Prescot's name is believed to be derived from the Anglo-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 1593, the English political philosopher Gerrard Winstanley's parents, Edward and Isabell Winstanley, originally from Wigan, were married in Prescot.
From the mid-1590s to 1609, Prescot was home to the Prescot Playhouse, a purpose-built Shakespearean 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 the watch and clock-making industry. This ended with the failure of the Lancashire Watch Company in 1910. In later years the BICC 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 as Cables Retail Park, the name of which is a reference to the BICC and the history of the site on which it was built.[8]
The centre of Prescot has seven churches. Dominating the skyline is the 17th-century Prescot Parish Church of St Mary's is the only Grade I listed building in the borough of Knowsley. Tucked away behind St Mary's is the Roman CatholicChurch of Our Lady and St Joseph designed by Joseph Aloysius Hansom, inventor of the Hansom Cab. Prescot Methodist 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 a Salvation Army church, an Elim Pentecostal church (Prescot Community Church), a Plymouth BrethrenGospel Hall and the Zion Independent Methodist Church. Outside the centre, in the Portico area of the town is the Catholic Our Lady Help of Christians Church.
Prescot Museum houses a permanent exhibition about the history of clock and watch-making in the town, and several temporary exhibitions per year. The Georgian building is now also home to Knowsley Council's Arts and Events Service.
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 annual Elizabethan Fayre.
The Shakespeare North Trust promotes William Shakespeare's historic connection with the town, a subject being researched at Liverpool's John Moores University. Inspired by the historic Prescot Playhouse, the Trust has built the Shakespeare North complex in Prescot, including a Shakespearean playhouse and an educational centre.[10] In April 2016, Knowsley Council granted planning permission for the new playhouse.[11] Construction work on the new The Shakespeare North Playhouse was completed in late 2022.
The estate of Parr[14] was within the ancient ecclesiastical parish of Prescot in modern-day Parr, St Helens. This was the original seat of the Parr family, of which Queen Katherine Parr, the last wife of King Henry VIII, was a member.
Shakespearean actor John Philip Kemble was born in Prescot.[10] His house has since been demolished, but the road has been renamed Kemble Street. The John Kemble Pub (later renamed ‘The Bath Springs’) stood in his honour.
Electrical engineer, scientist and entrepreneur Professor Peter Lawrenson was born in Prescot.
Professor Sid Watkins, world-renowned neurosurgeon who served twenty-six years as the FIA Formula One Safety Delegate and Medical Delegate, head of the Formula One on-track medical team, and first responder in case of a crash.
Former Everton player Mark Ward; lived in Prescot at time of arrest.
^Edward Baines, William Robert Whatton, Brooke Herford, James Croston, The history of the county palatine and duchy of Lancaster, vol. 5 (J. Heywood, 1893), p. 2
^Graham, Elspeth; Tyler, Rosemary (2011). ""So Unbridled & Badde an Handfull of England": The Social and Cultural Ecology of the Elizabethan Playhouse in Prescot". In Benbough-Jackson, Mike; Davies, Sam (eds.). Merseyside: Culture and Place. Newcastle: Cambridge Scholars Publishing. pp. 109–139. ISBN1-4438-2964-1.
^Steel, Thomas (2002). Prescot Churchwardens' Accounts. Record Society of Lancashire and Cheshire. pp. xii. ISBN0 902593 48 X.
