The ancient town and port of Poulton occupies the summit of a gentle ascent about one mile removed from the waters of Wyre at Skippool, and three from the Irish Sea at Blackpool. Between 1080 and ’86, Poltun, as it was written in the Norman Survey, contained no more than two carucates of land under tillage, or in an arable condition, so that out of the 900 acres composing the township, only 200 were cultivated by the inhabitants. A considerable proportion of the entire area of the township, however, would be covered with lofty trees, and provide excellent forage ground for large herds of swine, which formed the chief live-stock dealt in by our Anglo-Saxon and early Norman ancestors. Taking this into consideration, the comparatively small amount of soil devoted to agriculture, may not, indeed, indicate so meagre a population about the close of the eleventh century as otherwise it would seem to do, but still the evidence adduced is barely sufficient whereon to base the assumption that the antecedents of Poulton had been less under the destructive influence of the Danes than those of its neighbours. Regarding the locality more retrospectively, and turning back, for a brief space, to the era of the Romans, it must be admitted that nothing has as yet been discovered which could be construed into an intimation that the followers of Agricola, or their descendants, ever had a settlement or encampment on the site. It is true that the churchyard has yielded up many specimens of their ancient coinage, whilst others have been found at no great distance, but the character of the relics is in no way suggestive of a sojournment, like that of the fragmentary domestic utensils and urns of Kirkham; and when it is remembered that the much-used Roman road (Dane’s Pad) leading to the most important harbour of the west coast, passed through the vicinity on its way towards the Warren of Rossall, the explanation of the presence of the coins, as of other antiquities along its line, is obvious. The name of the town and district now under examination is of pure Anglo-Saxon origin, and acquired from its proximity to the pool of the Skipton, or Skippool, the signification of the word being, it is scarcely necessary to add, the enclosure or township of the pool. The date at which habitations first became visible on the soil must remain in a great measure a matter of conjecture, as the annals of history are silent respecting this and most other towns of Amounderness, until the arrival of William the Conqueror, but we may safely infer that it was not long after the advent of the Saxons before a situation so convenient both to the stream of Wyre and the frequented pathway just mentioned, attracted a small colony of settlers. Whatever century gave birth to Poulton, it is certain that from such epoch to 1066, the population would be constituted, almost exclusively, of the class known as “Villani,” perhaps most appropriately interpreted by our term villagers, and that the occupation of these bondsmen of the soil would be the tillage of the land and the superintendence of swine. Their huts were doubtless of very rude and primitive construction, but somewhere within the boundaries of the township there must have been a dwelling of more pretentious exterior, the residence of the Town-Reve, who received the dues and tolls from the “Villani,” on behalf of the large territorial lord, and exercised a general supervision over them. Athelstan appears to have held the lordship of the whole of Amounderness in 936, when he conveyed it to the See of York, and possibly before he ascended the throne it was invested successively in his regal predecessors.
After the Conquest, Poulton passed into the possession of the Norman nobleman, Roger de Poictou, by whom it was granted in 1094, to the priory of St. Mary, at Lancaster. “He gave,” says the charter, “Poltun in Agmundernesia, and whatsoever belonged to it, and the church with one carucate of land, and all other things belonging to it; moreover he gave the tithe of venison and of pawnage[67] in all the woods, and the tithe of his fishery.”[68] This extract proves beyond question the existence of a church at Poulton exactly eight years after the completion of the Domesday record; and further, that it was endowed with one carucate of land, or half the cultivated portion of the township. At the first glance it seems more probable that the sacred edifice was overlooked by the investigators in the course of the survey than that it was erected so shortly afterwards, but a study of other pages of the register betrays such evident care and minuteness on the part of those to whom the work of compilation was entrusted, that it appears impossible for an important building like the church to have escaped their notice. Roger de Poictou was justly celebrated for zeal in the cause of his faith; several monastic institutions owed their establishment to his liberality, and amongst them was St. Mary’s of Lancaster. It will therefore be but a reasonable conclusion to arrive at, that he built and endowed the parish church of Poulton with the intention of presenting it to the Priory of his own founding, in connection with the abbey of Sees in Normandy. During the reign of Richard I. (1189-99), Theobald Walter quitclaimed to the abbot of Sees all his right to the advowson of Poulton and the church of Bispham, owing to a suit instituted against him by that ecclesiastic;[69] and hence it must be inferred that the donation of Roger de Poictou had through some cause reverted to him, being subsequently conferred on Walter in company with other of the confiscated estates of the rebellious baron. The abbot of Cockersand also had some interest in the town about the time the last event took place, and in about 1216 he compounded with the prior of Lancaster for certain tithes held by him in the parish.[70] In 1246 the mediety of the church of Poulton and the chapel of Bispham was granted by the archdeacon of Richmond to the priory of St. Mary, and half a century later John Romanus, archdeacon of Richmond, confirmed the gift, bestowing on it in addition the remaining mediety, to be received when death had removed the present holder. A clause in the document stipulated that immediately the second mediety had been appropriated a vicar should be appointed at a salary of twenty marks (£13 6s. 8d.) per annum.[71] Here again it is clear that some time in the interval between 1199 and 1246 the lands and living of Poulton had once more been forfeited or disposed of by the Lancaster monastery, but in the absence of any records bearing on the subject, the manner and reason of the relinquishment must still continue enveloped in a veil of mystery. From 1246 the vicarage of Poulton remained attached to the Lancaster foundation until the dissolution of alien priories, when it was conveyed to the abbey of Sion, in Middlesex, and retained by that convent up to the time of the Reformation in 1536. Alien priories, it may be explained, were small monastic institutions connected with the abbeys of Normandy, and established on lands which had been granted or bequeathed to the parent houses by William the Conqueror or one of his followers. They were occupied by only a very limited number of brethren and members of the sisterhood. A prior was appointed over each, his chief duty being to collect the rents and other monies due from their estates, etc., and transmit them over to Normandy. Such immense sums were in that way annually exported out of the country, that it was ultimately deemed expedient by the king and his ministers to suppress all priories of this description.
The Banastres were a family long connected with the Fylde through landed property which they held in the neighbourhood; originally they are stated to have come over from Normandy with William the Conqueror, and to have settled at Newton in the Willows. On their frequent journeys to and from Thornton, Singleton, and Staining, the tenants of the priory of St. Mary were in the habit of crossing over the lands of the Banastres, by whom their intrusions were deeply resented, which led to constant feuds between them and the head of the Lancaster monastery. In 1276, as we learn from the “Regist. S. Mariæ de Lanc.,” Sir Adam Banastre with several of his friends and retainers, amongst whom were John Wenne, Richard le Demande (the collector), William de Thorneton, Richard de Brockholes, Geoffrey le Procuratoure (the proctor), and Adam le Reve (the reeve), attacked the prior, Ralph de Truno, and his train of attendants, when on their way to Poulton. They seized and carried off both him and his retinue to Thornton, where, after treating them with great indignity, they chastised and imprisoned them. Edward I., on hearing of the disgraceful outrage, appointed John Travers, William de Tatham, and John de Horneby to investigate the matter and ascertain the cause, if possible; but no paper is now to be found revealing the result of the examination or hinting at the provocation, although a surmise may be hazarded that it was no new quarrel, but simply the old feud, which had at last culminated in a cowardly assault on a defenseless ecclesiastic.
In 1299, Poulton was held in trust by Thomas, earl of Lancaster, for the prior of St. Mary; and eight years anterior to that date the abbot of Deulacres, in Staffordshire, drew certain revenues from land in the township, viz., £8 per annum from 16 carucates of land, about 13s. 4d. each year from the sale of meadow land, 10s. from assessed rents, and £5 from the profit of stock, making in all an annual total of £14 3s. 4d. The repeated disputes between Sir Adam Banastre and Adam Conrates, prior of Lancaster, relative to the trespasses of the latter’s tenants and the collection of tithes on the domains of the former were peaceably settled in 1330, by an arrangement, in which Sir Adam pledged himself to allow two good roads across his lands—one from Poulton and Thornton to Skippool and thence across the ford of Aldwath, now called Shard, on to Singleton, the other starting from the same localities and running to the ford of Bulk higher up the river, probably the modern Cartford, or in its vicinity; in addition the knight agreed to make good any damage that the prior or his dependants might suffer over that portion of their journeys.[72] Adam Conrates on his side promised to withdraw all actions for trespass, etc., on the fulfilment of these conditions. In 1354 a person named Robert de Pulton held some small possessions in Poulton, but nothing further than that trifling fact is recorded about him, although it is probable from the orthography of his name that his ancestors were at some time closely and honourably associated with the town from which their distinctive appellation appears to have been derived. During the time of Elizabeth, James Massey, gentleman, of Carleton and Layton, purchased from the governors of the Savoy Hospital, in London, the tolls in the parish of Poulton, together with all the “chauntry and appurtenances” founded in the parish church of Bricksworth, and all messuages, lands, tenements, etc., situated in the town and parish of Poulton; the tolls remained subject to an annual rent of £2, to be paid on St. Michael’s day to the governors and chaplains of the hospital. Later in the same reign James Massey sold to William Leigh, esq., of High Leigh, in Cheshire, half of these tolls and some pasture fields, called “Angell’s Holme,” adjoining the Horse-bridge, where in earlier days, when the waters of Wyre made their way along a brook into the interior of this neighbourhood, boats are said to have been built. The Rigbys, of Layton Hall, subsequently became possessed of a great part of Poulton, and at the present day a large number of houses are leased in their name for the remainder of terms of 999 years; the Heskeths, of Mains, and other leading families in the district were also considerable property owners in the town. On one occasion the ruling powers of Kirkham made an unsuccessful attempt to obtain the tolls arising from the cattle fairs held in Poulton and Singleton, but on what plea such claims were urged the record is silent.
In an entry which occurs in the lists of the Norman Roll, an impost consisting of the ninth of corn, fleeces, and lambs, and created in 9 Edward III., 1336, it is stated that in 1291 the vicarage of Poulton was taxed by Pope Nicholas at 10 marks, or £6 13s. 4d. modern coinage, the prior of Norton taking £2 in garbs or wheat sheaves. Afterwards the vicarage was freed from the payments of tenths on account of the smallness of the living. Dr. Whittaker informs us that the priory of Lancaster was granted by Henry V., in 1422, to the chancellor of England, who in that year instituted a vicar to the living of Poulton, but eight years previously, in the same reign, the priory was granted in trust for the abbess and convent of Sion; from which seemingly contradictory statements it may be gathered that the chancellor was the trustee for the property, and in such capacity alone acted as patron of the church of Poulton. In support of this supposition may be cited the fact that the Lancaster house and its belongings were not received by the convent in Middlesex until 1431, during the sovereignty of Henry VI., when the vicarage was endowed by the abbess, and William de Croukeshagh presented to the living. This pastor, the earliest personally mentioned, was succeeded on his death, in 1442, by Richard Brown, appointed by the same convent. “Among the records,” writes Baines in his history of Lancashire, “in the Augmentation Office is in indenture tripartite in English, bearing the date 11 Henry VIII., 1579, and purporting to be made between the Abbess of Sion on the first part, Thomas Singleton and Henry Singleton on the second part, and William Bretherton, vicar of Poulton, on the third part, by which the tithe-sheaf of Pulton and a tenement are leased to the vicar, that he may better keep and maintain his house in Pulton; the term to continue during the existence of a lease granted to the persons named Singleton by Sion abbey.” At the Reformation the manor and advowson were claimed by the crown, and a few years later became the property of the Fleetwoods. The last royal presentation to the living was made by Edward VI. in 1552, just one year before his death, whilst the first by this family was in 1565, by John Fleetwood, lord of the manor of Penwortham. The Rev. Charles Hesketh, M.A., of North Meols, is now the patron.
The ancient church of Poulton stood on the site now occupied by the existing edifice, and like it, was dedicated to the Saxon St. Chad or Cheadda, bishop of Mercia, and seated at Chester in A.D. 669. The original structure consisted of only a nave and north aisle, the outer walls of which were composed of sandstone, whilst the double roof rested on semicircular arches, extending from the chancel to the font, and supported on four octagonal pillars. These semicircular arches belonged to a very antique style of architecture, and have given rise to the belief that the pillars were at first massive cylinders, being carved into an angular form about the time of Henry VIII. The pulpit had its place towards the south, and at the east end there appears to have been a small gallery. A pipe clay monument in memoriam of the Singletons, of Staining, stood inside the church, but was, intentionally or accidentally, destroyed when the building was pulled down. A rude brass crucifix and a chalice, both of which belonged to the church previous to the Reformation, are still preserved, one being in the possession of a late priest at Breck chapel, and the other in the Catholic chapel at Claughton. The upper halves of the windows, including the east one, were semicircular in form. In 1622 the old chancel was repaired by the Rev. Peter Whyte, the vicar, and a stone, two feet in length and one foot and a half in depth, bearing the name “Peter Whyte,” and the date “1622,” in raised letters about six inches long, was placed over the east window. This piece of masonry now occupies a situation in the south-west corner of the edifice. The churchyard, which is reported to have been usually in a filthy and disgraceful state, was partly surrounded by a moderately wide ditch, on the brink of which three or four fine sycamore trees flourished, but were cut down when sundry alterations and improvements were effected in the ground. In 1751, after the old church had been standing six centuries and a half, it was determined to demolish it, and erect a more commodious building on the site. The tower, however, was retained, as, being of more recent date, it evinced none of those symptoms of decay which had rendered the body of the edifice dangerous to worshippers. An opinion prevails that the tower was built about the time of Charles I., and such a view is upheld by the discovery on the removal of the pulpit in 1836 of a square stone, having on its face the raised letters TB. WG. in the first line, IH. TG. IH. in the second line, and WG. 1638 in the last line. It is supposed that this stone, which is now fixed in the wall at the south-west corner of the church, was carved in commemoration of the erection of the tower, and the raised letters are the initials of the churchwardens then in office, and the date when the work was accomplished. Between this stone and the one previously referred to, there is a stained-glass memorial window to “Robert Buck, born 1805, died 1862, presented by his sister, C. D. Foxton.” Mrs. Catherine Dauntesy Foxton, the lady here indicated, is the representative of the family of Bucks, of Agecroft Hall, Pendlebury, and inherited considerable property in the neighbourhood of Poulton. During the time the new church was in course of building, divine service was performed in the tithe-barn, and the ceremony of baptism at the residences of the parents. The funds required for carrying out the important undertaking were doubtless chiefly supplied through the munificence of a comparatively small circle of private individuals, whose contributions would probably be in some measure supplemented by minor collections amongst the less opulent agriculturists and peasantry. One person, named Welsh, who resided at Marton, seems to have cherished a bitter antipathy to the levelling of ancient structures in general, and embodied his refusal to assist this particular work in the following rhymes:—
“While here on earth I do abide,
I’ll keep up walls and pull down pride;
To build anew I’ll ne’er consent,