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Preston

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{{otheruses}} {| border=1 cellpadding="2" cellspacing="0" align="right" width=300 style=margin-left:10px |- !colspan=2 align=center bgcolor="#ff9999"|City of Preston |- |align=center|Image:Preston - Lancashire dot.png 115px|Preston |align=center|Image:LancashirePreston.png 120px|Preston
''Shown within Lancashire'' |- !colspan=2 bgcolor="#ff9999"|Geography |- |width="45%"|British national grid reference system Grid reference:||{{gbmappingsmall|SD534290}} |- ||Status:||City (2002) |- |Regions of England Region:||North West England |- |Admin. County:||Lancashire |- |Surface area Area:
- Total||List of English districts by area Ranked 215th
1 E8 m² 142.22 square kilometre km² |- |Admin. HQ:||Preston |- |ONS coding system ONS code:||30UK |- !colspan=2 bgcolor="#ff9999"|Demographics |- |Population:
- Total (2004 est.)
- Density.html">List of English districts by population Ranked 139th
131,000
921 / km² |- |Ethnicity:||85.5% White
11.6% S.Asian |- !colspan=2 bgcolor="#ff9999"|Politics |- |colspan=2 align=center|Image:Arms-preston.jpg 200px|Arms of Preston City Council
Preston City Council
http://www.preston.gov.uk/ |- |Local government in England#Councils and councillors Leadership:||Leader & Cabinet |- |Executive:||Labour Party (UK) Labour |- |MPs elected in the UK general election, 2005 MPs:||Nigel Evans, Mark Hendrick, Michael Jack |} '''Preston''' is a city status in the United Kingdom city and Non-metropolitan district local government district in North West England. It is the County town administrative centre of Lancashire, and is on the River Ribble. Preston was granted the City status in the United Kingdom status of a city in 2002, becoming England's 50th city in the 50th year of Elizabeth II of the United Kingdom Queen Elizabeth's reign. Among other things, Preston is famous for Preston North End F.C., one of the oldest Football League teams, the National Football Museum the home of English Football heritage, St Walburge's Church (the tallest church in England designed by Joseph Hansom of Hansom Cab fame, with the third-highest spire at 94 metres), and Europe's second largest bus station (with 79 gates). Preston is also a major stop on the West Coast Main Line, with regular long distance train services to London and the South East. The southern part of the district is mostly urbanised but the northern part is quite rural. The current borders came into effect on April 1, 1974, when the Local Government Act 1972 merged the existing county borough of Preston with Fulwood, Lancashire Fulwood urban district and part of Preston Rural District.

History
During the Ancient Rome Roman period the road from the Setantian port of Neb of the Nese passed one mile north of Preston and intersected the road from Languavallium in Cumberland to Condate in Cheshire in Preston at Tulketh-hall. In Ripon in 705 the lands near the River Ribble were set on a new foundation, and the parish church was probably erected. Later Edward the Elder passed the lands to cathedral at York and then from successive transfers the lands were passed round between churches, hence the name ''Priest's Town'' or Preston. An alternative explanation of the origin of the name is that the Priest's Town refers to a priory set up by St. Wilfrid near the Ribble's lowest ford. This idea is reinforced by similarity of Preston's crest bearing a lamb with St. Wilfrid's banner (Walsh and Butler 1992). The strategic location of the city, almost exactly mid-way between Glasgow and London, is demonstrated in that decisive battles of the English Civil War (1643) and the first Jacobitism Jacobite rebellion (1715) were fought in Preston. In 1825 Preston was in the hundred of Amounderness, in the deanery of Amounderness and the archdeaconry of Richmond, England Richmond. The name of Amounderness is more ancient than the name of any other Wapentake or hundred in the County of Lancaster, and so Preston dates from at least the High Saxon period. Served by the River Ribble, Preston was one of the principal ports of Lancaster. Charles I of England King Charles I demanded a quarter more ship money than from Lancaster and twice as much as from Liverpool. The 19th Century saw a transformation in Preston from a small market town to a much larger industrial one, as the innovations of the latter half of the previous century such as Richard Arkwright's Water Frame (invented in Preston) brought cotton mills to many Northern English towns. With industrialisation came examples of both oppression and enlightenment. The town's forward-looking spirit is typified by its being the first English town outside London to be lit by gas. The Preston Gas Company was established in 1815 by, amongst others, a Catholic priest: Fr. Joseph "Daddy" Dunn of the Society of Jesus. The more oppresive side of industrialisation was seen on Saturday 13th August 1842, when a group of cotton workers demonstrated against the poor conditions in the town's mills. The Riot Act was read and armed troops corralled the demonstrators in front of the Corn Exchange on Lune Street. Shots were fired and four of the demonstrators were killed. A commemorative sculpture now stands on the spot (although the soldiers and demonstrators represented are facing the wrong way). In the 1850s, Karl Marx visited Preston and later described the town as "the next Saint Petersburg"[http://www.marxists.org/archive/marx/works/1854/08/01a.htm]. The Preston Temperance Society, led by Joseph Livesey pioneered the Temperance movement in the 19th Century. Indeed the term Teetotalism is believed to have been coined at one of its meetings. The website of the University of Central Lancashire library has a great deal of information on Joseph Livesey and the Temperance movement in Preston [http://www.uclan.ac.uk/library/usersupport/lrs/collections/livesey/index.htm]. Preston was designated as part of the Central Lancashire new town in 1970. Preston is home to two BAE Systems factories. Its biggest is Warton which builds the Eurofighter, the other is Samlesbury, though the latter has recently been sold to Spirit AeroSystems, Inc.

Minority groups
According to the 2001 Census Preston also has a sizeable Indian/Pakistani Muslim population (8.6%). The Hindu and Sikh populations are smaller at 2.6% and 0.6% respectively but in both cases this represents the highest percentage of any local authority area in the North West. 1.8% of the city's population were born in other EU countries.

Preston by-pass
The Preston by-pass, opened 5 December 1958, became the first stretch of motorway in the UK and is now part of the M6 motorway M6 with a short section now forming part of the M55 motorway M55. It was built to ease traffic congestion in Preston caused by tourists travelling to the popular destinations of Blackpool and Lake District The Lake District. In the 1980's, a motorway running around the west of the city which would have been an extension of the M65 motorway M65 running to the M55 motorway M55 was started but never finished. That is the reason that the M55 has no junction 2, because it was reserved for the new western bypass. However, the existing M6 motorway M6 between junctions 30 and 32 was widened extensively between 1993-95 to compensate for this. A new junction, 31A was opened in 1997 to serve a new business park close to the motorway.

Preston Guild
Every twenty years, a famous celebration called the Preston Guild takes place in the city. The last Guild celebration took place in 1992 and the next is due in 2012.

UCLan
The city is home to the University of Central Lancashire. Previously known as Preston Polytechnic, UCLan is now the sixth largest university in the country. The university currently has over 33,000 students. The population of students make up 3% of the population of Preston itself.

Twin towns
{| | valign="top" | * {{flagicon|Netherlands}} - Almelo, Netherlands * {{flagicon|France}} - Nîmes, France | valign="top" | * {{flagicon|Germany}} - Recklinghausen, Germany * {{flagicon|Poland}} - Kalisz, Poland |}* Cape Town, South Africa

Famous residents
*Andrew Flintoff (England cricketer) *Kenny Baker (Played R2D2 in Star Wars) *Tom Finney (Former England and PNE football player) *Eddie Calvert (Trumpeter - "The Man With The Golden Horn") *Nick Park (Oscar winning Animator and creator of Wallace & Gromit) *AJP Taylor (Famous Historian) *John Inman (Comedy Actor)

Features of Preston
*Museums **Harris Museum and Art Gallery **St Walburge's Church **The National Football Museum **The Museum of Lancashire **The Lancashire Queens Regiment Museum **The British Commercial Vehicle Museum **Broughton Cottage Museum **Ribble Steam Railway Musuem *Parks **Miller Park, Preston **Avenham Park **Moor Park, Preston Moor Park **Grange Park **Haslam Park **Ashton Park

Local Radio Stations
*BBC Radio Lancashire *Rock FM *Frequency 1350 *Magic 999 *Preston FM

Trivia
The first Kentucky Fried Chicken outlet in the UK was opened on Fishergate in Preston. The first traffic cones were used in building Preston bypass in the late 1950s, replacing red lantern paraffin burners. The parents of legendary American Outlaw Butch Cassidy emigrated from Preston to escape religious persecution for their Mormon faith. It was said that, unlike Paul Newman's cinematic portayal, Butch spoke with a thick Lancashire accent. The town of 'Coketown' in Charles Dickens book Hard Times is based on the city of Preston. In order to gain research for an 'industrial' novel, Dickens visited Preston in January 1854 during a strike by cotton workers that had by that stage lasted for 23 weeks.

Geography
* The River Ribble runs through the city. * The Forest of Bowland forms a backdrop to Preston. * The independent film company Aborted Films was founded and is based in Preston.

References
Sartin, S, 1988, ''The people and places of Historic Preston'', Preston: Carnegie Walsh, T and Butler, G., 1992, ''The Old Lamb and Flag'', Preston: Carnegie www.uclan.ac.uk/library/usersupport/lrs/collections/livesey/index.htm, accessed September 2005 www.winckleysquare.org.uk, accessed September 2005

Suburbs and electoral arrangements
Preston City Council is elected "by thirds", which means one councillor from each of the three-member wards are elected every year, with those representing 2-member wards being elected in alternative years. The Council is currently with "No overall Control", as no party has an overall majority. The Preston wards and district are as follows. Recent electoral results in Preston can be found Preston City Council elections here *Ashton *Broadgate - running along the River Ribble opposite Penwortham, which is in South Ribble *Brookfield *Broughton - rural parish in the north east *Cadley *College *Deepdale *Fishwick [including the Callon estate] *Fulwood - the former separate district council incorporated into Preston in 1974, with a mix of rural and suburban areas. *Greyfriars *Ingol [including the Tanterton community] *Larches [incorportating the Larches and Savick communites] *Lea [including the Cottam and Lea Town communites] *Preston Rural East - including Sherwood, Broughton and Haighton *Preston Rural North - including Goosnargh, Woodplumpton and Barton *Ribbleton *Riversway - including Broadgate *Sharoe Green *St Georges *St Matthews *Town Centre [this is still called 'Town Centre' as City Status was granted following the most recent boundary changes]. This brings together Avenham, Frenchwood and the city centre *Tulketh *University - based around the Plungington and Maudland Bank areas.

See also
*Battle of Preston *Ribble Steam Railway *List of people from Preston *Rock FM *Preston Railway Station *The National Football Museum
- CCY Website de:Preston es:Preston fr:Preston (ville) id:Preston he:פרסטון nl:Preston no:Preston, Lancashire sv:Preston tr:Preston zh:普雷斯顿 Category:Cities in England Category:Lancashire

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