AMOUNDERNESS HUNDRED 



POULTON-LE- 

 FYLDE 



Worship according to the Roman rites was probably 

 maintained at Lytham Hall during the I yth and 1 8th 

 centuries, 83 there being a domestic chapel. 84 The 

 list of convicted recusants about 1670 is headed by 

 Sir Thomas Clifton, and contains many names still 

 known in the district. 843 The number of 'Papists' 

 returned to the Bishop of Chester in 1767 was 384 ; 

 the priest was 'John Mansel a/iasTalbot, Jesuit,' and 

 ' Thomas Clifton esq.' followed him. 84b In 1800 an 

 old tithe-barn on the edge of the park was used as 

 a chapel. 85 After the squire became a Protestant the 

 present St. Peter's was built in the town in I839. 56 

 At St. Anne's the church of Our Lady Star of the Sea 

 was built in I Sgo. 87 St. Joseph's, Ansdell, was founded 

 in 1908. 



The free school at Lytham was founded in 1726 



or a little later. 88 A second school, or branch, seems 

 to have been opened at Heyhouses in 1775. 



Official inquiries were made as to 

 CHARITIES the charities in 1824 and 1899, and 

 from the reports issued in 1900 it 

 appears that, apart from the educational endowments, 

 amounting to 720 a year, there are only two 

 chanties in operation. Elizabeth Layland in 1734 

 left 60 for the poor or the education of children ; 

 this now produces 5 los. a year, of which 2 2s. 

 is given to the cottage hospital and the rest is dis- 

 tributed to the poor in kind. 89 Harriet Jane 

 Quartley in 1878 left 19 igs. to the vicar of 

 Lytham for a Christmas gift to the poor ; the income 

 is 1 3-f. 2</., but the capital has been increased by 

 accumulations. 90 



POULTON 

 CARLETON 



POULTON-LE-FYLDE 



THORNTON 

 HARDHORN-WITH-NEWTON 



MARTON 



This parish, from which Bispham has been 

 detached, has an area of 16,691^ acres, including 

 1,523^ acres of tidal water, and its population in 

 1901 numbered 27,987. The country is in general 

 level, with gentle undulations. The town of Poulton 

 was formerly a place of importance in the district, 

 being called the 'metropolis of the Fylde 'in 1837,' 

 but the formation of Fleetwood at the mouth of the 

 Wyre, and, still more, the growth of Blackpool, have 

 left it far behind. In former times the estuary of the 

 Wyre was ' proverbial for the safety of its navigation,' * 

 and Poulton was the port on it. 



The history of the parish has been that of a quiet 

 agricultural community. There are slight traces of 

 Roman occupation. 1 Before the Reformation a large 

 portion of the land was held by religious houses, 

 represented by the bailiffs at their granges, and the 

 resident gentry were little more than yeomen, 

 cultivating their estates and apparently living in peace 

 with each other. The destruction of the monasteries 

 made little practical change, though it introduced an 

 important resident family that of Fleetwood of 

 Rossall but the religious revolution found a number 

 of victims, great and small. One or two here, as in 

 other parishes of the Fylde, suffered death for their 

 work as missionary priests, and the most powerful 

 opponent of the Elizabethan establishment of religion 

 was a native of the parish Cardinal Allen. The 

 Civil War and the Revolution do not seem to have 



disturbed this parish in any noteworthy manner. 

 One of the minor gentry, Thomas Singleton of 

 Staining, lost his life in 1643 in the cause of Charles I. 

 The school at Rossall, though of recent origin, 

 provides a distinctive feature. 



To the tax called the county lay of 1624 the 

 various townships contributed as follows when the 

 hundred paid 100 : Poulton, 2 los. (>\d. ; 

 Carleton, i i6s. \\d. ; Thornton, 2 os. 5f</. ; 

 Hardhorn-with-Newton, 2 los. 2\d. ; and Marton, 

 2 os. ^\d.\ in all, 10 ijs. jd.* The older 

 fifteenth shows much the same relative values. 5 



With the exception of Fleetwood the district 

 remains almost entirely agricultural. The land is 

 now occupied very largely as pasture, as may be seen 

 by the following table 5a : 



3,000 



9>'93 



79* 



83 As usual there are practically no 

 records of the i/th century. A list of 

 priests in charge from about 1615, com- 

 piled by Mr. Gillow, is printed in Hist, of 

 Lytham (Chet. Soc.), 47-54. 



84 It is now a lumber-room. 



844 Misc. (Cath. Rec. Soc.), v, 188-90. 



^b Trans. Hist. Soc. (new ser.), xviii, 

 2 1 8. There was a priest at the hall 

 in 1712 ; Tyldesley Diary, 37. The 

 Jesuits had charge of the mission, and 

 in 1701 Ralph Hornyold alias Gower was 

 in charge with a salary of 10. In 1750 

 there were 200 general confessions and 

 230 ' customers,' while in 1793 there 

 were 250 Easter communicants and 75 

 persons were confirmed ; Fok-y, Rec. S. /. 

 v, 320-5. About 1794 a Benedictine 



succeeded the Jesuits, but remained only a 

 short time ; Trans. Hist. Soc. (new ser.), 

 xiii, 1 66. The secular clergy have been 

 in charge since 1803. 



86 There is a description in Whittle, 

 Lytham, 10, II. 



86 Liverpool Cath. Annual. There is a 

 cemetery with a mortuary chapel at 

 Saltcotes. 87 Ibid. 



88 End. Char. Rep. for Lytham, 1 900. 

 The original endowments, though small, 

 were invested in land near Blackpool 

 which has become valuable. 



89 The income is derived from a piece 

 of meadow in Freckleton, called Manning's 

 land. 



90 An old charity founded by Thomas 

 Cookson, for books for poor children, is 



219 



supposed to have been merged in the 

 school fund. 



1 Thornber, Blackpool, 281. 



a Baines, Lanes. Dir. 1825, ii, 463. 



8 Traces of a Roman road leading north 

 through Marton and Poulton to the Wyre 

 mouth have been noticed. A hoard of 

 Roman coins was found near Fleetwood 

 in 1840. 



4 Gregson, Fragments (ed. Harland), 23. 



s Ibid. 19 ; the payments were : Poul- 

 ton, i 9*. 6\d. ; Carleton, i is. i < ; 

 Thornton, i 3*. 8< ; Hardhorn-with- 

 Newton, 1 91. 4^. ; and Marton, 

 i 3*. fyd. This gives a total sum of 

 /,6 js. 2%a". when the hundred paid 

 56 4*. 8</. 



5a Statistics from Bd. of Agric. (1905). 



