During the Roman period the road called Watling Street from the Setantian port of Neb of the Nese passed one mile north of Preston. The Roman road from Languavallium in Cumberland to Condate in Cheshire intersected 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.

In 1825 Preston was in the hundred of Amounderness, in the deanery of Amounderness and the archdeaconry of 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. As late as the time of Charles I the monarch demanded a quarter more ship money than from Lancaster and twice as much as from Liverpool.

This page was last updated: 24 August 2005

Town history extracts are taken from Wikipedia and are licensed under GFDL