Community and neighbourliness: the geographic spread of the socioeconomic relationships in an early modern market town, Preston c. 1660-1740 by John Pawson A thesis submitted in partial fulfilment for the requirements for the degree of MPhil at the University of Central Lancashire March 2014 ABSTRACT Given the availability of source material produced within the town, it is remarkable that early modern Preston has never been the subject of a comprehensive review or survey. The town had a functioning corporation that generated a large amount of correspondence in addition to numerous accounts which have survived. There are also a unique series of maps dated to 1684 which provide a geographic reconstruction of the town’s streets, properties and its household-heads. By properly examining this material, an insight into the economic activity occurring within the town can be gained. Firstly, the findings from this analysis, in contrast to existing studies, will suggest that the town did not undergo significant changes in economic activity in the period 1684-1732. Rather than registering movements to towards a more diverse service base, the occupation structure of the town experienced remarkable continuity over the period. The 1684 maps also allow for the geographic distribution of the household-heads (and their interrelationships) to be studied. Previous studies of early modern interrelationships have not been able to explore geographic variables in the detail that is available here. Consequently, the results of this study will, secondly, show that close proximity was a crucial factor in determining interrelationships between household-heads. TABLE OF CONTENTS Introduction 1 Chapter I- Methodological approach & source appraisal 18 Chapter II- Early modern Preston through the contemporary eye 43 (i) The historians’ view of Preston 43 (ii) The contemporary view of Preston 53 Chapter III- Socioeconomic distribution 86 Chapter IV- Inter-household relationships within the community 137 Conclusion 164 Bibliography 170 Appendix 192 LIST OF TABLES AND ILLUSTRATIVE MATERIAL Tables Tables 1.1: Wills linked to household-heads, c.1684 and 1732 33 Table 1.2: The Householder table fields 38 Table 1.3: The Testator table fields 39 Table 2.1: The number of times each surname is mentioned 53 Table 2.2: The surnames mentioned by Bellingham, August-October, 1688 70 Table 2.3: The surnames mentioned by Rawsthorne, August-October, 1688 71 Table 2.4: Breakdown of Preston Court Leet cases, 1680-9 76 Table 2.5: Breakdown of Preston Court Leet cases 1730-9 77 Table 2.6: Frequency in which individuals appear in the Preston Court Leet, 1680-9:1730-9 78 Table 3.1: Occupation structure, Preston, 1684 and 1732 91 Tables 3.2: Occupation types on the main streets 102-3 Table 3.3: Preston wealth distribution, 1732 134 Table 4.1: The occupations of those named in Preston wills, c. 1680 and 1732 142 Tables 4.2: The geographic distribution of testators and their will witnesses 146-7 Table 4.3: The geographic distribution of testators and their appraisers, 1684 148 Tables 4.4: Preston community brokers, 1684 and 1732 154-5 Appendix Table 1: Population changes in Lancashire towns, 1664-1773 192 Appendix table 2: Table of owner analysis, 1732 193-8 Appendix table 3: Breakdown of Preston Court Leet cases, 1680-9 200 Appendix table 4: Breakdown of Preston Court Leet cases 1730-9 201 Appendix tables 5: Occupations of testators and their witnesses, 1684-1732 202-3 Appendix table 6: Occupations of testators and their appraisers, 1684 204 Appendix table 7: The frequency of surnames in the Preston Corporation: 1652-1742 205 Appendix table 8: The frequency of surnames in the Preston Corporation: 1652-97 206 Appendix table 9: The frequency of surnames in the Preston Corporation: 1702-42 207 Appendix Table 10: Breakdown of occupational distribution, 1684 208 Appendix Table 11: Breakdown of occupational distribution, 1732 209 Figures Figure 1.1: An example of the 1684 maps’ details 23 Figure 1.2: The route of the c.1684 maps 24 Figure 1.3: The 1684 survey map of Preston 36 Figure 2.1: Rodger’s map of early modern Lancashire’s road network 46 Figure 2.2: The Preston Parish boundaries 48 Figure 2.3: The Buck Brothers depiction of Preston, Patten House 57 Figure 3.1: The 1684 survey map of Preston 89 Figures 3.2: The geographic distribution of the occupational groups 94-9 Figure 3.3: The Churchgate retailers, 1684 104 Figure 3.4: The Churchgate retailers detailed on the original documents, 1684 106 Figure 3.5: The market area’s effect on residential patterns of the better sort 109 Figure 3.6: Fishergate genteel hub, 1684 112 Figure 3.7: The extremities of Friargate, 1684 113 Figure 3.8: Friargate Manufacture, Clothing and Retail occupations 118 Figure 3.9: Map of Preston, 1822 121 Figure 3.10: The wealth distribution of Preston, 1684 125 Figure 3.11: The Buck Brothers depiction of Preston, Market Pace and Fishergate 128 Figures 3.12: The wealth and occupational distribution of Friargate, a comparison, 1684 132 Figure 4.1: Nicholas Pashley and Randle Cook’s properties, 1684 144 Figure 4.2: The probate relationships of the community brokers John Calvert and Jonathan Cowburne 159 Appendix figure 1: Relational database table/entity layout 199 ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS I would like to extend my thanks to Dr Andrew Gritt and Dr Stephen Caunce who formed my supervisory team. Between them they have guided my research process and given me the support necessary to submit a completed thesis, twice. I feel that I must mention the Graduate Research School who have always directed me to the appropriate resource. A large proportion of the primary research was conducted at the Lancashire Record Office. The advice and expertise of the archivists has been valuable, and I would like to personally thank David Tilsley, Jacquie Crosby and Neil Sawyer for the each helping me to find and use the archives. The search room staff members have also been diligent in their production of probate document after probate document, without a word of complaint. Finally, and most importantly, I must mention my family and friends. Every word I try and muster falls short. As with many post graduate research degrees, I have had to overcome self-doubt, financial hardships and misgivings over the career outcomes. This has never been an issue to my friends and family, and they have continually lifted me whilst I balanced my research and a series of part time jobs. Sir Arthur Conan Doyle wrote a line for Holmes that I can relate to, “My Life is spent in one long effort to escape from the commonplace of existence”. With this approach to life, it must be difficult to tolerate me. To my Mum, Dad and my sisters, Emma, Janet and Sarah, I am eternally grateful and only hope that I will one day pay them back. To my friends I have nothing but admiration for their continued patience with me. Thank you. ABBREVIATIONS LRO, Lancashire Record Office THSLC, Transactions of the Historic Society of Lancashire and Cheshire EEBO, Early English Books Online LPS, Local Population Studies INTRODUCTION The main aim of this thesis is to better appreciate the function of, and internal socio- economic relationships within, early modern Preston. The following chapter will therefore review the existing historiography on early modern towns and related themes. This is to establish the context for the research, and will also provide a benchmark against which Preston’s findings can be measured. Understanding and defining the urban economic environment The early modern urban environment has been the subject of several scholarly revisions in the last few decades. Recent debates have contended that early modern towns were “engine rooms” that drove innovation, culture and, even more broadly, the enlightenment. It has been argued that urban space was both a nexus in the supply and the consumption of goods.1 As a consequence of this informal brokerage, urban environments are thought to have been developing an autonomous exceptionalism from their respective hinterlands.2 Several historians propose that after the Civil Wars the newly aspirational gentry drove consumer spending. Scholarly consensus also agrees that the principal beneficiaries of this spending growth were towns, or urban inhabitants. Within the urnan environment, the local gentry would gather and exchange ideas.3 Borsay has identified this period as an English 1 J. Stobart, et al., Spaces of consumption: Leisure and shopping in the English town, c.1660-1830 (Routledge, 2007) 4-9. 2 J. Stobart, ‘Regional structure and the urban system: North west England, 1700-1760’, THSLC, 145 (1996) 45- 73. Here at 54. 3 A. Everitt, ‘The food market of the English town, 1660-1760’, Proceedings of the 3rd International Conference of Economic History (Munich, 1965) as cited in N. Goose, ‘In search of the urban variable: Towns and the English economy, 1500-1650’, The Economic History Review, 39, 2 (May, 1986) 165-85. Here at 167. See also K. Wrightson and D. Levine, Poverty and piety in an English village, Terling 1525-1700 (Clarendon Press, 2001) 6. R. B. Outhwaite, ‘Dearth and government intervention in English grain markets, 1590-1700’, Economic History 1 urban renaissance, suggesting that this consumer spending initiated a proliferation and improvement in urban retailing, services and leisure activities. Beginning after the Restoration, Borsay believed that these transformations within the urban environment, buoyed by the economic upward spiral, continued unabated until the 1760s.4 This perpetual cycle shaped both the urban environment and developed a common language of architectural and social expression.5 Towns were increasingly required to offer “a choice of good inns, clubs, playhouses, libraries and the chance to consult reputable attorneys and physicians”.6 The urban improvements can, therefore, be subdivided into two categories; the physical improvements within the urban environment and the transformation in economic activities that incorporated “a more diverse retail and service base”.7 The extent to which these can be identified within late Stuart Preston will be addressed in the subsequent sections.