Prescot
Encyclopedia
Prescot is a town and civil parish, within the Metropolitan Borough of Knowsley
Metropolitan Borough of Knowsley
The Metropolitan Borough of Knowsley is a metropolitan borough of Merseyside, England. It comprises the towns of Kirkby, Prescot, Huyton, Whiston, Halewood and Cronton; Kirkby, Huyton, and Prescot being the major commercial centres...

 in Merseyside
Merseyside
Merseyside is a metropolitan county in North West England, with a population of 1,365,900. It encompasses the metropolitan area centred on both banks of the lower reaches of the Mersey Estuary, and comprises five metropolitan boroughs: Knowsley, St Helens, Sefton, Wirral, and the city of Liverpool...

, England
England
England is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Scotland to the north and Wales to the west; the Irish Sea is to the north west, the Celtic Sea to the south west, with the North Sea to the east and the English Channel to the south separating it from continental...

. It is 8 miles to the east of Liverpool
Liverpool
Liverpool is a city and metropolitan borough of Merseyside, England, along the eastern side of the Mersey Estuary. It was founded as a borough in 1207 and was granted city status in 1880...

 city centre and lies within the historic boundaries
Historic counties of England
The historic counties of England are subdivisions of England established for administration by the Normans and in most cases based on earlier Anglo-Saxon kingdoms and shires...

 of Lancashire
Lancashire
Lancashire is a non-metropolitan county of historic origin in the North West of England. It takes its name from the city of Lancaster, and is sometimes known as the County of Lancaster. Although Lancaster is still considered to be the county town, Lancashire County Council is based in Preston...

. At the 2001 Census
United Kingdom Census 2001
A nationwide census, known as Census 2001, was conducted in the United Kingdom on Sunday, 29 April 2001. This was the 20th UK Census and recorded a resident population of 58,789,194....

, the population was 11,184 (5,265 males, 5,919 females).
Prescot marks the beginning of the A58 road
A58 road
The A58 is a major road in northern England that runs between Prescot, Merseyside and Wetherby, West Yorkshire.It runs north east from Prescot on the outskirts of Liverpool via St Helens, Ashton-in-Makerfield, Hindley, Westhoughton, Bolton, Bury, Heywood, Rochdale and Littleborough then over the...

 which runs through to Wetherby
Wetherby
Wetherby is a market town and civil parish within the metropolitan borough of the City of Leeds, in West Yorkshire, England. It stands on the River Wharfe, and has been for centuries a crossing place and staging post on the Great North Road, being mid-way between London and Edinburgh...

, West Yorkshire
West Yorkshire
West Yorkshire is a metropolitan county within the Yorkshire and the Humber region of England with a population of 2.2 million. West Yorkshire came into existence as a metropolitan county in 1974 after the passage of the Local Government Act 1972....

. The town is served by Prescot railway station
Prescot railway station
Prescot railway station serves the town of Prescot, Merseyside, England. It is situated on the Liverpool to Wigan Line. The station, and all trains serving it, are operated by Northern Rail.-Services:...

 and Eccleston Park railway station.

History

Prescot's name is believed to be derived from the Anglo-Saxon
Old English language
Old English or Anglo-Saxon is an early form of the English language that was spoken and written by the Anglo-Saxons and their descendants in parts of what are now England and southeastern Scotland between at least the mid-5th century and the mid-12th century...

 prēost "priest" + cot "cot", meaning a cottage or small house owned or inhabited by a priest, a "priest-cottage". (ME
Middle English
Middle English is the stage in the history of the English language during the High and Late Middle Ages, or roughly during the four centuries between the late 11th and the late 15th century....

 prest, preste, priest, OE prēost, LL
Late Latin
Late Latin is the scholarly name for the written Latin of Late Antiquity. The English dictionary definition of Late Latin dates this period from the 3rd to the 6th centuries AD extending in Spain to the 7th. This somewhat ambiguously defined period fits between Classical Latin and Medieval Latin...

 presbyter, Gk
Greek language
Greek is an independent branch of the Indo-European family of languages. Native to the southern Balkans, it has the longest documented history of any Indo-European language, spanning 34 centuries of written records. Its writing system has been the Greek alphabet for the majority of its history;...

 πρεσβύτερος presbýteros "elder, priest").

In the 14th century, William Dacre, 2nd Baron Dacre
William Dacre, 2nd Baron Dacre
William Dacre, 2nd Baron Dacre was an English peer. In the final months of his life he was also 3rd Baron Multon of Gilsland...

, obtained a charter
Charter
A charter is the grant of authority or rights, stating that the granter formally recognizes the prerogative of the recipient to exercise the rights specified...

 for the holding of a three-day market
Market
A market is one of many varieties of systems, institutions, procedures, social relations and infrastructures whereby parties engage in exchange. While parties may exchange goods and services by barter, most markets rely on sellers offering their goods or services in exchange for money from buyers...

 and moveable fair
Fair
A fair or fayre is a gathering of people to display or trade produce or other goods, to parade or display animals and often to enjoy associated carnival or funfair entertainment. It is normally of the essence of a fair that it is temporary; some last only an afternoon while others may ten weeks. ...

 at Prescot, to begin on the Wednesday following Corpus Christi
Corpus Christi (feast)
Corpus Christi is a Latin Rite solemnity, now designated the solemnity of The Most Holy Body and Blood of Christ . It is also celebrated in some Anglican, Lutheran and Old Catholic Churches. Like Trinity Sunday and the Solemnity of Christ the King, it does not commemorate a particular event in...

.

From about 1593, into the early years of the 17th century, Prescot was home to the Prescot Playhouse
Prescot Playhouse
The Prescot Playhouse was a purpose-built Elizabethan theatre in the Lancashire town of Prescot. It was built in approximately 1593, and was demolished in the early 17th century. It was a cockpit design....

, a purpose-built Shakespearean theatre.

During the 18th and 19th centuries it was at the centre of the watch
Watch
A watch is a small timepiece, typically worn either on the wrist or attached on a chain and carried in a pocket, with wristwatches being the most common type of watch used today. They evolved in the 17th century from spring powered clocks, which appeared in the 15th century. The first watches were...

 and clock
Clock
A clock is an instrument used to indicate, keep, and co-ordinate time. The word clock is derived ultimately from the Celtic words clagan and clocca meaning "bell". A silent instrument missing such a mechanism has traditionally been known as a timepiece...

making industry. This ended with the failure of the Lancashire Watch Company
Lancashire Watch Company
The Lancashire Watch Company of Prescot was founded in 1889 by Thomas P. Hewitt as a rival to the large American and Swiss watch companies. It failed in 1910.-History:...

 in 1910. In later years BICC Cables was the main employer in the town.

Governance

The town was contained in the Prescot Urban District
Prescot Urban District
Prescot Urban District was a local government district in the administrative county of Lancashire, England from 1894 to 1974.the main settlement of the district was the town of Prescot....

 in the administrative county
Administrative county
An administrative county was an administrative division in England and Wales and Ireland used for the purposes of local government. They are now abolished, although in Northern Ireland their former areas are used as the basis for lieutenancy....

 Lancashire
Lancashire
Lancashire is a non-metropolitan county of historic origin in the North West of England. It takes its name from the city of Lancaster, and is sometimes known as the County of Lancaster. Although Lancaster is still considered to be the county town, Lancashire County Council is based in Preston...

 from 1894. When the administrative counties
Administrative county
An administrative county was an administrative division in England and Wales and Ireland used for the purposes of local government. They are now abolished, although in Northern Ireland their former areas are used as the basis for lieutenancy....

 were abolished in 1974 the district became part of the Metropolitan Borough of Knowsley
Metropolitan Borough of Knowsley
The Metropolitan Borough of Knowsley is a metropolitan borough of Merseyside, England. It comprises the towns of Kirkby, Prescot, Huyton, Whiston, Halewood and Cronton; Kirkby, Huyton, and Prescot being the major commercial centres...

 in the metropolitan county
Metropolitan county
The metropolitan counties are a type of county-level administrative division of England. There are six metropolitan counties, which each cover large urban areas, typically with populations of 1.2 to 2.8 million...

 of Merseyside
Merseyside
Merseyside is a metropolitan county in North West England, with a population of 1,365,900. It encompasses the metropolitan area centred on both banks of the lower reaches of the Mersey Estuary, and comprises five metropolitan boroughs: Knowsley, St Helens, Sefton, Wirral, and the city of Liverpool...

.

Churches

The centre of Prescot has seven churches. Dominating the skyline is the 17th-century Prescot Parish Church
Prescot Parish Church
Prescot Parish Church, dedicated to St Mary, is in the town of Prescot, Merseyside, England . It is a Grade I listed building and continues as an active parish church.-History:...

 of St Mary's. Tucked away behind St Mary's is the Roman Catholic church of Our Lady and St Joseph. Prescot Methodist
Methodism
Methodism is a movement of Protestant Christianity represented by a number of denominations and organizations, claiming a total of approximately seventy million adherents worldwide. The movement traces its roots to John Wesley's evangelistic revival movement within Anglicanism. His younger brother...

 Church celebrated its 100th anniversary in 2009, but the building has since been shut down indefinitely. The congregation continues to exist, however, meeting in the adjacent church hall, known as Prescot Methodist Centre. Also in the town are a Salvation Army
Salvation Army
The Salvation Army is a Protestant Christian church known for its thrift stores and charity work. It is an international movement that currently works in over a hundred countries....

 church, an Elim Pentecostal
Elim Pentecostal Church
The Elim Pentecostal Church is a UK-based Pentecostal Christian denomination.-History:George Jeffreys , a Welshman, founded the Elim Pentecostal Church in Monaghan, Ireland in 1915. Jeffreys was an evangelist with a Welsh Congregational church background. He was converted at age 15 during the...

 church (Prescot Community Church), a Plymouth Brethren
Plymouth Brethren
The Plymouth Brethren is a conservative, Evangelical Christian movement, whose history can be traced to Dublin, Ireland, in the late 1820s. Although the group is notable for not taking any official "church name" to itself, and not having an official clergy or liturgy, the title "The Brethren," is...

 Gospel Hall and the Zion Independent Methodist Church.

Places of worship shut down or relocated over the past 20 years include the United Reformed
United Reformed Church
The United Reformed Church is a Christian church in the United Kingdom. It has approximately 68,000 members in 1,500 congregations with some 700 ministers.-Origins and history:...

 church, the Kingdom Hall
Kingdom Hall
A Kingdom Hall is a place of worship used by Jehovah's Witnesses. The term was first suggested in 1935 by Joseph Franklin Rutherford, then president of the Watch Tower Society, for a building in Hawaii...

 (Jehovah's Witnesses
Jehovah's Witnesses
Jehovah's Witnesses is a millenarian restorationist Christian denomination with nontrinitarian beliefs distinct from mainstream Christianity. The religion reports worldwide membership of over 7 million adherents involved in evangelism, convention attendance of over 12 million, and annual...

) and an independent charismatic
Charismatic Christianity
Charismatic Christianity is a Christian doctrine that maintains that modern-day believers experience miracles, prophecy, speaking in tongues, and other spiritual gifts as described in of the Bible...

 church called simply Prescot Christian Fellowship.

Tourism, leisure and places of interest

Prescot Museum
Museum
A museum is an institution that cares for a collection of artifacts and other objects of scientific, artistic, cultural, or historical importance and makes them available for public viewing through exhibits that may be permanent or temporary. Most large museums are located in major cities...

 houses a permanent exhibition about the history of clock- and watch-making in the town, and several temporary exhibitions per year. The Georgian
Georgian architecture
Georgian architecture is the name given in most English-speaking countries to the set of architectural styles current between 1720 and 1840. It is eponymous for the first four British monarchs of the House of Hanover—George I of Great Britain, George II of Great Britain, George III of the United...

 building is now also home to Knowsley Council's Arts
ARts
aRts, which stands for analog Real time synthesizer, is an audio framework that is no longer under development. It is best known for previously being used in KDE to simulate an analog synthesizer....

 and Events Service.

On the edge of the town is the famous estate of Lord Derby
Earl of Derby
Earl of Derby is a title in the Peerage of England. The title was first adopted by Robert de Ferrers, 1st Earl of Derby under a creation of 1139. It continued with the Ferrers family until the 6th Earl forfeited his property toward the end of the reign of Henry III and died in 1279...

, which includes Knowsley Safari Park
Knowsley Safari Park
-External links:**...

.

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.

The Shakespeare North Trust was founded in 2007 to promote William Shakespeare
William Shakespeare
William Shakespeare was an English poet and playwright, widely regarded as the greatest writer in the English language and the world's pre-eminent dramatist. He is often called England's national poet and the "Bard of Avon"...

's historic connection with the town, a subject currently being researched at Liverpool
Liverpool
Liverpool is a city and metropolitan borough of Merseyside, England, along the eastern side of the Mersey Estuary. It was founded as a borough in 1207 and was granted city status in 1880...

's John Moores University. Attempts to raise funds to rebuild the town's Elizabethan theatre have so far been unsuccessful.

Sport

The town's local football team Prescot Cables
Prescot Cables F.C.
Prescot Cables F.C. is a football club based in Prescot, Merseyside. It was established in 1884 and has also been known as Prescot and Prescot Town...

 currently play in the Unibond League.

Notable residents

  • Screenwriter Peter Briggs
    Peter Briggs
    Peter Briggs is a British born and based director, producer, screenwriter, and concept artist; hired generally by overseas Hollywood motion picture studios. Although having worked in the motion picture industry for close to 20 years, he is best known for his work on the acclaimed film Hellboy...

     who wrote the film Hellboy
    Hellboy (film)
    Hellboy is a 2004 supernatural superhero film, starring Ron Perlman, John Hurt and Selma Blair, directed by Guillermo del Toro. The film is based on the Dark Horse Comics work Hellboy: Seed of Destruction by Mike Mignola. It was produced by Revolution Studios, and distributed by Columbia Pictures...

    , was born in neighbouring Whiston and grew up in Prescot.
  • Actor Daniel Craig
    Daniel Craig
    Daniel Wroughton Craig is an English actor. His early film roles include Elizabeth, The Power of One, A Kid in King Arthur's Court and the television episodes Sharpe's Eagle, Zorro and The Young Indiana Jones Chronicles: Daredevils of the Desert...

     (James Bond
    James Bond
    James Bond, code name 007, is a fictional character created in 1953 by writer Ian Fleming, who featured him in twelve novels and two short story collections. There have been a six other authors who wrote authorised Bond novels or novelizations after Fleming's death in 1964: Kingsley Amis,...

     007), spent at least part of his childhood growing up in Prescot.
  • Actor Sue Johnston
    Sue Johnston
    Susan "Sue" Johnston, OBE is a BAFTA nominated English actress best known for playing Sheila Grant in the long-running soap opera Brookside , Grace Foley in Waking the Dead from 2000 to 2011 and Barbara Royle in the BBC comedy The Royle Family between 1998 and 2000, and again in 2006, 2008, 2009,...

     (Brookside
    Brookside
    Brookside is a defunct British soap opera set in Liverpool, England. The series began on the launch night of Channel 4 on 2 November 1982, and ran for 21 years until 4 November 2003...

    , The Royle Family
    The Royle Family
    The Royle Family is a popular, BAFTA award-winning television comedy drama produced by Granada Television for the BBC, which ran for three series between 1998 and 2000, and specials from 2006 onwards...

    ).
  • Shakespearean actor John Philip Kemble
    John Philip Kemble
    John Philip Kemble was an English actor. He was born into a theatrical family as the eldest son of Roger Kemble, actor-manager of a touring troupe. His elder sister Sarah Siddons achieved fame with him on the stage of the Theatre Royal, Drury Lane...

     was born in Prescot. His house has since been demolished, but the road has been renamed Kemble Street. The John Kemble Pub stands on this street in his memory.
  • Actor Sam Kelly
    Sam Kelly
    Sam Kelly is an English actor who has appeared in television, radio and theatre.-Career:He has had roles in British sitcoms such as Porridge as Bunny Warren, Allo 'Allo! as Captain Hans Geering leaving after series three, On the Up as Dennis Waterman's chauffeur and We'll Think of Something as Les...

     (Porridge, The Two Ronnies
    The Two Ronnies
    The Two Ronnies is a British sketch show that aired on BBC1 from 1971 to 1987. It featured the double act of Ronnie Barker and Ronnie Corbett, the "Two Ronnies" of the title.-Origins:...

    , All or Nothing)
  • Nonsense-poet and artist Edward Lear
    Edward Lear
    Edward Lear was an English artist, illustrator, author, and poet, renowned today primarily for his literary nonsense, in poetry and prose, and especially his limericks, a form that he popularised.-Biography:...

    .
  • Classical pianist Paul Lewis
    Paul Lewis (pianist)
    Paul Lewis is an English classical pianist. His father worked at the Liverpool docks and his mother was a local council worker; there were no musicians in his family background....

    , who featured as a soloist at the 2005 Last Night of the Proms, was a student at Prescot Grammar School
    Prescot Grammar School
    Prescot School was a co-educational comprehensive school in Prescot, Merseyside, England, and was previously called Prescot Grammar School. It closed in August 2009....

    .
  • Dave McCabe - Lead singer of the Merseyside Band The Zutons
    The Zutons
    The Zutons are an English indie rock band from Liverpool. They were formed in 2001 but did not release their first album, Who Killed...... The Zutons?, until May 2004. They achieved their biggest hits with "Why Won't You Give Me Your Love?" and "Valerie", both taken from their second studio album...

    .
  • Danny McCall, former Brookside
    Brookside
    Brookside is a defunct British soap opera set in Liverpool, England. The series began on the launch night of Channel 4 on 2 November 1982, and ran for 21 years until 4 November 2003...

    actor and star of West-End hit The Sound of Fury, based on the life of Billy Fury
    Billy Fury
    Billy Fury, born Ronald William Wycherley , was an internationally successful English singer from the late-1950s to the mid-1960s, and remained an active songwriter until the 1980s. Rheumatic fever, which he first contracted as a child, damaged his heart and ultimately contributed to his death...

  • Australian politician Jeanette Powell
    Jeanette Powell
    Elizabeth Powell is the Nationals Member for Shepparton in the Victorian Parliament.Powell was born in Prescot, England and emigrated to Australia as a child...

  • Lord Stanley
    Frederick Stanley, 16th Earl of Derby
    Frederick Arthur Stanley, 16th Earl of Derby KG, GCB, GCVO, PC , known as Frederick Stanley until 1886 and as Lord Stanley of Preston between 1886 and 1893, was a Conservative Party politician in the United Kingdom who served as Colonial Secretary from 1885 to 1886 and the sixth Governor General...

    , one-time Governor General of Canada
    Governor General of Canada
    The Governor General of Canada is the federal viceregal representative of the Canadian monarch, Queen Elizabeth II...

     after whom the Stanley Cup
    Stanley Cup
    The Stanley Cup is an ice hockey club trophy, awarded annually to the National Hockey League playoffs champion after the conclusion of the Stanley Cup Finals. It has been referred to as The Cup, Lord Stanley's Cup, The Holy Grail, or facetiously as Lord Stanley's Mug...

     and Stanley Park
    Stanley Park
    Stanley Park is a 404.9 hectare urban park bordering downtown Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada. It was opened in 1888 by David Oppenheimer in the name of Lord Stanley of Preston, the Governor-General of Canada....

     in Vancouver
    Vancouver
    Vancouver is a coastal seaport city on the mainland of British Columbia, Canada. It is the hub of Greater Vancouver, which, with over 2.3 million residents, is the third most populous metropolitan area in the country,...

    , British Columbia
    British Columbia
    British Columbia is the westernmost of Canada's provinces and is known for its natural beauty, as reflected in its Latin motto, Splendor sine occasu . Its name was chosen by Queen Victoria in 1858...

    , was named
  • Singer/songwriter Lally Stott
    Lally Stott
    Harold "Lally" Stott was a British songwriter from Prescot, Lancashire, who scored a hit with his song Chirpy Chirpy Cheep Cheep. He wrote the song, which became a #1 hit for the Scottish band Middle of the Road in the UK in 1971 and a #20 hit in the US for Mac & Katie Kissoon the same year...

     most famous for the hit single Chirpy Chirpy Cheep Cheep
    Chirpy Chirpy Cheep Cheep
    "Chirpy Chirpy Cheep Cheep" is a song recorded in early 1971 by its composer Lally Stott, and made popular later that year by Scottish band Middle of the Road for whom it was a UK number one chart hit...

  • Stuart Sutcliffe
    Stuart Sutcliffe
    Stuart Fergusson Victor Sutcliffe was a Scottish artist and musician, best known as the original bass player of The Beatles. Sutcliffe left the band to pursue a career as an artist, having previously attended the Liverpool College of Art...

    , early member of The Beatles
    The Beatles
    The Beatles were an English rock band, active throughout the 1960s and one of the most commercially successful and critically acclaimed acts in the history of popular music. Formed in Liverpool, by 1962 the group consisted of John Lennon , Paul McCartney , George Harrison and Ringo Starr...

     attended Prescot Grammar School
    Prescot Grammar School
    Prescot School was a co-educational comprehensive school in Prescot, Merseyside, England, and was previously called Prescot Grammar School. It closed in August 2009....

  • Organist Professor Ian Tracey
    Ian Tracey (organist)
    -Previous work:Ian Tracey started to study the organ at Liverpool Cathedral under the cathedral organist at the time, Noel Rawsthorne. He then continued his studies at Trinity College, London before gaining further experience in Paris under André Isoir and Jean Langlais. In 1980 he took over from...

     of Liverpool Anglican Cathedral
    Liverpool Cathedral
    Liverpool Cathedral is the Church of England cathedral of the Diocese of Liverpool, built on St James's Mount in Liverpool and is the seat of the Bishop of Liverpool. Its official name is the Cathedral Church of Christ in Liverpool but it is dedicated to Christ and the Blessed Virgin...

  • Professor Sid Watkins
    Sid Watkins
    Eric Sidney Watkins OBE, FRCS is a world-renowned English neurosurgeon.Watkins served twenty-six years as the FIA Formula One Safety and Medical Delegate, head of the Formula One on-track medical team, and first responder in case of a crash.He is commonly known within the Formula One fraternity as...

    , world-renowned neurosurgeon who served twenty-six years as the FIA Formula One
    Formula One
    Formula One, also known as Formula 1 or F1 and referred to officially as the FIA Formula One World Championship, is the highest class of single seater auto racing sanctioned by the Fédération Internationale de l'Automobile . The "formula" designation in the name refers to a set of rules with which...

     Safety Delegate and Medical Delegate, head of the Formula One on-track medical team, and first responder in case of a crash.
  • Labour
    Labour Party (UK)
    The Labour Party is a centre-left democratic socialist party in the United Kingdom. It surpassed the Liberal Party in general elections during the early 1920s, forming minority governments under Ramsay MacDonald in 1924 and 1929-1931. The party was in a wartime coalition from 1940 to 1945, after...

     Prime Minister
    Prime Minister of the United Kingdom
    The Prime Minister of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland is the Head of Her Majesty's Government in the United Kingdom. The Prime Minister and Cabinet are collectively accountable for their policies and actions to the Sovereign, to Parliament, to their political party and...

     Harold Wilson
    Harold Wilson
    James Harold Wilson, Baron Wilson of Rievaulx, KG, OBE, FRS, FSS, PC was a British Labour Member of Parliament, Leader of the Labour Party. He was twice Prime Minister of the United Kingdom during the 1960s and 1970s, winning four general elections, including a minority government after the...

     was once a Member of Parliament
    Member of Parliament
    A Member of Parliament is a representative of the voters to a :parliament. In many countries with bicameral parliaments, the term applies specifically to members of the lower house, as upper houses often have a different title, such as senate, and thus also have different titles for its members,...

     for Huyton, incorporating Prescot
  • Former Everton FC player Mark Ward.
  • Hollyoaks
    Hollyoaks
    Hollyoaks is a long-running British television soap opera, first broadcast on Channel 4 on 23 October 1995. It was originally devised by Phil Redmond, who has also devised shows including Brookside and Grange Hill...

     actor Stephanie Davis
    Stephanie Davis (actor)
    Stephanie Ann Davis is an English actress. Davis currently stars in the British soap opera Hollyoaks and also competed in the 2010 BBC talent-search Over the Rainbow.-Background:...


External links

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