Preston-Then and Now.
1813-1893.
The Changes of Half a Century.
No. V.
 |
| Jackson's Farm, Avenham, Preston, circa 1860 |
PRESTON-THEN AND NOW: 1813-1893.
THE CHANGES OF HALF A CENTURY.
No. V.
The change in Avenham Park is perhaps greater than in any other part of the town, because the conformation of the ground has been greatly altered. At one time this favourite resort of the people was called "Avenham Fields." A narrow lane, between thorn hedges, ran down from the end of the Colonnade to the lower portion of the ground. In reference to the colonnade it may be here stated that though it was never a true Colonnade, the front of the upper storeys of the houses was supported on pillars until about twenty-five or thirty years ago, when the lower storeys were brought forward and the pillars, of course, dispensed with. On the left of the lane was "Jackson's Garden," in the midst of which stood Jackson's Cottage, and on the right a cottage stood close to the two ash trees which yet remain. A number of small gardens covered the north brow of the park. In the discussion that took place in the Town Council with reference to the engagement of Mr. Milner, the eminent landscape gardener, of London, to re-form and beautify the park, Alderman Miller drew attention to the narrow lane in question, as being most objectionable, and a standing danger to females in the evening. Mr. Miller, at a meeting of the Town Council in October, 1864, announced his intention of presenting the ground, now called "Miller Park," to the Corporation, on condition that a University exhibition of the value of £40 be established as the Grammar School as "The Miller Exhibition." At that time the land, which he had bought for the purpose, WAS occupied by one Wise, and was called "Wise's Gardens," but there was quite as much orchard and potato ground as garden; and on the height, whereon now stands the Park Hotel, an ornamental cottage was visible in a wealth of trees.
The arrangement and embellishment of the two parks were completed as now seen by Mr. Milner, with Mr. G. Rowbotham as his assistant; and they were opened in the first mayoralty of Alderman R. Birley, in October, 1867, by the Duke of Cambridge, after he had opened the new Town Hall. Moor Park was opened by the Mayor on the following day. As prexy for the Duchess of Albany, the Duke of Cambridge, on Tuesday in the Guild week, planted the "Royal Oak" which is now growing in a fence on or about the spot on which stood Jackson's Cottage. The statue of late Earl of Derby in Miller Park, the work of Mr. Noble, of London, was unveiled on the 3rd of June, 1878, by Col. Wilson-Patten (the late Lord Winmarleigh). It is an admirable likeness, กล testified by the present Lord Derby when it was unveiled. The total cost was about £2,500, raised by subscription, the working men of Lancashire contributing £850. The Belvidere was first erected on the site now occupied by the statue, but it was removed to its present situation to give the better place to Lord Derby's effigy, at the urgent request of Mr. R. T. Parker. The London and North-Western Railway bounding the west side of Miller Park was doubled in width as far as Euxton in 1880, and the widening of the stone bridge across the Ribble, close to the park, was entrusted to Messrs. Mullin and Co., of Dublin, whose work was pronounced by the Government Inspector to be one of the finest pieces of masonry he had ever seen. The beautiful avenues of lime trees on the river side, and that on the Long Walk were planted about 18 years ago, the walk itself having been previously formed on the site of the old tramway, with the delightful shady road through the subjacent "cosky bourne." Forty years ago the strip of ground on each side of the tramway was covered with brushwood, weeds, and herbage growing in rank luxuriance, and the hedges swarmed with feathered songsters. The writer once saw three goldfinches on one thistle; but who ever sees a goldfinch now. in the neighbourhood of Preston? They have been "tuttled," snared, and shot until nearly exterminated here. A review of what has been done by the religious community in providing church and chapel accommodation may be acceptable. In connection with the Established Church there have been the Parish Church and St. James's rebuilt, at a cost together of £23,500; St. George's reconstructed, about £3,000 having been granted by the Harris Trustees: All Saints', built in 1848. at a cost of £8.300; St. Luke's, 1859, £5.350; St. Mark's, 1868, £8,800; St. Saviour's, 1808, £10,000; Emmanuel Church, 1870, 18,078; and St. Matthew's, 1883 (body of church only), £6,500; with two chapels of ease to St Paul's, and the Isherwood Memorial Mission Room, in Edgar-street; the Bairstow Memorial, chapel-of-ease to Christ Church; and chapel-of-ease to St. Thomas's; with numerous school. chapels, mission-rooms, and day and Sunday schools. The Roman Catholics have built, St. Walburge's, 1854, at a total cost, including stained glass windows and apse, of about £50,000; the Church of the English Martyrs', 1867, with schools, £15,000; and St. Joseph's, 1874, £8,000; and have greatly enlarged and beautified St. Wilfrid's and St. Augustine's at great cost. The Wesleyans, in 1874, built a chapel in Marsh-lane at a cost of £3,500; school chapels in St. Mary-street and Lancaster-road. in 1865 and 1870, at a cost of £8,400; and established mission rooms in Bridge-street and Canal-street, at a cost of £640, in 1870 and 1881. The chapel in Lune-street was greatly enlarged and altered in 1862 and 1875, with immense arched front, at a cost of £6,200. The Primitive Methodists, Presbyterians, and Friends have also increased their chapel and school accommodation.
In conclusion, it remains only in this sketch of the changes that have occurred during our fifty years to notice the misfortunes that have befallen the staple trade of the town within that period. A list prepared about five years ago by Mr. Thos. Banks, late secretary to the Operative Spinners' Association, shows that the mills specified below were destroyed on the dates given, or sold out:-May 29th, 1847. Welfield-road Mill burnt down but re-built. December 25th, 1852, Moor Brook Mill blown down, afterwards rebuilt. December, 1865, Soho Mill, Fylde-road, partly destroyed by fire, March 9th, 1860; Parker-street Mill burnt down; rebuilt. February 7th, 1861, Greenbank Mill burnt down; re-built. July 5th 1868, Aqueduct-street Mill burnt down; re-built. January 25th, 1871, Messrs. R. and R. G. Threlfall's mill burnt down. December, 1st, 1870, Mr. M. Kennedy's mill, Church-street, burnt down. May 28th, 1872, Grimshaw-street Mill destroyed by fire. November, 1878, Frenchwood Mill partly destroyed by fire. July 2nd, 1874, Brookfield Mill burnt down; re-built. November 1st, 1875, Mr. C. Catterall's mill, Newhall-lane, burnt down; re-built. August 1875, Perk-lane Mill burnt down; re-built. December 29th, 1875, Bank Ton Mill burnt down; re-built. November 30th, 1878, Stanley-street Mill burnt down. January, 23rd, 1879, Ashton Mill burnt down. February 25th, 1879, Messrs. Horrocks and Jacson's mill burnt down; re-built. January 15th, 1881, Lord's mill destroyed by fire. April 17th, 1888, Tulketh Mill burnt down. June, 1883, Horrocks and Jacson's Avenham-street Mill sold out. 1883, Kent-street Mill sold out. November 26tb, 1885, McGuffog's, Greenbank Mill, burnt down. But a greater misfortune to the town than even this calamitous series of fires was the Great Strike, which lasted from October, 1853, to May, 1854. It is believed by many that the town has never fairly recovered, even yet, from the evil effects of that strike. For several months the weavers met in the Orchard in thousands to hear the delegates from various places address them. It was in the course of a speech delivered from a lurry in the Orchard that Mortimer Grimshaw, the delegate from Great Harwood, invented the word "Shoddyoeracy" which he applied to certain of the employers who were most determinedly opposed to granting the demand of the operatives for an advance of ten per cent. But though every branch of trade suffered severely from that and subsequent strikes, and from the "Cotton Famine," in 1862-8, there is good ground for asserting that the town has recovered from the partial prostration they occasioned. Political economists say that the increase or decrease of population are the best criteria of the prosperity or decay of nations. The population of Preston was estimated at 54,680 in 1843, and at 72,250 in 1858; it is now (1898) estimated at about 112,000. This is not so great an increase as Blackburn or Bolton shows, but it is sufficient to prove that Preston is not decaying, as has often been asserted, although it has suffered severer shocks than have been borne by any other Lancashire town.
PRESTON-THEN AND NOW: 1843-1893.
Date: Saturday, Apr. 1, 1893
Publication: Preston Chronicle
Gale Primary Sources, British Library Newspapers:
https://link.gale.com/apps/doc/Y3207511628/BNCN?u=lancs&sid=bookmark-BNCN&pg=2&xid=94cf6be2
Comments
Post a Comment