Prescot | |
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Town | |
St Mary's Church, Prescot |
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Prescot shown within Merseyside | |
Population | 11,184 (2001 Census) |
OS grid reference | SJ4692 |
Civil parish |
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Metropolitan borough | |
Metropolitan county | |
Region | |
Country | England |
Sovereign state | United Kingdom |
Post town | PRESCOT |
Postcode district | L34/L35 |
Dialling code | 0151 |
Police | Merseyside |
Fire | Merseyside |
Ambulance | North West |
EU Parliament | North West England |
UK Parliament | |
Prescot is a town and civil parish within the Metropolitan Borough of Knowsley in Merseyside, England. Historically part of Lancashire, it lies approximately eight miles (13 km) to the east of Liverpool city centre. At the 2001 Census, the civil parish population was 11,184 (5,265 males, 5,919 females). The population of the larger Prescot East and West wards at the 2011 census totalled 14,139. Prescot marks the beginning of the A58 road which runs through to Wetherby, West Yorkshire. The town is served by Prescot railway station and Eccleston Park railway station.
Prescot's name is believed to be derived from the Anglo-Saxon prēost "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").
In the 14th century, William Dacre, 2nd Baron Dacre, obtained a charter for the holding of a three-day market and moveable fair at Prescot, to begin on the Wednesday following Corpus Christi.