Poulton-le-Fylde

Poulton-le-Fylde (ˈpoʊltən_li_ˌfaɪld), 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 of Lancashire 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.