Excavations in 1991 and 2007 uncovered the remains of Preston’s 13th‑century Franciscan friary, including part of the church and an associated cemetery. Scientific analysis of well‑preserved burials revealed insights into the friars and their patrons, helping to reconstruct the precinct’s layout and later post‑Dissolution history.
Preston, the administrative centre of modern Lancashire, was one of the most important medieval boroughs in the north-west of England. Increasing prosperity during the nineteenth century, however, meant that most of its early heritage was lost to redevelopment and, to date, it has yielded little archaeological evidence of its medieval past. However, in 1991 and 2007, development-led excavations just to the north-west of the historic town centre revealed significant medieval remains. Although badly damaged by later development, these included the foundations of a substantial stone building with evidence for several internal features. Evidence from associated finds, including painted window glass and line-impressed floor tiles, suggested that it was ecclesiastical in origin. The western part of the building was the best preserved, and excavation showed it to have accommodated at least four rows of east/west-aligned burials; several more were identified immediately outside the building, and two groups of cut features further to the east and west are probably the remnants of other graves, hinting at an extensive cemetery to the north of the building.
Analysis, funded by English Heritage (now Historic England), has allowed these truncated and fragmentary remains to be identified as the last remnant of Preston’s Franciscan friary, which was founded on the outskirts of Preston in c 1260, and remained in use until it was closed in 1539, during the Dissolution of the Monasteries by Henry VIII. If the building was part of the friary church, then it is likely that the burials are those of wealthy patrons, who had been interred in a side chapel or transept, appended to its north side. This work has also allowed other, less coherent, structural evidence, identified in 1991, to be interpreted as elements of the church, parts of the cloister or claustral ranges, or perhaps service buildings, lying to the south, thus permitting the full size of the friary precinct to be better understood.
The well-preserved nature of many of the burials provided an unusual opportunity for scientific analysis, including radiocarbon dating of the human remains, dendrochronological dating of the coffins, and osteological analysis of the skeletons. Drawn together, these individual strands provided a rich picture of the lives and appearance of the friars and their patron families, throughout the life of the Friary.
Although no physical remains could be associated with the south range, cartographic and documentary evidence strongly suggest that, after the dissolution of the Friary, parts of it remained in use, first as a private house belonging to the Breres family, later (from c 1680 to 1789) used as a ‘house of correction’. Much altered, it survived into the mid-nineteenth century, serving finally as part of the Canal Foundry, before being demolished, when its site was effectively lost.
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