This surname is derived from a geographical locality. 'of Preston.' No less than twenty-four parishes, situated in every part of England, bear this name in the Index to Crockford. No wonder the surname is so familiar. I furnish a few early instances out of many.

Laurence de Preston, Lincolnshire, 1273. Hundred Rolls.

Alice de Preston, Northamptonshire, ibid.

Adam de Preston, Westmorland, 20 Edward I: Placita de Quo Warranto, temp. Edward I-III.

Robert de Preston, Salop, ibid.

John de Prestone, of Preston, Somerset, 1 Edward III: Kirby's Quest.

Johannes de Pryston, 1379: Poll Tax of Yorkshire.

Isabella de Preston, 1379: ibid.

1562. Rowland Preston and Anne Mellowe: Marriage Lic. (London).

From the barony of Preston or Prestoun, afterwards known as Gourtoun and now Craigmillar in Midlothian. Alured de Preston appears as a charter witness in 1222 (LSC., 62), and Lyulph, son of Lyulph de Preston, c. 1240-50, had a charter from John Albus of a piece of land in Linlithgow which lie made over to the Abbey of Neubotel (Neubotle, p. 149). Johannes de Prestun witnessed a quitclaim by Johannes Gallard apud Muskilburg in 1248 (RD., p. 97), William de Preston and Henry de Preston appear as charter witnesses in 1292 (Neubotle, p. 292), and William de Prestone and Nicol de Prestone, both of Edinburghshire, rendered homage in 1296 (Bain, II, p. 201). Nisbet (Heraldry) says that Nicol is Preston of that Ilk and Craigmillar. Philip de Prestoun was a charter witness in 1332 (BNCH., XVI, p. 327), and Sir John de Preston, who was taken prisoner at the battle of Durham in 1346, obtained a charter of the lands of Gourtoun or Gorton in 1342 (Culross and Tulliallan, I, p. 215). Symone de Prestoun was burgess of Edinburgh, 1362 (Egidii, p. 8), and Peter of Preston of Scotland was repaid 13 marks laid out by him in jewels bought for Johanna, late queen of Scotland in 1363 (Bain, IV: 94). William Preston brought from France the arm-bone of S. Giles and gifted it to the church of St. Giles. Alexander Preston, clerk of the realm of Scotland, had a safe conduct into England in 1470 (ibid., IV, 1388), and Will of Preston, charter witness in Ayr, 1491, appears in the same year as Vill of Prestoune (Friars Ayr, p. 63, 64). Sir Simon Preston of Craigmillar, provost of Edinburgh in 1557, gifted the land, etc., of Trinity Hospital. The line became extinct in 1639 with decease of Sir Robert Preston, s.p.

A good account of the Preston family will be found in the Introduction to The Gormanston Register.

(English) belonging to Preston = the Priest’s or Priests’ Place; Church- Domain [Old English préost, priest; tún, estate, etc.] We see the genit. pl. form, Préostatún, in a charter of the year 946 (‘Cart. Sax.’ No. 811). Preston near Cirencester is stated to have belonged to the Confessor’s priest - chancellor Regenbald. Preston near Ledbury "anciently belonged to a religious house.” Preston, Lancs, is Prestone in Domesday Book. Preston, Warwickshire, is the Domesday Prestetone. The 13th-cent. form of this common place-name is usually Preston, e.g.— Adam de Preston.—Scut. of Gascony, A.D. 1242-3.

A distinguished name in Ireland since the family became established here at the end of the thirteenth century. IF 299; SIF 161; Map Meath

(English) One who came from Preston (priest's homestead), the name of many places in England.

Besides the great Lancashire town, thirty-five parishes and places are named in the Gazetteer, and there are many others in various counties. The origin of the name, from preostes-tun. 'the priest's enclosure or homestead ' is undoubted. The Prestons of Furness were traced to Richard de Preston, of Preston, co. Westmoreland, temp. Henry II.

Local: from the town of Preston in Haddingtonshire. The family are descended from Leolphus de Preston, 1165.

Local. A town in Lancashire, England. The town in the coppice, or the bushy hill, from Prys and ton; also, Preston, the town where brass is found or manufactured, from Pres, brass, Welsh.

Or Taillebois. Renfrid Taillebosc, of Normandy, c. 1050, had issue: 1. Ralph Taillebosc, Viscount of Bedford, whose widow was a tenant in capite Bedford, &c. 1086. 2. William Taillebosc, of Lincoln 1086. 3. Ivo Taillebosc, of Lincoln and Norfolk 1086. 4. Gilbert Fitz-Renfrid. The latter was provided for by his brother Ivo, who held Kendal, Westmoreland, t. William I.; and inherited his barony. His son, William de Lancastre, had issue, Renfrid, who was father of, 1. William de Lancastre II.; 2. Roger, whose son Gilbert m. the heiress of William II. de L., and dying 1219 left William III., whose sisters were his heirs; 3. Warin de Lancastre, to whom Henry II. confirmed the estates at Preston formerly held by Gilbert Fitz-Renfrid (his great grandfather). In 1199 King John confirmed the rents of Preston to Henry Fitz-Warin de Lancastre (Baines, iv. 297,298). Hence descended the important family of De Preston in Lancashire, who bore the arms of the De Lancastres, with a slight difference. A younger son, Philip de Preston, settled under the patronage of the Butlers (Barons of Amounderness, Lancashire, and Earls of Ormond), in Ireland, t. Edward I., and adopted the arms of Butler, with a slight variation, probably as a feudal tenant, or from intermarriage. From him descended the Prestons, Viscounts Gormanston, and Lords Tara.

A location name in Kent, Lancashire, etc.