Long Preston is a village and
civil parish
In England, a civil parish is a type of administrative parish used for local government. It is a territorial designation which is the lowest tier of local government below districts and counties, or their combined form, the unitary authority ...
in the
Craven district of
North Yorkshire
North Yorkshire is the largest ceremonial counties of England, ceremonial county (lieutenancy area) in England, covering an area of . Around 40% of the county is covered by National parks of the United Kingdom, national parks, including most of ...
, England, in the
Yorkshire Dales
The Yorkshire Dales is an upland area of the Pennines in the Historic counties of England, historic county of Yorkshire, England, most of it in the Yorkshire Dales National Park created in 1954.
The Dales comprise river valleys and the hills ri ...
. It lies along the
A65 road, and is from
Skipton
Skipton (also known as Skipton-in-Craven) is a market town and civil parish in the Craven district of North Yorkshire, England. Historically in the East Division of Staincliffe Wapentake in the West Riding of Yorkshire, it is on the River Air ...
and from
Settle
Settle or SETTLE may refer to:
Places
* Settle, Kentucky, United States
* Settle, North Yorkshire, a town in England
** Settle Rural District, a historical administrative district
Music
* Settle (band), an indie rock band from Pennsylvania
* ''S ...
. The population of Long Preston in 2001 was 680, increasing to 742 at the 2011 Census.
The village was historically part of the
West Riding of Yorkshire
The West Riding of Yorkshire is one of three historic subdivisions of Yorkshire, England. From 1889 to 1974 the administrative county County of York, West Riding (the area under the control of West Riding County Council), abbreviated County ...
until 1974.
History
Early times
Humans have been in the Long Preston area since
prehistoric
Prehistory, also known as pre-literary history, is the period of human history between the use of the first stone tools by hominins 3.3 million years ago and the beginning of recorded history with the invention of writing systems. The use of ...
times; remains have been found in caves on the hills above
Settle
Settle or SETTLE may refer to:
Places
* Settle, Kentucky, United States
* Settle, North Yorkshire, a town in England
** Settle Rural District, a historical administrative district
Music
* Settle (band), an indie rock band from Pennsylvania
* ''S ...
and an axe head dated to the
Stone Age
The Stone Age was a broad prehistoric period during which stone was widely used to make tools with an edge, a point, or a percussion surface. The period lasted for roughly 3.4 million years, and ended between 4,000 BC and 2,000 BC, with t ...
was found in the area of
Bookil Gill. The presence of a Roman Road through the village, led to the discovery of a small fort in what is now part of the churchyard.
Middle Ages
Long Preston is mentioned in the
Domesday Book
Domesday Book () – the Middle English spelling of "Doomsday Book" – is a manuscript record of the "Great Survey" of much of England and parts of Wales completed in 1086 by order of King William I, known as William the Conqueror. The manusc ...
, where it is described as ''Prestune'', later being registered as ''Prestona in Cravana''. Prestune means "the priest's farmstead or town". Later, the prefix "Long" was added, referring to the length of the village. Long Preston was part of the old west division of
Staincliffe Wapentake
A hundred is an administrative division that is geographically part of a larger region. It was formerly used in England, Wales, some parts of the United States, Denmark, Southern Schleswig, Sweden, Finland, Norway, the Bishopric of Ösel–Wiek, C ...
.
A school was built in the village during the reign of
Edward IV
Edward IV (28 April 1442 – 9 April 1483) was King of England from 4 March 1461 to 3 October 1470, then again from 11 April 1471 until his death in 1483. He was a central figure in the Wars of the Roses, a series of civil wars in England ...
(1461–1483) as part of the Hammerton Chapel. It is likely that it was closed in 1541 during the dissolution of the religious houses. In 1672 the Petty School was held, most likely either in the chapel or in a building near an old vicarage. A new school replaced the Petty School in 1819.
Industrial age
![The Boar's Head Inn, Long Preston](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/8/8c/The_Boar%27s_Head_Inn%2C_Long_Preston.jpg)
In the 18th and 19th centuries, Long Preston was dominated by agriculture and the trades associated with it. In the 1750s a
turnpike
Turnpike often refers to:
* A type of gate, another word for a turnstile
* In the United States, a toll road
Turnpike may also refer to:
Roads United Kingdom
* A turnpike road, a principal road maintained by a turnpike trust, a body with powers ...
road was constructed from Long Preston to
Settle
Settle or SETTLE may refer to:
Places
* Settle, Kentucky, United States
* Settle, North Yorkshire, a town in England
** Settle Rural District, a historical administrative district
Music
* Settle (band), an indie rock band from Pennsylvania
* ''S ...
. In the 1960s this road (now the A65) was raised, widened, and straighted. Several homes and farms were demolished to accomplish this.
In 1790, a cotton spinning mill was constructed, possibly on the site of an old corn mill. The mill was demolished in 1881 due to flooding.
Later on Fleets cotton mill was built, which was three storeys high and water powered.
The railway was opened in 1849 and expanded in 1875 with the building of the
Settle-Carlisle Line. It declined in the 1970s and '80s but is now seeing an increase in heavy freight and passenger traffic.
In 1801 the population of Long Preston was 573; this rose to 808 in 1831 but dropped to 610 in 1961.
Modern day
Between 1923 and 1935, Long Preston was the railhead for the construction of
Stocks Reservoir built by the Fylde Water Board (FWB). Steam traction engines hauled material between the FWB depot, to the west of the current station, by road to Tosside where connection was made with a 3-foot gauge industrial railway system that served the dam construction project.
In the 20th century, most people were employed in the village at the garage, wool warehouse, auction mart, farms or in the surrounding area, e.g. Skipton. A number of houses were rented at Long Preston making it affordable to live there. In the 1960s people started to purchase their own homes.
In the late 1950s and early 1960s, there was a
livestock
Livestock are the domesticated animals raised in an agricultural setting to provide labor and produce diversified products for consumption such as meat, eggs, milk, fur, leather, and wool. The term is sometimes used to refer solely to animals ...
auction mart, shoe shop, tailors, butchers, bakers,
post office
A post office is a public facility and a retailer that provides mail services, such as accepting letters and parcels, providing post office boxes, and selling postage stamps, packaging, and stationery. Post offices may offer additional serv ...
, cafés, wool warehouse and corn mill.
A bypass was proposed and was given the go-ahead in 1994 but after the
1997 general election, with
Labour
Labour or labor may refer to:
* Childbirth, the delivery of a baby
* Labour (human activity), or work
** Manual labour, physical work
** Wage labour, a socioeconomic relationship between a worker and an employer
** Organized labour and the labour ...
gaining power, the bypass was scrapped.
Long Preston is the home of
audiobook
An audiobook (or a talking book) is a recording of a book or other work being read out loud. A reading of the complete text is described as "unabridged", while readings of shorter versions are abridgements.
Spoken audio has been available in sc ...
producer Magna Story Sound.
Transport
Long Preston is served by
Long Preston railway station
Long Preston is a railway station on the Bentham Line, which runs between and via . The station, situated north-west of Leeds, serves the village of Long Preston in North Yorkshire. It is owned by Network Rail and managed by Northern Train ...
, which is on the
Leeds to Morecambe Line
Leeds () is a city and the administrative centre of the City of Leeds district in West Yorkshire, England. It is built around the River Aire and is in the eastern foothills of the Pennines. It is also the third-largest settlement (by populati ...
.
Education
Long Preston has a primary school, Long Preston Endowed School, with around 60 pupils attending over a range of seven year groups.
Notable people
Former television chef
Susan Brookes is a resident of the village.
References
Sources
*
*
*
External links
Long Preston Village WebsiteLong Preston in the Medieval PeriodMaypole Inn
{{authority control
Villages in North Yorkshire
Civil parishes in North Yorkshire
Ribblesdale