Preston, Lancashire the many large active Roman Catholic parish churches is St Thomas of Canterbury and the English Martyrs, located on Garstang Road. Preston was the location of the world's first foreign mission of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints (commonly known as the Mormons). As early as 1837 the first Mormon missionaries to Great Britain began preaching in Preston and, in particular, other small towns situated along the River Ribble. Preston is home to the world's oldest continuous branch (a small congregation) of the LDS Church. An official memorial to the church pioneers may be found in the
Great stand on the Ugra river of its Oka-Volga cradle west to Smolensk and southwest across the Ugra and down the west side of the Oka as far as Novgorod-Seversky. Great stand on the Ugra river The Great Stand on the Ugra River (, also , derived from "Ugra") was a standoff between the forces of Akhmat Khan of the Great Horde, and the Grand Prince Ivan III of Muscovy in 1480 on the banks of the Ugra River, which ended when the Tatars departed without conflict. It is seen in Russian historiography as the end of Tatar rule over Moscow. The main Russian defense line