Poulton-le-Fylde (), commonly shortened to Poulton, is a market town in Lancashire, England, situated on the coastal plain called the Fylde. In the 2021 United Kingdom census, it had a population of 18,115.
There is evidence of human habitation in the area from 12,000 years ago, and several archaeological finds from Roman settlement in England have been found in the area.
At the time of the Norman conquest, Poulton was a small agricultural settlement in the hundred of Amounderness.
The church of St Chad was recorded in 1094, when it was endowed to Lancaster Priory.
By the post-Medieval period, the town had become an important commercial centre for the region with weekly and triannual markets. Goods were imported and exported through two harbours on the River Wyre.
In 1837, the town was described as the "metropolis of the Fylde", but its commercial importance waned from the mid-19th century with the development of the nearby coastal towns of Fleetwood and Blackpool.
Poulton has the administrative centre of the Borough of Wyre and is in the parliamentary constituency of Wyre and Preston North. It is part of the Blackpool Urban Area and approximately from Blackpool town centre.
There are rail links to Blackpool and Preston, and bus routes to the larger towns and villages of the Fylde.
Poulton has a library and two secondary schools: Baines School and Hodgson Academy.
There is a farmers' market once a month. and since October 2011 there has been a weekly market on Mondays in the centre of the town.
History
Early history
There is evidence of human habitation in the area around Poulton from 10,000 BC. In 1970, building work in nearby Carleton uncovered the 12,000-year-old skeleton of an elk, along with two bone or antler barbed points close to its hind bones. At the time of the Roman conquest of Britain in the 1st century AD, the area was inhabited by a Celtic tribe called the Setantii. A 4th century hoard of 400 Roman coins was found in the area, near Fleetwood. Other finds have been made in Poulton and Skippool; in addition to coins, these have included a medal of Germanicus and a hipposandal (similar to a horseshoe).
Although there is little archaeological evidence of Anglo-Saxon activity in the area following the departure of the Romans, local place names incorporate Old English elements like tūn (farmstead), suggesting that they were founded in that period. Nearby examples are Thornton, Marton and Carleton. Poulton was recorded in 1086 as Poltun; the name is derived from the Old English words pull or pōl + tūn meaning "farmstead by a pool or creek". In later years, it was recorded variously as Pultun, Polton, Potton, Poolton and Poulton. The affix le-Fylde ("in the district called the Fylde") was added in 1842 with the arrival of the Penny Post, to distinguish the town from Poulton-le-Sands, a village that is now part of Morecambe.
Poulton is one of seven ancient parishes of the hundred of Amounderness. Prior to the Norman conquest in 1066, Amounderness was in the possession of Earl Tostig, the brother of King Harold II. Tostig died at the Battle of Stamford Bridge and his lands were subsequently taken over by the Normans. Between 1069 and 1086 William the Conqueror gave Amounderness to Anglo-Norman Baron Roger the Poitevin. In the Domesday Book of 1086 Poulton's area was estimated to contain two carucates of arable land. The survey recorded three churches in Amounderness though not by name. Later documentary evidence suggests that they were probably the churches at Poulton, Kirkham and St Michael's on Wyre. The dedication of Poulton's church to 7th century Anglo-Saxon saint Chad of Mercia lends weight to its pre-conquest foundation, although it is possible that it was built between 1086 and 1094.
In 1094, Roger the Poitevin founded the Benedictine priory of St. Mary at Lancaster, as a cell of the Norman Abbey of St. Martin in Sées. He endowed the priory with the church and land at Poulton. Roger was eventually banished from the country and his lands returned to the possession of the Crown. In 1194 King Richard I granted the hundred of Amounderness to Theobald Walter, 1st Baron Butler, who held it until his death in 1206. In 1268, King Henry III granted the wapentake of Amounderness to his son Edmund Crouchback, who became the 1st Earl of Lancaster around this time.