Freckleton is a village and
civil parish
In England, a civil parish is a type of administrative parish used for local government. It is a territorial designation which is the lowest tier of local government. Civil parishes can trace their origin to the ancient system of parishes, w ...
on the
Fylde coast in
Lancashire
Lancashire ( , ; abbreviated ''Lancs'') is a ceremonial county in North West England. It is bordered by Cumbria to the north, North Yorkshire and West Yorkshire to the east, Greater Manchester and Merseyside to the south, and the Irish Sea to ...
, England, to the south of
Kirkham and east of the seaside resort of
Lytham St. Annes. In 2001 the parish had a population of 6,045, reducing to 6,019 at the 2011 Census. The village is near
Warton, with its links to
BAE Systems
BAE Systems plc is a British Multinational corporation, multinational Aerospace industry, aerospace, military technology, military and information security company, based in London. It is the largest manufacturer in Britain as of 2017. It is ...
.
Warton Aerodrome's runway is partly within Freckleton's boundary. Freckleton has a
parish council, and is part of
Fylde Borough, and
Fylde constituency.
History
The name of the village appears in the ''
Domesday Book
Domesday Book ( ; the Middle English spelling of "Doomsday Book") is a manuscript record of the Great Survey of much of England and parts of Wales completed in 1086 at the behest of William the Conqueror. The manuscript was originally known by ...
'' as "Frecheltun" and is said to derive from 'Farmstead of a man called Frecla', with
Old English
Old English ( or , or ), or Anglo-Saxon, is the earliest recorded form of the English language, spoken in England and southern and eastern Scotland in the Early Middle Ages. It developed from the languages brought to Great Britain by Anglo-S ...
tun and
Nordic personal name. It was one of 62 settlements to be found in the
Hundred
100 or one hundred (Roman numerals, Roman numeral: C) is the natural number following 99 (number), 99 and preceding 101 (number), 101.
In mathematics
100 is the square of 10 (number), 10 (in scientific notation it is written as 102). The standar ...
of "Agemvndrenesse" (
Amounderness
The Amounderness Hundred ( ) is one of the six subdivisions of the historic county of Lancashire in North West England, but the name is older than the system of hundreds first recorded in the 13th century and might best be described as the na ...
). Another suggested derivation is from the
Anglo-Saxon
The Anglo-Saxons, in some contexts simply called Saxons or the English, were a Cultural identity, cultural group who spoke Old English and inhabited much of what is now England and south-eastern Scotland in the Early Middle Ages. They traced t ...
word for "lusty" or "argumentative".
[Bevan, E. M. and Ramsbottom, M. (1994), ''A Walk Round Old Freckleton'', Hedgehog Historical Publications, .]
Freckleton supplied water to the
Roman fort at Kirkham, and in the 19th century was a port for the
ship building
Shipbuilding is the construction of ships and other floating vessels. In modern times, it normally takes place in a specialized facility known as a shipyard. Shipbuilders, also called shipwrights, follow a specialized occupation that traces i ...
industry. Rope and sailcloth, for the early boatbuilding industry, was made in the village for many years. Balderstone Mill, erected in 1880, was the first organised factory system in the village, its weaving shed had 320 looms, and the cloth it produced sold on the
Manchester Cotton Exchange. These mills closed in 1980.
There was a
water-mill on the Dow Brook from at least as early as 1427 when it was in the possession of a William Hodelliston. It was sold in 1882 for £350. The sale was to allow for the mill's demolition, to enable more effective drainage of the marsh.
The
Quaker
Quakers are people who belong to the Religious Society of Friends, a historically Protestant Christian set of denominations. Members refer to each other as Friends after in the Bible, and originally, others referred to them as Quakers ...
burial ground at
Quaker's Wood, also known as "Twill Furlong", in Lower Lane, between Freckleton and Kirkham, has a single gravestone.
Until the 1920s, Freckleton had a tollgate and travelers to Lytham and Preston had to pay a toll to use the turnpike road. The toll was collected at toll house bridge. The toll could be avoided by crossing the Dow brook and walking along the bridle way.
In
World War II
World War II or the Second World War (1 September 1939 – 2 September 1945) was a World war, global conflict between two coalitions: the Allies of World War II, Allies and the Axis powers. World War II by country, Nearly all of the wo ...
, American forces from the neighbouring
Warton Aerodrome resided in the village. The
Freckleton Air Disaster occurred on 23 August 1944, when an aircraft attempting to land at Warton during stormy weather crashed onto Freckleton's Holy Trinity School. Sixty-one people lost their lives, including thirty-eight infants, their two teachers, and the three air crew. Other victims included several residents and both British and American military personnel in a snack bar across the road from the school. Annual commemorations still take place, attended by residents and US veterans. The aerodrome was subsequently purchased by
English Electric
The English Electric Company Limited (EE) was a British industrial manufacturer formed after World War I by amalgamating five businesses which, during the war, made munitions, armaments and aeroplanes.
It initially specialised in industrial el ...
, now
BAE Systems
BAE Systems plc is a British Multinational corporation, multinational Aerospace industry, aerospace, military technology, military and information security company, based in London. It is the largest manufacturer in Britain as of 2017. It is ...
, and many BAE employees live in the village.
The area around the village
War Memorial
A war memorial is a building, monument, statue, or other edifice to celebrate a war or victory, or (predominating in modern times) to commemorate those who died or were injured in a war.
Symbolism
Historical usage
It has ...
, now protected by railings, was once the village green, where stood the
smithy and toll house.
[
]
Landmarks
The village is the home of Holy Trinity Church of England
The Church of England (C of E) is the State religion#State churches, established List of Christian denominations, Christian church in England and the Crown Dependencies. It is the mother church of the Anglicanism, Anglican Christian tradition, ...
parish church
A parish church (or parochial church) in Christianity is the Church (building), church which acts as the religious centre of a parish. In many parts of the world, especially in rural areas, the parish church may play a significant role in com ...
which was founded in 1837 and of Freckleton Methodist Church
Methodism, also called the Methodist movement, is a Protestant Christianity, Christian Christian tradition, tradition whose origins, doctrine and practice derive from the life and teachings of John Wesley. George Whitefield and John's brother ...
which was founded in 1810.
The family butcher Snape, on Kirkham Road, was established in 1864.
Freckleton Library was opened in 1980 by Sir Edward Gardner, MP for Fylde South. It replaced the mobile library which used the same site. Before the new library opened, the public library was situated on Lytham Road. Freckleton Library closed in September 2016 as part of Lancashire County Council
Lancashire County Council is the upper-tier local authority for the non-metropolitan county of Lancashire, England. The non-metropolitan county of Lancashire is smaller than the ceremonial county, which additionally includes Blackburn with Dar ...
budget cuts but was reopened on 9 January 2018.
Sport
Freckleton Football Club play at the Rawstorne Sports Centre, located at Bush Lane. The club currently compete in the west lancs league division 2.
Freckleton Cricket Club plays at Bush Lane; it was formed at the beginning of the 1900s. It won the Meyler Cup for the third time in 2013, following up wins in 2012 and 2002. The side currently competes in the Premier Division of the Moore & Smalley Palace Shield Competition and will be led in 2015 by Andrew Hogarth, who succeeds the charismatic James 'Jimmy' Fiddler.
Freckleton stages the Freckleton Half Marathon each year in June. The race has been staged since 1965 and is the oldest half marathon in the UK. The first race was won by Ron Hill who participated in the 1964 Olympics marathon. It attracts over 700 entrants.
Images
Image:Freckleton - the village of music and flowers - geograph.org.uk - 199775.jpg, Entrance to the village, with floral boat display
Image:The Coach and Horses Freckleton - geograph.org.uk - 92961.jpg, The Coach and Horses, known locally as "Ponky's"
File:The Ship at Freckleton Creek - geograph.org.uk - 93265.jpg, The Ship at Freckleton Creek
Image:Freckleton Pool - geograph.org.uk - 320986.jpg, Freckleton Pool
File:Toll House Bridge and bridle way - geograph.org.uk - 590193.jpg, Toll House Bridge and bridleway
A bridle path, also bridleway, equestrian trail, horse riding path, ride, bridle road, or horse trail, is a trail or a thoroughfare that is used by people riding on horses. Trails originally created for use by horses often now serve a wider ...
File:Freckleton Methodist Church - front.jpg , Freckleton Methodist Church
See also
* Freckleton air disaster
* Listed buildings in Freckleton
References
External links
*
Freckleton Community Web Site
Freckleton Brass Band
Freckleton Half Marathon
{{authority control
Villages in Lancashire
Geography of the Borough of Fylde
Populated coastal places in Lancashire
Civil parishes in Lancashire