Thornton, Lancashire Family History Guide
Thornton is an Ecclesiastical Parish in the county of Lancashire, created in 1838 from Poulton le Fylde Ancient Parish.
Other places in the parish include: Fleetwood.
Alternative names: Poulton le Fylde Thornton Christ Church, Thornton with Fleetwood on Wyre
Parish church:
Parish registers begin:
Thornton
- Parish registers: 1836
- Bishop’s Transcripts: 1837
Fleetwood
- Parish registers: 1841
- Bishop’s Transcripts: None
Nonconformists include: Independent/Congregational, Roman Catholic, Society of Friends/Quaker, and Wesleyan Methodist.
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Adjacent Parishes
Parish History
Thornton
The Imperial Gazetteer of England & Wales 1870
THORNTON, a chapelry and a township in Poulton-le-Fylde parish, Lancashire. The chapelry adjoins Fleetwood town and r. station, and has a post-office under Preston. Pop., 826.
The living is a p. curacy in the diocese of Manchester. Value, £105. Patrons, Trustees. The church was built in 1835.
There are a Wesleyan chapel and a free school.
The township includes Fleetwood, and is noticed in our article on that town.
Source: The Imperial Gazetteer of England & Wales [Wilson, John M]. A. Fullarton & Co. N. d. c. [1870-72].
A Topographical Dictionary of England 1848
THORNTON, a township, in the parish of Poulton, union of the Fylde, hundred of Amounderness, N. division of Lancashire, 1¾ mile (N. by E.) from Poulton; containing, with the town of Fleetwood (which see), 3847 inhabitants.
In the Testa de Nevill is mentioned Matilda de Thorenton, who was at the king’s donation, but unmarried. In the 17th of Edward II., half the town of Thornton was held by William Banastre, and the other moiety by Laurence de Thorneton, a descendant probably of the above-named Matilda; in the 13th of Henry VIII., Thomas, Earl of Derby, held the manor.
It is now considered merely a manor by reputation, of which Sir Peter Hesketh Fleetwood, Bart., is lord. Singleton-Thorpe, a village in this part, was entirely washed away by a sudden irruption of the sea in 1555.
The township is bounded on the north by Morecambe bay, on the west by the Irish Sea, and on the east by the estuary of the Wyre; and comprises 4688 acres, equally divided between arable and pasture: the Marsh was inclosed in 1800, and is now celebrated for its corn. Burn Hall, here, is a dwelling of the 15th century, now used as a farmhouse.
A church, dedicated to Christ, was erected in 1835, at a cost of £800: the living is a perpetual curacy, in the patronage of Five Trustees; net income, £110, with a house. The impropriate tithes have been commuted for £244. 2. 6., and a rentcharge of £40 has been awarded to the perpetual curate. James Baines in 1717 bequeathed land now producing £40 per annum, for teaching children.
Source: A Topographical Dictionary of England by Samuel Lewis 1848
Fleetwood
The Imperial Gazetteer of England & Wales 1870
FLEETWOOD, a town and a chapelry in Poulton-le-Fylde parish, Lancashire.
The town stands on the river Wyre, within 2 miles of the open sea, and 18 NW of Preston. Its site, so late as 1836, was a mere rabbit warren; but was observed by its proprietor, Sir P. H. Fleetwood, to be situated so advantageously for inter-communication between the great marts of England and the seaports of the Isle of Man and the North of Ireland, that he determined to make it a seat of commerce.
A harbour was planned; a railway was formed; a quarry was laid out; and buildings of all sorts appropriate to a seaport town were begun.
The town speedily took form, sprang into activity, realized the hopes of its founder, and became both a bonding-port and a sea-bathing resort. The Preston and Wyre railway, opened in 1840, connects it with the general railway system at Preston; the Fleetwood, Preston, and West Riding Junction railway, partly opened in 1849, carries on the connexion from Preston eastward; and other lines of railway, in other directions, have been projected.
The town has a post office under Preston, a railway station with telegraph, good hotels, a good market-place, bazaars and fancy shops, a custom-house, gas-works, public bathing establishments, a coast-guard station, a large military school, extensive barracks, a large national school, a mechanics’ institute, a literary institution, a church, and Independent, Wesleyan, Primitive Methodist, and Roman Catholic chapels.
The literary institution was erected, in 1864, at a cost of about £3, 000; and is in the Gothic style.
The church is a stone edifice, in the early English style.
A weekly market is held on Friday; various kinds of industry, suitable to a port, are carried on; and a weekly newspaper is published.
Rossall Hall, in the vicinity, formerly the seat of Sir P. H. Fleetwood, is now a collegiate school of high character, but on moderate terms, in connexion with the Church of England; possesses accommodation for 300 pupils; and has a chapel, a music-room, a lecture-room, and an extensive play-ground.
The harbour has a quay 600 feet long, a line of rails to the main railway, and three lighthouses; and, in 1869, was soon to have docks 600 feet long and 400 feet wide. The port’s jurisdiction commences at Hundred-end, about 2 miles W of Hesketh bank; continues up to Preston; goes along the coast, on the N side of the river, to Lytham; round the coast, to Blackpool, and on to Fleetwood; thence to the river Broadfleet, 4 miles from Sea-Dyke, including both sides of the Wyre and the river Broadfleet.
The vessels belonging to the port, at the commencement of 1863, were 42 small sailing-vessels, of aggregately 1, 625 tons; 47 large sailing-vessels, of aggregately 12, 692 tons; 1 small steam-vessel, of 25 tons; and 3 large steam-vessels, of aggregately 1, 224 tons. The vessels which entered, in 1862, were 14 British vessels, of aggregately 7, 906 tons, from British colonies: 1 foreign vessel, of 592 tons, from British colonies; two British vessels, of jointly 389 tons, from foreign countries; 13 foreign vessels, of aggregately 3, 084 tons, from foreign countries; 409 sailing vessels, of aggregately 32, 606 tons, coastwise; and 414 steam-vessels, of aggregately 129, 973 tons, coastwise. The vessels which cleared, in that year, were 7 British vessels, of aggregately 4, 133 tons, to British colonies; 1 foreign vessel, of 170 tons, to British colonies; 3 British vessels, of aggregately 1, 024 tons, to foreign countries; 7 foreign vessels, of aggregately 1, 712 tons, to foreign countries; 195 sailing-vessels, of aggregately 16, 578 tons, coastwise; and 409 steam-vessels, of aggregately 129, 329 tons, coastwise The amount of customs, in 1867 was £3, 716. Steam-vessels sail regularly to Belfast and Londonderry.
Fleet-wood has been regarded as a good starting point for tourists from the south to the Lake district, by way of Piel pier and Furness.
Pop. of the town, in 1861, 3, 834. Houses, 546.
The chapelry is part of the township of Thornton-with-Fleetwood-on-Wyre; and was constituted in 1841. Acres of the township, 9, 730; of which 4, 550 are water. Real property, £16, 459; of which £200 are in gas-works. Pop. in 1851, 4, 134; in 1861, 5, 084. Houses, 708. Pop. of the chapelry, 4, 258. Houses, 547. The living is a p. curacy in the diocese of Manchester. Value, £150. Patron, Sir P. H. Fleetwood.
Source: The Imperial Gazetteer of England & Wales [Wilson, John M]. A. Fullarton & Co. N. d. c. [1870-72].
A Topographical Dictionary of England 1848
FLEETWOOD-on-Wyre, a town and port, in the township of Thornton, parish of Poulton, union of the Fylde, hundred of Amounderness, N. division of the county of Lancaster, 20 miles (S. W. by W.) from Lancaster, and 238 (N. W.) from London; containing, in 1841, 2833, and now upwards of 3000, inhabitants.
This place, which is bounded on the north by Lancaster and Morecambe bays, and on the east and south by the river Wyre, has risen within the last few years into some importance. The lands on which the town is built have been for some centuries the property of the ancestors of Sir Peter Hesketh Fleetwood, Bart.; and prior to the year 1836, formed a wild tract of rabbit-warren without any buildings save one solitary kiln for burning limestone.
The baronet, from whom the place derives its name, perceiving the facilities afforded by the river, for the construction of a capacious harbour and docks, and the great advantages the locality derived from its proximity to the manufacturing districts, projected the erection of a town, the plan of which was drawn by Decimus Burton, Esq.
The town is laid out for streets radiating to the south-east and south-west from its northern boundary, and intersected at right angles by others: the buildings are chiefly of stone from the quarries in the neighbouring districts, and such as are of brick are principally stuccoed. It is lighted with gas, and the inhabitants are supplied with water from wells attached to the houses.
To the north is a mount commanding fine views; and east of this is a lighthouse, a handsome structure of stone with alcoves on either side, to the south of which stands the North Euston hotel, a spacious and elegant building of stone, with an extensive establishment of public baths.
At the eastern extremity of Pharos-street is a circus, with another lighthouse, a Tuscan column 95 feet in height. On the south side of the town is Dock-street, near which is the terminus of the Preston and Wyre railway, appropriated for passengers, from which a branch diverges to the landing-quay, where is the terminus for goods and merchandise: the cost of the main line, a length of 20 miles, was £430,000; and there are branches to Blackpool and Lytham, which cost £40,000.
The harbour, which is about a mile and a half from the sea, and to which the river Wyre for that distance forms the entrance, is situated to the east and south of the town, and has been greatly improved under the superintendence of Captain Denham, F.R.S.: the average depth at low water is 20 feet, and it is protected from storms and heavy seas by a natural breakwater consisting of an immense bank of clay, in which coarse gravel is thickly imbedded.
The navigation of the river is assisted by a screwpile lighthouse, erected in June, 1840, on pillars of iron driven into the bed of the river, and admitting between them a free passage for the water; it has an elevation of 45 feet above the level of half-tide, and at night displays a light visible at a distance of ten miles.
The foreign trade is chiefly in corn, flour, flax, cotton, sugar, rice, timber, and various wooden wares, from the British plantations, and other ports: a coasting trade is carried on with Ireland and the south of Scotland, in grain, meal, flour, provisions, flax, linen, and cattle; and the exports are chiefly coal, slates, and manufactured goods, from the neighbouring counties.
The place has also been made a warehousing port for tobacco removed coastwise for home consumption, for all East India produce after having been warehoused at an approved port, and removed coastwise under certain regulations, and for all other articles of merchandise whether imported direct or otherwise; for the reception of which, bonding warehouses have been erected, and timber, coal, stone, and slate yards have been inclosed.
The number of vessels in the foreign trade that entered inwards in the year 1845, was 23, of the aggregate burthen of 7366 tons, the number in the coasting-trade, inwards, was 580, and outwards, 473, whose aggregate burthen was 111,202, and 104,218 tons, respectively: the amount of customs’ duties in the same year, was £6714. 18. 11. Steamers ply to Ardrossan and Glasgow, to the Isle of Man, to Ulverston and the Lake district, and to Belfast; the passengers step from carriages into the steamers under an arched building. Her Majesty and the court landed here from Scotland, in September, 1847.
The market is supplied with corn and other produce by the farmers of the vicinity, with poultry by steamers from Ulverston, and with provisions from Belfast; it is open daily, but the principal business is transacted on Friday. The land in the neighbourhood is fertile, and the chief agricultural produce is wheat, for which the soil is very favourable: a rich black loamy kind of marl, which lies at a considerable depth beneath the surface, is dug for manure.
A church dedicated to St. Peter has been erected by subscription: it is a handsome structure in the later English style, with a square embattled tower surmounted by a well-proportioned spire, erected after a design by Mr. Burton, and completed in 1841; it contains 450 sittings, of which 150 are free. The living is endowed with great tithes in Thornton to the amount of £66. 2. 6., and the pew-rents, which, when the pews are all let, produce about £200 per annum.
There is a place of worship for Wesleyans; also a Roman Catholic chapel in Walmsley-street. A national school in the Elizabethan style was erected in 1846, as a testimonial to Sir P. H. Fleetwood, for his great enterprise in establishing the town, harbour, and railway; it is calculated to hold 140 boys and the same number of girls, and has an excellent house adjoining for the master and mistress. About a mile from the town, a spacious area has been inclosed for a public cemetery.
Half-way between Fleetwood and Thornton, on the beach, is the hamlet of Rossall, with Rossall Hall, formerly the seat of Sir P. Hesketh Fleetwood, but now appropriated as a public school for the sons of clergymen and other gentlemen, under the name of “The Northern Church of England School.”
This school was opened on the 22nd August, 1844; it is on nearly the same principle as Marlborough College, and these two institutions are, perhaps, the only public boarding schools in England, all the pupils being boarded and lodged on the premises, and not in the masters’ houses, and no day scholars being admitted. The visiter is, the bishop of the diocese; the president, the Earl of Derby; and among the vice-presidents are, Lord Stanley, the Earls of Ellesmere, Burlington, and Balcarres, Lord Skelmersdale, and the Bishops of Chester, London, Llandaff, Norwich, and St. David’s.
There is a council of twenty-four, exclusively of the chairman, treasurer, and secretary, fourteen being clergymen and ten laymen; and the head master, who must be in holy orders, and M.A. of Oxford or Cambridge, has absolute authority in the household, and appoints the other masters, of whom there are seven, three or four being generally in orders, and all graduates of some university.
The system of education resembles that in King’s College, London, and Marlborough College; and is provided at the lowest rate, consistent with selectness, and ample and elegant maintenance. The charges are, for the sons of clergymen, if nominated, £30, and if not nominated, £40, per annum; and for the sons of laymen, nominated and not nominated, £40 and £50 respectively: admission may also be had by insurance from an early age, instead of nomination, the terms in such cases being £25 per annum. There are drawing and music-masters, a swimming master, and drill-serjeants, for whom no extra charge is made. Of about 200 pupils at present in the school, 100 are the sons of clergymen.
The situation of the house is admirably adapted to the purpose, it being on the seacoast, with three miles of fine sands, similar to those of Blackpool, spread in its vicinity; and sufficiently retired to allow great liberty to the scholars, yet so convenient to Fleetwood as to admit of easy communication.
A large sanatorium, capable of holding 36 beds, has been added, and placed under the superintendence of a separate establishment. It may be mentioned, that to the unwearied zeal and indefatigable exertions of the honorary secretary, the Rev. St. Vincent Beechey, first incumbent of Fleetwood, by whom the plan was proposed, this institution owes its rise, and early prosperity.
Source: A Topographical Dictionary of England by Samuel Lewis 1848
Parish Records
FamilySearch
Thornton
Fleetwood
Administration
- County: Lancashire
- Civil Registration District: Fylde
- Probate Court: Court of the Bishop of Chester (Episcopal Consistory)
- Diocese: Manchester
- Rural Deanery: Amounderness
- Poor Law Union: West Derby
- Hundred: Amounderness
- Province: York