Prescot

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Prescot
Lancashire
Eccleston Street, Prescot.jpg
Eccleston Street, Prescot
Location
Grid reference: SJ4692
Location: 53°25’19"N, 2°48’50"W
Data
Population: 11,184  (2001)
Post town: Prescot
Postcode: L34, L35
Dialling code: 0151
Local Government
Council: Knowsley
Parliamentary
constituency:
Knowsley
St Helens South and Whiston

Prescot is a town in Lancashire, eight miles east of Liverpool city centre and greatly affected by its conurbation. At the 2001, the population was 11,184 according to the census.

Prescot marks the beginning of the A58 road which runs through to Wetherby in Yorkshire. The town is served by Prescot railway station and Eccleston Park railway station.

Churches

The centre of Prescot has seven churches. Dominating the skyline is the 17th century Parish Church, St Mary's.

  • Church of England:
    • St Mary's
  • Independent: Gospel Hall
  • Methodist:
    • Prescot Methodist Church
    • Zion Independent Methodist Church
  • Salvation Army
  • Pentecostal: Elim Pentecostal (Prescot Community Church)
  • Plymouth Brethren
  • Roman Catholic: Our Lady and St Joseph.

History

Prescot's name is believed to be derived from the Old English preost cot, meaning "Priest cottage".

In the 14th century, William Dacre, 2nd Baron Dacre, obtained a charter for the holding of a three-day market and moveable fair at Prescot, to begin on the Wednesday following Corpus Christi.[1]

From about 1593 and into the early years of the 17th century, Prescot was home to the Prescot Playhouse, a purpose-built cockpit theatre.

During the 18th and 19th centuries it was at the centre of the watch and clockmaking industry. This ended with the failure of the Lancashire Watch Company in 1910. In later years BICC Cables was the main employer in the town.[2]

The Hope and Anchor

Tourism, leisure and places of interest

Prescot Museum houses a permanent exhibition about the history of clock- and watch-making in the town, and several temporary exhibitions per year. The Georgian building is now also home to Knowsley Council's Arts and Events Service.

On the edge of the town is the famous estate of Lord Derby, which includes Knowsley Safari Park.

In recent years, a number of cultural and arts events have been established in the town, including the annual 10-day Prescot Festival of Music and the Arts and an annual Elizabethan Fayre.

Sport

  • Football: Prescot Cables FC

Outside links

References

  1. Edward Baines, William Robert Whatton, Brooke Herford, James Croston, The history of the county palatine and duchy of Lancaster, vol. 5 (J. Heywood, 1893), p. 2
  2. BICC was Prescot, Prescot was BICC, http://www.lmu.livjm.ac.uk/BICC, retrieved 9 June 2006