Winckley Square is situated near the centre of Preston, Lancashire, England, at the west end of Avenham. The square was first established in 1801, around Town End Field owned by Thomas Winckley, as an exclusive residential area for the town's gentry. It is now occupied mostly by insurance, legal and other business offices, although some residential developments have recently been made. The square's gardens, now an open public park, originally consisted of private plots, each owned by a resident. A statue of Sir Robert Peel stands on one side of the central gardens opposite Cross Street, erected by public subscription in 1852. An Italian-style villa was built in 1850 on the south corner of Cross Street, which was later used as a County Court office from the 1940s. It was demolished in 1969. On the opposite corner was the Winckley Club, a gentlemen's club, and next to it, in Cross Street, the Literary and Philosophical Institution, both built in 1846 and both now demolished. The suffragette Edith Rigby lived at number 28. Winckley Street lies between Winckley Square and Preston's main street of Fishergate. Today it is home to mainly professional and religious service providers, including solicitors practices, a translation company, a Jesuitpresbytery as well as restaurants.
Schools
Winckley Square has been the home of several schools.
Preston Grammar School dated back to the 15th century. In 1841 it moved to new premises in Cross Street next to the Philosophical Institution. In 1913 it relocated to Moor Park, and closed in 1967. It is not to be confused with the former Preston Manor County Grammar School in London.
Notable alumni
Mahdi Al Tajir, billionaire, Scotland's richest man
Preston High School for Girls once occupied 5 Winckley Square. It was superseded in 1907 by the Park School for Girls, which educated younger girls in Winckley Square and older girls in Moor Park Avenue. It closed in 1967.
In 1875, the Society of the Holy Child Jesus formed a girls' convent school from the merger of its three convent schools, St. Walburge's of 1853, St Mary's of 1871 and English Martyr's of 1871. The new school was at 23 Winckley Square, the former home of Thomas Batty Addison, once the Recorder of Preston. As the school grew, it came to fill the whole block between the streets of East Cliff and Garden Street, reaching a peak of 850 pupils in 1962. In 1978 it suffered the same fate as the neighbouring Catholic College, the site closing in 1981. The buildings are now used as offices and a Paul Heathcote restaurant.
