In the Domesday Book Freckeltun is stated to contain four carucates of arable soil. During the reign of Henry III. Richard de Freckleton, Allan de Singleton, and Iwan de Freckleton, with three others, held land in Freckleton from the earl of Lincoln. In 1311 the heirs of Adam de Freckleton held Freckleton from Alice, the daughter and heiress of the earl of Lincoln, shortly after which Ralph de Freckleton was lord of the manor. Gilbert de Singleton had a house with 12 acres of land and a mill there in 1325. In 1349 the manor was held under the earl of Lancaster as follows:—Robert de Freckleton, 1 messuage and 3 bovates; Nicholas le Botiler, 1 messuage and 11 bovates; the heirs of Robert Sherburne, 2 bovates; the heirs of Sir Adam de Banastre, 2 bovates; and Thomas de Singleton, 1 bovate. During the first half of the 16th century the Botilers or Butlers retained property in Freckleton, whilst the Sherburnes held estates there until the early part of the 17th century. Hugh Hilton Hornby, esq., of Ribby Hall, is the largest territorial proprietor at present, but there are several resident yeomen.

In 1834 a temporary episcopal chapel was erected, and 5 years later the existing church was built, being a neat brick edifice, with a spire at the west end, and containing an ancient pulpit from Kirkham church. The Rev. G. H. Waterfall, M.A., was the earliest incumbent, and the Rev. Walter Scott, appointed in 1861, is now in charge. In 1718 a Quakers’ burial ground was opened, but was closed in 1811. A meeting house was also established by the same sect in 1720, and pulled down after standing nearly a century. A Wesleyan chapel was erected in 1814; and in 1862 the Primitive Methodists opened another. A National school was built in 1839, and is supported mainly by subscriptions.

The village is long and irregular, but contains sundry better class houses, and a cotton manufactory, belonging to Mr. Sowerbutts, holding 320 looms. The inhabitants are chiefly employed in making sacking, sailcloth, ropes, etc. There is also a shipbuilding yard, of which Mr. Rawstorne is the proprietor, where vessels, mostly for the coasting trade, are constructed.

POPULATION OF FRECKLETON.

1801.1811.1821.1831.1841.1851.1861.1871.
561701875909995968879930

The township comprises 2,659 statute acres.

Andrew Freckleton and two more gave, about 1734, certain sums of money for the poor of Freckleton, the interest from which, together with 10s. per annum left by Lawrence Webster for the same object, amounts to £2 5s. a year. The township shares in a bequest of £5, with Clifton and Newton-with-Scales, from Elizabeth Clitherall, of Clifton, for the use of the poor.

Warton. Wartun is entered in the survey of William the Conqueror as comprising four carucates, and later, when in the fee of the earl of Lincoln, the township was held by the manorial lord of Wood Plumpton. During the reign of King John, Thomas de Betham had the third of a knight’s fee in Warton. Sir Ralph de Betham held Warton in the time of Edward III., and in 1296 Edmund Crouchback, earl of Lancaster, had a rent charge of 3s. 4d. there. Gilbert de Singleton was possessed of a messuage with six bovates of land in the township about 1325. The manor was held by Johanna Standish and Richard Singleton in 1515. John Talbot Clifton, esq., of Lytham Hall, is now the most extensive owner of the soil.

The church of Warton, dedicated to St. Paul, was completed in 1722, but not consecrated until 1725. Within recent years it has been apportioned a distinct parochial district under Lord Blandford’s act.