AMOUNDERNESS HUNDRED 



A catalogue of the library at the parish church in 

 1720 is preserved at Chester. 86 



Schools were founded by James Baines in 1717a! 

 Poulton, Thornton and Marton. That at Carleton 

 originated from a bequest by Elizabeth Wilson in 

 1680. 86 



Official inquiries into the parish 

 CHARITIES charities were made in 1824 and 

 1898. The report of the latter 

 inquiry, published in 1899, contained a copy of the 

 former report, and from it the following account is 

 taken. 



For the whole parish there is available the endow- 

 ment given by the above-named James Baines in 

 1717, the earliest charity known to have been estab- 

 lished in Poulton. He gave £800 to trustees, for 

 the ' maintenance, use, and best advantage ' of the 

 poor not receiving help from the rates and for the 

 apprenticing of poor children. Half the interest was 

 to be given for both objects to the township of 

 Poulton and half equally for apprenticing only 

 among the other four townships. The distribution 

 was to be made at Christmas. A farm was bought at 

 Little Carleton, now known as Carleton House Farm. 

 The net income is about £112, which is divided 

 into eight parts, Poulton receiving four and the other 

 townships one each. Very few apprentices are now 

 bound, and in Poulton the £30 given in doles 

 ' appears to be wasted ' as to the greater part. Thus 

 the capital is accumulating, but the charity is not so 

 useful as it might be. The poor of this parish have 

 an interest in the Foxton Dispensary at Blackpool. 



For the township of Poulton Nicholas Nickson of 

 Compley, by will of 1 7 20, left £100 to the vicar and 

 the poor. Land called Durham's Croft was pur- 

 chased for £120, the additional £20 coming from 

 the rates. The rent was divided thus : one-sixth to 

 the rates, the remainder equally between the vicar 

 and the poor. The poor's portion was given in 

 small doles in 1824. The vicar of Poulton is in 

 possession of the land, and gives £4 is. Sd. a year to 

 the overseers as the portion due to the poor rate and 

 to the poor. Doles of zs. are given to twenty-eight 

 poor persons. 



Ellen Whitehead of Poulton (1727) left money or 

 land for the poor of Hardhorn-with-Newton. In 

 1824 there were three cottages and a weaving shed 

 (built in 1 817) on the land. The rents were dis- 

 tributed in doles, but irregularly. The gross income 

 is now £12 lis. Sd., of which about £8 is distributed 

 to the poor in gifts of 5^. or 5/. 6d. each. 



For Marton there are several charities, over £31 

 being distributed in food and clothing. Edward 

 Whiteside, a sailor, of Little Marton, in 1 72 1 left 

 his plot of land for cloth for the poor ; it consists of 

 5 acres in Poulton called the Long Marsh, and is 

 let for £20. About £1 8 is available for a distribution 

 of cloth made in November to thirty or more persons. 

 William Whiteside in 1742 gave ^100 for clothing. 

 This is represented by rent-charges on Marton Green 

 and Webster's farms. 87 John Hodgson in 176 1 left 



POULTON-LE- 

 FYLDE 



land to be sold for endowing a dole of meal for 

 Great Marton ; it seems to have produced £100, and 

 is represented by rent-charges of £2 10s. each on 

 Top o' the Town and Whittam farms. The two 

 charities are combined in working ; the doles of meal 

 have ceased, and the income of £8 6s. Sd. is used 

 for doles of calico to a large number of persons in 

 Great Marton. Edward Jolly in 1784 gave £60 for 

 a weekly dole of bread to be distributed at the chapel 

 on Sunday mornings to such poor persons as might 

 have attended service. Should the chapel become a 

 dissenting meeting-house the destination of the gift 

 was to be changed. The income is £1 15s. Sd., and 

 nine penny rolls are given each Sunday after service. 

 The Thornton charities are recent. Elizabeth 

 Goulding of Fleetwood left the residue of her estate 

 for the benefit of poor widows living at Fleetwood ; 

 the capital is represented by £151 11s. id. consols, 

 and there is an annual income of £4 3/. ^.d. distri- 

 buted according to the founder's wish. Elizabeth 

 Bond of the same town in 1880 left securities, now 

 bringing in about £5 10s. a year, for the benefit of 

 the poor, to be distributed by the vicar of Fleetwood 

 at his discretion. 



POULTON 



Poltun, Dom. Bk. ; Pultune, 1160; Pulton, 

 1 1 96 to xvi cent. The local pronunciation is 

 Pole-ton. 



This triangular township lies between two brooks 

 which join together at its northern end and then 

 flow into the Wyre, which is about half a mile to 

 the north. The parish church stands near the 

 centre of the area in the part called Great Poulton. 

 Little Poulton is a hamlet to the east, while Compley 

 lies in the south-west corner. In general the sur- 

 face is even with a slope to the north, but the 

 three portions named are on slight elevations. 

 Angelholme lies on the north-west boundary. The 

 area is 914 acres, 1 and there was a population of 

 2,223 in 1901. 



A road leads north through the township, passing 

 the church to west and to east and descending the 

 Breck to Skippool, as that part of the united streams 

 flowing to the Wyre is called. The portion of this 

 road to the south-west of the church has been formed 

 into a little square or market-place, at the entrance 

 of which are the market cross, fish stones, whipping 

 post and stocks. 3 From the ends of the market-place 

 roads branch off north-west to Fleetwood and 

 Bispham and south-west to Blackpool. Pococke 

 described Poulton in 1754 as 'a little neat town 

 built of brick, subsisting by trade and tillage.' s 



The Preston and Wyre railway goes through the 

 centre of the township, with a station in the Breck, 

 just to the north of the church, opened in 1896. 

 The line then divides, part going north to Fleetwood 

 and a branch turning west to Blackpool. The old 

 station (1840), still existing, was lower down the 

 Breck, the line to Fleetwood being straighter than at 



85 Dioc. Reg. There is a brief account 

 of this library in Fishwick's Poulton, 197. 



86 Notitia Cestr. ii, 459, 460; End. Char. 

 Rip. 



87 The rent-charge became divided into 

 thirds. Two of these are still existent ; 

 but the other, paid in 1 824 by William eon 



7 



of William Bonney and grandson of Robert 

 Bickerstaff, has been lost, as the purchaser 

 of the land from which it was due refused 

 to pay on the ground that it was not 

 named in the conveyance to him in 1870. 

 1 The Census Rep. 1 90 1 gives 915 

 acres, including 2 of inland water. 



225 



2 Lanes, and Ches. Antiq. Soc. xx, 1 8 8-9. 

 The stocks were renewed in 1874. There 

 are remains of a churchyard cross, and 

 another cross formerly stood in the 

 Breck. 



8 Travels through England (Camd. Soc), 

 ii, 6. 



29 



