a parliamentary and municipal borough, seaport, and market-town of England, in the county of Lancaster, on the N. bank of the Ribble, here crossed by three fine bridges, 19 miles S. of Lancaster, and 217 N.W. by N. of London. It is well built, for the most part of brick, on a rising ground about 120 feet above the river; and the principal streets, one of which, called Fishergate, is about a mile long, are broad and well paved. In the neighbourhood there are many villas, and some beautiful public walks. One of the latter, called Avenham Walk, on the top of the hill on which Preston is built, is much frequented, and has been well laid out by the corporation. There are in the town a spacious marketplace, and many elegant terraces and squares. Among the public buildings are the guild-hall, a brick edifice with a turret and cupola, in the centre of the town; the courthouse, built in 1826, in the Grecian style of architecture; the market-house, corn exchange, cloth-hall, custom-house, theatre, and assembly-rooms. Of the places of worship in Preston, ten belong to the Established Church. The parish church, rebuilt in 1770, has a lofty spire. Those of St Peter and St Paul, erected in 1824 and 1825, are both in the modern Gothic style; and Christ church is a fine specimen of pure Norman architecture. The Roman Catholics have four churches here, one of which is a building of great elegance. There are also places of worship belonging to Wesleyan Primitive, Episcopalians Primitive, and Associated Methodists; Baptists, Independents, Unitarians, Quakers, Swedenborgians, and Mormons, to the number of twenty in all. One of the finest buildings in the town is a Grecian structure belonging to the Society for Diffusing Useful Knowledge, containing a library of 5000 volumes, and a valuable museum. The educational institutions comprise a free grammar school, founded in 1663, occupying a large stone edifice, and attended by 130 scholars in 1852; a blue-coat school, several national and infant schools, and a deaf-and-dumb institution. Preston has also a literary and philosophical society, with an elegant building of the Tudor style, a mechanics' institute, agricultural society, and three public libraries. There are, besides, nine almshouses, a dispensary, infirmary, workhouse, and savings-bank. Public baths and washhouses have been erected here by the corporation, and were opened in 1851. The town contains a borough prison and county penitentiary; while at Fulwood, 2 miles to the N.W., there are large barracks. Preston is chiefly important as a manufacturing and commercial town. Its staple manufacture at present is cotton, of which it is one of the principal seats in England. This branch of trade was introduced here in 1777, before which time the principal industry of the place was directed to the manufacture of linen, which is still carried on to a considerable extent. There are upwards of fifty mills for spinning and weaving cotton, worsted and flax mills, iron and brass foundries, tanneries, rope-works, malt-houses, and breweries. Fishery has been carried on for a long time in the Ribble, where salmon, eels, &c., are caught. The river has been, by dredging and other improvements, rendered navigable at spring tides for vessels of 300 tons burden up to the quays of the town, where extensive warehouses have been erected. Besides those derived from the navigation of the Ribble, Preston enjoys many advantages for commercial purposes in being connected, both by canals and railways, with the central and other parts of the country. The commerce of the town is considerable; corn, timber, and iron being the principal imports. On the 31st December 1857 there were registered at the port 114 sailing-vessels, tonnage 6253; and 3 steamers, tonnage 440. During that year there entered 295 sailing-vessels, tonnage 16,485; and 2 steamers, tonnage 298; and there cleared 517 sailing-vessels, tonnage 25,382,—all of these, except 11 sailing-vessels that entered from foreign ports, tonnage 1414, being engaged in the coasting trade. Besides weekly markets, several annual fairs are held at Preston; and there are races, which take place on the other side of the river. A celebration called the "Guilds" is held at Preston once every twenty years, generally in the end of August. It consists of a procession of the corporation and the various trades of the town, and is an occasion of great festivity. The borough is governed by a mayor, twelve aldermen, and thirty-six councillors. It returns two members to the House of Commons. The origin of Preston seems to date from the decay of Ribchester, which is now a mere village, 11 miles farther up the river; and the name Priests-town was probably given to it on account of its ecclesiastical edifices, some remains of which still exist. In 1323 it was taken and partly burned by the Scotch under Robert the Bruce. In the civil war Preston adhered to the royal cause, but was besieged and taken by the parliamentary forces. In 1715 the Jacobites took possession of the town, and erected barricades for its defence, but after a brave resistance were obliged to surrender. In January 1854 a strike of the workmen at Preston occurred, which lasted twenty-nine weeks, causing a great excitement and much distress among the work-people. Sir Richard Arkwright, the inventor of the spinning-jenny, was born at Preston in 1732. Pop. (1851) 69,642.