The name of Great Preston is first attested in the Domesday Book of 1086, in the form Prestun and similar variants. The name comes from the Old English words prēost ('priest') and tūn ('farmstead, estate'). Thus it once meant 'estate belonging to a priest'.[2]
The name Little Preston, coined to differentiate this settlement from its larger neighbour, is first attested between 1258 and 1265, as Preston Luttle. Meanwhile, the form Great Preston is first attested in 1488.[2]
Amenities
Great Preston has one pub, a local cricket and football team and a village hall. There is a C of E primary school based in an old Victorian building with a modern extension.[3] St Aidan's church was closed in 1992, and changed into a community centre in 1998.[citation needed] The Working Men's club has also shut down and has been replaced by a snooker club.
^ abHarry Parkin, Your City's Place-Names: Leeds, English Place-Name Society City-Names Series, 3 (Nottingham: English Place-Names Society, 2017), p. 50.