Stoneygate

Stoneygate is one of Preston's five original medieval gates or streets. It was once both an important and picturesque route into Preston and was described 1684 as:, "another remarkable passage towards Rible Bridge through the Church yard. Southwards by the Publiq Schoole and antient place called Chappel of Avenham, over Swilbrook southward by west field to the aforesaid Rible Bridge; and this passage is called Stoneygate being the greatest foot tract to the Burrough of Preston", Although it has now regained much of its original charm it has lost many of the important buildings which once lined its route. The Grammar School described by Dr. Kuerden was built in 1666 on land provided by the town. In 1728 a house for the headmaster was added by subscription and is known today as Arkwright House. In 1770 Preston's first library was opened adjacent to the Grammar School with books bequeathed by Dr. Richard Shepherd (1694-1761) (the site is record by the name Library Street) and the area became known as the learned quarter to Preston. By the mid-nineteenth century the area had become "a conglomeration of little huckstering shops, tumbledown tenements and cheap lodging houses" and the library and Grammar School moved in Winckley Square which had then become the most fashionable district in the town., Another interesting feature of the area were the town stocks where by an order of the Guild of 1562 offenders were to be punished for three days and fed only on bread and water. The stocks were probably positioned in a corner of the churchyard where they would be [illegible] Stoneygate., Distinguishing the entrance of Stoneygate from Church Street are the parish Church and Bull and Royal Hotel. The present Parish Church which was designed by E.H. Shellard in 1853 on a site used for Christian worhsip since Anglo-Saxon times. It was originally dedicated to St Wilfrid whose effigy was carried round the town in the 13th century on St Wilfrid's Day when the population drank Church Ales. In 1581, after the Reformation, the church was rededicated to St John the Evangelist and a series of rebuildings commenced. Today there is only a brass plaque of 1623 dedicated to Seth Bushell to remind us of the antiquity of the site., Some of the most important dates associated with it are:, . AD 700: Lands in the neighborhood are granted to the monks of Ripon. , . AD 1086: The church is mentioned in the Domesday Survey. It is dedicated to St Wilfrid. , . AD 1581: Soon after the Reformation the church is rebuilt and rededicated to St John. , . AD 1770: Again the building is replaced when the fabric on the 17th century building collapses. , . AD 1814-23: The tower, chancel, and choir are rebuilt in the gothic style with installed parapets, pointed arch windows and octagonal pillars. , . AD 1853: By the middle of the 19th century the growing wealth and population of the town demanded a more prestigious church. This church built for only £9,500 could seat 1,700 people, was completed in 1855 and survives unaltered., An old building and close to the centre of the original town, the Bull and Royal Hotel has witnessed events important not only to the history of the town but also of the country., [much of the remainder illegible]