Editing Preston, Lancashire (section)

====River Ribble====
{{main|River Ribble}}
[[File:Preston Riversway Docks.jpg|thumb|The [[River Ribble]], with the dock entrance to the left]]
The River Ribble has a length of approximately {{convert|75|mi|km}}, originating near the [[Ribblehead Viaduct]] in [[North Yorkshire]], flowing westward and passing through Preston and entering the [[Irish Sea]] at the [[Ribble and Alt Estuaries]] near [[Lytham]], approximately {{convert|11.5|mi|km}} to the west of the city.<ref>{{Cite web |date=2025 |title=The River Ribble and Its Tributaries |url=https://ribbletrust.org.uk/our-rivers/ |access-date=2025-02-02 |website=Ribble Rivers Trust |language=en-GB}}</ref>

The Ribble has played an important role in the history of Preston. Archaeological evidence confirms human settlement along its banks going back to [[Neolithic]] times, as well as the [[Saxon]] and [[Ancient Rome|Roman]] eras. The river was already a trading port by [[medieval]] times, increasing in use and importance in conjunction with the industrialisation of Preston, until the closure of the Port of Preston in 1981.{{Citation needed|date=January 2023}}

The river suffers from an on-going issue of [[sedimentation]], and was regularly [[Dredging|dredged]] downstream of Preston while the city had an active port. Since dredging operations ceased, [[silt]] from the river is now spreading more widely over the beaches of its estuary.<ref>{{Cite web |last=Welsby |first=J. |last2=Motyka |first2=J. M. |date=April 1989 |title=A Macro Review of the Coastline of England and Wales Volume 8. The North West. The Great Orme to the Solway Firth. |url=https://eprints.hrwallingford.com/241/1/SR207.pdf |website=Hydraulics Research Wallingford |format=PDF |edition=Report SR 207}}</ref>