Preston at Work

Preston is rightly proud of its industrial heritage and can lay claim to being at the forefront of developments in many areas of technology. From the late eighteenth century when the first cotton mills appeared a great diversity of products and services have been produced by Preston folk. By the Industrial Revolution Preston was an important cog in the wheel of Lancashire industry. Machinery for textiles, factories for tobacco, chocolate and biscuits, breweries, a gold thread works, and a soap works have provided employment for generations. Aeroplanes, railway carriages, tramcars, diesel locomotives, motorcars and lorries have left the local production lines. The Preston Docks were, from late Victorian days until the 1980s, a hive of industry in an area where shipbuilding was pioneered. Indeed, engineering works and iron foundries were commonplace, providing the nuts and bolts essential for industrial growth.

Preston at Work explores the life of this Lancashire city and its people, from pre-industrial beginnings through to the present day. In a fascinating series of contemporary photographs and illustrations it takes us from the days when cotton and spinning were cottage industries, through the Industrial Revolution, the traumas of the war years and into the technologically advanced world of today, showing how Preston has successfully transformed itself from a cotton town into an administrative centre and a university city.