Preston
Preston is Lancashire's administrative centre and its central location makes it the perfect place from which to explore the whole county. Despite its modern industrial appearance Preston is a town with an ancient pedigree, and is strategically positioned at the highest navigable point of the River Ribble. When Preston Docks were completed in 1892, it was the second largest container handling port in Britain; in 1900, 1285 vessels carrying half a million tons of cargo passed through the port. Unfortunately, the constant battle to keep the channel open and free of silt became too expensive, particularly as trade was lost to other non-tidal ports, and the docks eventually closed as they did with many of England's older ports where commercial activity had declined. Following the trend of other town's with unused dockland area, Preston's new Riversway became an area of regeneration with a marina where pleasure craft, yachts and windsurfers have brought much needed life and colour to a drab corner of the town.
Despite Preston having both a Roman and a medieval past, sadly nothing remains from these chapters of history. The lasting legacy from the Middle Ages is reflected in the famous Guild Celebrations, which have occurred every 20 years since 1500. Henry II granted the Royal Charter establishing the rights to hold a Guild Merchant, in 1179; these medieval guilds were unions of tradesmen who came together in the pursuit of fair dealing. Each guild operated from their own weights and measures office, the guildhall; as the guilds grew they became insurance companies, caring for their members in times of illness and trouble. To ensure high standards were maintained within a given trade the apprentice system developed. Preston's last Guild Celebration took place in 1992.
The Domesday Book, a record of the lands of England instigated by William the Conqueror in 1086, featured Preston, then known as Priest-town. There is evidence too that the Franciscan order of Greyfriars had established a settlement where Preston is now. The many public buildings in the town reflect its prosperity during the Victorian age - wealth built upon the textile industry. In 1768 local man Richard Arkwright invented the single most important machine of the textile industry. His spinning frame speeded-up the production of yarn, and revolutionised the industry by transforming it from a cottage based affair into factories of mass production. Another local entrepreneur John Horrocks, set up the first cotton mill in Preston - the beginning of the industry for which the town became famous.
The Catholic traditions of Preston are deep-rooted as they are elsewhere in the county, and this together with the associated loyalty to the crown, had greatly influenced the town's history. One of the most decisive battles of the Civil War was fought at Preston in 1648, which confirmed the eventual defeat of the Royalist supporters of Charles I. Cromwell's army routed 20,000 Scots, allied to Charles I, in only 3 hours. Nearly 100 years later in 1745, Bonnie Prince Charlie's Jacobite army captured Preston on its march south from Scotland.
The Harris Museum and Art Gallery, built in 1893, is housed in a magnificent neo-classical building, which dominates Market Square. It houses collections ranging from Bronze Age burial urns and Viking coins to paintings and watercolours by major 19 th and 20 th centuries British artistes. The two other museums in the town are both regimental - namely the County and Regimental Museum and the Loyal Regiment Museum. Built in 1789, Preston Prison replaced the town's first House of Correction, and during the 19 th century introduced looms to the prison inmates, paying them for their labour. Industrial unrest soon followed and in 1837 only the prison canon prevented an invasion by an angry mob, intent on destroying the machines.