{"id":10627,"date":"2020-03-11T14:23:58","date_gmt":"2020-03-11T14:23:58","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.fiveminutesspare.com\/travel\/?p=10627"},"modified":"2022-08-01T10:05:27","modified_gmt":"2022-08-01T09:05:27","slug":"preston-the-five-minute-spare-guide","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.fiveminutesspare.com\/travel\/preston-the-five-minute-spare-guide\/","title":{"rendered":"Preston: The Five Minute Spare Guide"},"content":{"rendered":"

The Five Minute Take on Preston<\/h1>\n

Pretty Preston by the River Ribble<\/strong><\/em>, sadly that’s about as far as our attempt at being poetic goes, however, we do love a little consonance here at Five Minutes Spare. It\u2019s incredibly satisfying, as (possibly surprisingly) to many as is a visit to Preston, yes we mean the one in Lancashire, you know the one, home to over 300k people and one of the few towns of its size that has actually achieved the coveted \u2018city status\u2019 title. Good on you Preston, we are already tooting your trumpet & waving your flag.<\/p>\n

Anyway, poor poetry but rhyming consonance’s aside let’s see how the city has been keeping up appearances for the last few hundred years. Who started Preston and why? Let\u2019s have a look\u2026<\/p>\n

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\"Preston\"

Image: SAKhanPhotography’Shutterstock.com<\/p><\/div>\n

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Early Preston<\/h2>\n

Preston goes all the way back to the Roman invasion, around 80AD. The Romans crisscrossed the country with nice, straight, working roads. There was a Roman fort in Ribchester, as well as one at Luguvalium and Marmucium respectively. Nowadays, these two forts are known as Carlisle<\/a> and Manchester<\/a>!<\/p>\n

The road would have run along the River Ribble, so it makes sense that there would have been settlers along it \u2013 particularly since people would have used the river stones to build houses and walls in the early days. The Ribble had a low fjord across it about \u00be of a mile outside of town. It is thought that a priory here in the early, early days, would have given Preston its name. Back then, Preston hadn\u2019t been shortened yet. It would still have been called by its long name \u2013 Priest\u2019s Town.<\/p>\n

So we can speculate that there were members of the Christian church here as early as the Romans\u2026 back when the story of Jesus was only just reaching the world. That\u2019s bizarre and somehow inspiring to think about\u2026 This theory is reinforced by the lamb on Preston\u2019s shield. It was a town of God. We do wonder what he thinks of it now\u2026<\/p>\n

Domesday and Beyond<\/h2>\n

Preston popped up in the Domesday book in 1086, twenty years after the Norman invasion of 1066. By the time of the Domesday Survey (which was a survey of all land ownership in England and is not anything to do with the end of the world), Preston was huge. It fell into the bracket of the largest 20% of settlements.<\/p>\n

In the Preston Domesday entry<\/a>, we can see that there were 71.4 households. We\u2019re not sure what the .4 means, but we do know that other settlements we have examined come nowhere close to this. Perhaps more surprisingly is that only 2 landowners are noted. So only 2 people owned all of this wealth. Sounds about right.<\/p>\n

The Land of Drogo of La Beuvriere included 42 villagers, 6 free men, and five smallholders. He owned 26 ploughlands, woodland, a meadow, and several teams to plough the land with. He was exorbitantly rich. His lands made him more than 56 pounds per year. In those days a single pound could keep you for a full year in comfort. In our terms, this man was richer than the Queen.<\/p>\n

The second entry shows the rest of the town belonged to one Baldwin (of Flanders) but was presided over by Drogo of La Beuvriere. He was the proprietor of the church, among other things. The single registered priest in town belonged to him. It is worth noting that we rarely come across priests listed in the Domesday Book unless the town is of significant importance. Even by then Preston was important.<\/p>\n

Here Come The Vikings<\/h3>\n

When it came to the Vikings, Preston actually got off pretty lightly. It wasn\u2019t on the right coast to be in direct danger, but it was still a coastal settlement. It is possible that it was so large the Vikings ignored it.<\/p>\n

In the 12th<\/sup> century, Preston was noted as one of the wealthiest in England. The Merchant Guild came to the town in those days and is still celebrated every 20 years. Don\u2019t ask. It\u2019s been a thing so long now that it has become colloquial language to say something rare happens \u201conce in a Preston Guild\u201d (instead of \u201conce in a blue moon\u201d).<\/p>\n

In the 12th<\/sup> century, when Preston was still massive, the Guild hall opened up so that merchants could thrive in Priest\u2019s town. The town was prosperous, and the Vikings left them alone. Not too shabby for a town on the coast. If it was Scotland it would have washed away into the North Sea and never have grown any bigger.<\/p>\n

Fun Facts about Preston<\/h2>\n

Loads of interesting things have happened in Preston over the years, so let\u2019s break up all of this history with a little appreciation. Here are the Five Minutes Spare<\/a> favourite fun facts about Preston:<\/p>\n