My Lancashire - My accounts of the local area

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Preston-Then and Now. The Changes of Half a Century. No. II.

Preston-Then and Now. 1813-1893. The Changes of Half a Century. No. II. Fishergate in Preston circa 1903 ~ PRESTON-THEN AND NOW: 1813-1893. THE CHANGES OF HALF A CENTURY. No. II In reference to the Victoria and Queen's Buildings we omitted to say that the site of the latter, on the south side of Fishergate, was formerly fenced off from the street with rough railings, but was afterwards taken up by some wooden buildings, one of which was occupied as an agricultural implement warehouse by Mr. Standing, and the other by Mr. Miller, painter and plumber, until the railway company required the ground., Proceeding, we come next to the handsome stone edifice, the Baptist chapel, erected at a cost of nearly £7,000, at the corner of Charnley-street, from the design of Mr. James Hibbert, architect, of this town, and opened in 1858. It has two beautiful rose windows, the principal one being in the front elevation of the building, which is a conspicuous ornament of this part of the town. Nearl...

Preston-Then and Now. The Changes of Half a Century. No. I.

Preston-Then and Now. 1813-1893. The Changes of Half a Century. No. I. Central Railway Station, Preston 1880. An Illustration by C.E. Shaw. ~ PRESTON-THEN AND NOW: 1813-1893. THE CHANGES OF HALF A CENTURY. No. I Probably no town in England has undergone greater mutations in its general aspects than "Proud Preston" during the past fifty years; and it has occurred to us that some notice of the changes that have taken place within that period would be acceptable to the general public, and interesting to the younger generation of Prestonians. Our aged townspeople may thus be reminded of scenes and events long since forgotten, but now with our help remembered with varied feelings; and our younger fellow citizens may form a good idea of what the old town was like in the days of their grandfathers, and even in the youth of their parents. As most of our statements are made from memory, it is possible that in some cases we may be at fault, but we think in few instances only. Suppose...

Preston's Wartime History - Tying Up Some Loose Threads

Preston's Wartime History Tying up some loose ends Threads... A stone bobbin was erected in Preston during 2008, at the junction of Avenham Road and Avenham Lane, as part of a commemorative memorial to the Stephen Simpson Gold Thread Works of Preston. I was out and about in early 2024 and took some pictures of it, as I have done on a number of occasions in the past. It's a fantastic sculpture, and it's a pity that it is tucked away where not a lot of people see it. However, it's placement is significant. The Simpson’s Gold thread Works, once on Avenham Road, was of major importance to the history and heritage of the City of Preston. The company produced gold thread and embroidery for military and commercial uniforms. Apparently, work included thread that decorated the uniforms of the Titanic staff. During the war the firm undertook a top secret commission to produce German military badges and insignia for use by English spies operating in Germany. This information had ...

Metalwork Detective Work - A Victorian Stink Pipe

Metalwork Detective Work - Revisited! A Victorian sewer vent, otherwise know as a 'stack pipe' or 'stink pipe'. This item is in Leyland, but it was manufactured in Preston. It popped up on the Facebook group run by the Milestone Society in 2024. A member had been introduced to the area through his job and had noticed this 'post' was in pretty much in the same place that a Milestone and Benchmark should have been. He came to the reasonable conclusion that it was perhaps previously a fingerpost (old road sign) and the plates that had place names and distances to them had been lost. Although, generally, a fingerpost would have been directly placed on the junction and not many metres away from it. A Victorian sewer vent, know as a 'stink pipe'. I was amazed that I had passed said post hundreds of times and never noticed it. In my defence, that would normally be whilst cycling or driving, so I am concentrating on the road. The roundabout at 'Seven ...

The Life and Times of Matthew Brown, the Preston Farmer, Brewer and Property Owner

The Life and Times of Matthew Brown, the Preston Farmer, Brewer and Property Owner Original Mathew Brown logo on THE OLD DOG INN, Preston. There are some individuals whose presence in a town is so thoroughly woven into its fabric that, for a time, they are everywhere—and yet, over the years, they become curiously indistinct. Matthew Brown of Preston is one such figure. His name survives, faintly but recognisably, in fragments: in references to breweries, in the histories of public houses, in passing mentions tied to land, trade, and industry. But the man himself—farmer, brewer, property owner—sits just beyond the easy reach of a single, neat biography. This page is not intended to be that biography. Instead, it is an attempt to build one—slowly, carefully, and transparently—out of the surviving traces. What can be said at the outset is that Matthew Brown’s life appears to follow a pattern familiar to the early nineteenth century, yet no less impressive for it. Born into a rur...