Preston, Lancashire after 1948, Preston became home to a significant number of Asian and Caribbean Commonwealth immigrants, who mostly worked in the manufacturing industry. However, an economic decline hit the town once again in the 1970s, capped by the closure of the Courtaulds factory in 1979 (nearly 3,000 job losses) and the decline of the docks on the River Ribble, which finally closed in 1981. Mass unemployment was firmly back in Preston by the early 1980s, although it was now very much a national crisis due to the recession of that time. The rehousing of families from town centre slums to new
Preston on the Hill 19th century the manor was purchased by Gilbert Greenall, 1st Baron Daresbury of the Greenall's brewery family and added to the Walton estate. A number of old houses were renovated or demolished and re-built at the end of 19th century. In 1941 Lord Daresbury sold the estate mainly to his tenants. Historical references to the area are to the Township of Preston-on-the-Hill. Preston-on-the-Hill became a civil parish in the 1870s but in 1936 the civil parish was named Preston Brook. At the time of the Hearth Tax in 1664 the population was 130, and it probably remained at about that