| Prescot | |
|---|---|
| Town | |
 St Mary's Church, Prescot | |
  Prescot Location withinMerseyside | |
| Population | 11,184 (2001 Census)[1] |
| OS grid reference | SJ4692 |
| Civil parish |
|
| Metropolitan borough | |
| Metropolitan county | |
| Region | |
| Country | England |
| Sovereign state | United Kingdom |
| Post town | PRESCOT |
| Postcode district | L34/L35 |
| Dialling code | 0151 |
| Police | Merseyside |
| Fire | Merseyside |
| Ambulance | North West |
| UK Parliament | |
| |
Prescot is a town andcivil parish within theMetropolitan Borough of Knowsley inMerseyside,United Kingdom. It lies about eight miles (13 km) to the east ofLiverpool city centre. At the2001 Census, the civil parish population was 11,184 (5,265 males, 5,919 females).[1] The population of the larger Prescot East and West wards at the2011 census totalled 14,139.[2][3]Prescot marks the beginning of theA58 road which runs through toWetherby, nearLeeds inWest Yorkshire. The town is served byPrescot railway station andEccleston Park railway station in neighbouringEccleston.
Prescot's name is believed to be derived from theAnglo-Saxonprēost "priest" +cot "cot", meaning a cottage or small house owned or inhabited by a priest, a "priest-cottage". (ME prest, preste, priest,OE prēost,LL presbyter,Gk πρεσβύτερος presbýteros "elder, priest").[4]
In the 14th century,William Dacre, 2nd Baron Dacre, obtained acharter for the holding of a three-daymarket and moveablefair at Prescot, to begin on the Wednesday followingCorpus Christi.[5]
In 1593, the English political philosopherGerrard Winstanley's parents, Edward and Isabell Winstanley, originally from Wigan, were married in Prescot.
From the mid-1590s to 1609, Prescot was home to thePrescot Playhouse, a purpose-builtShakespearean theatre, probably located on Eccleston Street.[6] In the sixteenth century it was a small town of about 400 inhabitants, and not much bigger by the late seventeenth century.[7]
During the 18th and 19th centuries it was at the centre of thewatch andclock-making industry. This ended with the failure of theLancashire Watch Company in 1910. In later years theBICC company was the primary industrial employer in the town. BICC ceased operations in Prescot in the early 1990s before the site was demolished and later cleared. The land remained desolate until 2000 when it was then regenerated into what is now known asCables Retail Park, the name of which is a reference to the BICC and the history of the site on which it was built.[8]
Prescot has historically lain within thehistoric county ofLancashire. The town was contained in thePrescot Urban District in theadministrative countyof Lancashire from 1894.
When theadministrative counties were abolished in 1974 the district became part of theMetropolitan Borough of Knowsley in themetropolitan county ofMerseyside. It is currently served byPrescot Town Council andKnowsley Metropolitan Borough Council. The current iteration ofPrescot Town Hall is a converted public house: the conversion works were completed in 2014.[9]
The centre of Prescot has six churches. Dominating the skyline is the 17th-centuryPrescot Parish Church ofSt Mary's is the only Grade I listed building in the borough of Knowsley. Tucked away behind St Mary's is theRoman CatholicChurch of Our Lady and St Joseph designed by Joseph Aloysius Hansom, inventor of the Hansom Cab. PrescotMethodist Church celebrated its 100th anniversary in 2009, but the building has since been converted into apartments. The congregation continues to exist, however, meeting in the adjacent church hall, known as Prescot Methodist Centre which has now been converted into a church. Also in the town are aSalvation Army church, anElim Pentecostal church (Prescot Community Church) and the Zion Independent Methodist Church. Outside the centre, in the Portico area of the town is the CatholicOur Lady Help of Christians Church.
Places of worship shut down or moved over the past 20 years include theUnited Reformed church, theKingdom Hall (Jehovah's Witnesses), the Plymouth Brethren Gospel Hall and an independentcharismatic church called simply Prescot Christian Fellowship.
PrescotMuseum houses a permanent exhibition about the history of clock and watch-making in the town, and several temporary exhibitions per year. TheGeorgian building is now also home toKnowsley Council'sArts and Events Service.
On the edge of the town is the famous estate ofLord Derby, which includesKnowsley 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 annualElizabethan Fayre.
The Shakespeare North Trust promotesWilliam Shakespeare's historic connection with the town, a subject being researched atLiverpool'sJohn Moores University. Inspired by the historic Prescot Playhouse, the Trust has built theShakespeare North complex in Prescot, including a Shakespearean playhouse and an educational centre.[10] In April 2016, Knowsley Council grantedplanning permission for the new playhouse.[11] Construction work on the new The Shakespeare North Playhouse was completed in late 2022.
Stone Street,(53°25′45″N2°48′17″W / 53.42917°N 2.80472°W /53.42917; -2.80472) running between High Street and Eccleston Street, is just 26 inches wide at its southern end and isone of the narrowest streets in Britain.
The area's localfootball teamPrescot Cables currently play in theNorthern Premier League Premier Division atValerie Park.Prescot & Odyssey Cricket Club is located nearKnowsley Safari Park.
Local news and television programmes are provided byBBC North West andITV Granada. Television signals are received from theWinter Hill TV transmitter.[12] Local radio stations areBBC Radio Merseyside,Heart North West,Capital North West & Wales,Hits Radio Liverpool,Smooth North West, andGreatest Hits Radio Liverpool & The North West.[citation needed] The town is served by the local newspapers:Prescot & Knowsley Reporter[13] andLiverpool Echo.
The estate of Parr[14] was within the ancient ecclesiastical parish of Prescot in modern-dayParr, St Helens. This was the original seat of theParr family, of which QueenKatherine Parr, the last wife of King Henry VIII, was a member.
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| Major settlements (cities in italics) |
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