, before the under Sheriff. The population, according to a recent calculation, is about 30.000, which are chiefly employed in the cotton trade. The markets  are on Wednesday, Friday and Saturday; the latter is one of the best corn markets in England. The fairs are held the first Saturday after Epiphany; January 6; March 27; August 11; September 7; November 7, for horses, horned cattle, &c.. Preston contains many well built houses and, together with the neighbouring townships, is the residence of many opulent families. Perhaps a more agreeable town residence could not be found in the county, as, together with a most excellent society and the other advantages of a town, it has, within a minute's walk, advantages in situation and prospect, which few country seats possess. The majestic windings of the Ribble, the elegance of the numerous villas on its banks, the beautiful variety of woods and meadows, hills and dales and the extensive and fertile vale, terminated by the distant view of Houghton Tower, form the finest prospect in Lancashire, perhaps in England.