Thornton-Cleveleys is a

conurbation A conurbation is a region comprising a number of metropolises, cities, large towns, and other urban areas which through population growth and physical expansion, have merged to form one continuous urban or industrially developed area. In most ca ...

consisting of the village of Thornton and the town of

Cleveleys Cleveleys is a town on the Fylde Coast of Lancashire, England, about north of Blackpool and south of Fleetwood. It is part of the Borough of Wyre. With its neighbouring settlement of Thornton, Cleveleys was part of the former urban district ...

. The two settlements formed a joint

urban district Urban district may refer to: * District * Urban area * Quarter (urban subdivision) * Neighbourhood Specific subdivisions in some countries: * Urban districts of Denmark * Urban districts of Germany * Urban district (Great Britain and Ireland) (hist ...

from 1927 until 1974, before becoming part of Wyre. The two settlements constitute part of the Blackpool Urban Area.

Political geography

The

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 below districts and counties, or their combined form, the unitary authority ...

of Thornton became an

in 1900, and was then renamed Thornton-Cleveleys in 1927. On 1 April 1974 the urban district became part of the Borough of Wyre. Thornton-Cleveleys corresponds with five wards of the borough. According to the 2001 census Thornton-Cleveleys has a population of 25,547, increasing to 28,703 at the 2011 census. The population of the individual borough council wards was recorded as: *Bourne: 6,121 (2011 = 6,676) *Cleveleys Park: 5,994 (2011 = 5,940) *Jubilee: 4,186 (2011 = 4,025) *Stanah: 5,267 (2011 = 6,111) *Victoria: 5,851 (2011 = 5,951)

History

Thornton is first mentioned in 1086 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 by order of King William I, known as William the Conqueror. The manusc ...

, where it was referred to as ''Torentum'' (a name preserved by Torentum Court on Lawsons Road). At the time it covered a large area including what are now Cleveleys and

Fleetwood Fleetwood is a coastal town in the Borough of Wyre in Lancashire, England, at the northwest corner of the Fylde. It had a population of 25,939 at the United Kingdom Census 2011, 2011 census. Fleetwood acquired its modern character in the 1830 ...

, and had a very low population density. It is thought that a settlement had existed at the site since the

Iron Age The Iron Age is the final epoch of the three-age division of the prehistory and protohistory of humanity. It was preceded by the Stone Age (Paleolithic, Mesolithic, Neolithic) and the Bronze Age (Chalcolithic). The concept has been mostly appl ...

, and a

Roman Roman or Romans most often refers to: *Rome, the capital city of Italy *Ancient Rome, Roman civilization from 8th century BC to 5th century AD *Roman people, the people of ancient Rome *''Epistle to the Romans'', shortened to ''Romans'', a letter ...

road passes close to the village. The area remained lightly populated until 1799, when the marshland around the village was drained and agricultural production began on a large scale.History - Thornton Through Time
A railway station was opened in Thornton in 1865. The opening of salt works at nearby Burn Naze by the

United Alkali Company United Alkali Company Limited was a British chemical company formed in 1890, employing the Leblanc process to produce soda ash for the glass, textile, soap, and paper industries. It became one of the top four British chemical companies merged in ...

in the early 1890s (later becoming ICI) led to significant expansion of the village, with new houses and community buildings constructed. Thornton became an

urban district council In England and Wales, Northern Ireland, and the Republic of Ireland, an urban district was a type of local government district that covered an urbanised area. Urban districts had an elected urban district council (UDC), which shared local gove ...

in 1900, surviving until 1974 when it became part of the

Wyre Borough Council Wyre may refer to: Places * Wyre, Orkney, an island in Scotland * Borough of Wyre, a local government district in Lancashire, England ** Wyre (UK Parliament constituency) * River Wyre, a river in Lancashire, England * Wyre Forest, a woodland in ...

Transport

Thornton for Cleveleys railway station was formerly the principal intermediate stop on the Fleetwood branch of the

LMS LMS may refer to: Science and technology * Labeled magnitude scale, a scaling technique * Learning management system, education software * Least mean squares filter, producing least mean square error * Leiomyosarcoma, a rare form of cancer * Lenz ...

British Rail British Railways (BR), which from 1965 traded as British Rail, was a state-owned company that operated most of the overground rail transport in Great Britain from 1948 to 1997. It was formed from the nationalisation of the Big Four British rai ...

London Midland Region The London Midland Region (LMR) was one of the six regions created on the formation of the nationalised British Railways (BR), and initially consisted of ex-London, Midland and Scottish Railway (LMS) lines in England, Wales and Northern Irelan ...

railway, running from

Poulton-le-Fylde Poulton-le-Fylde (), commonly shortened to Poulton, is a market town in Lancashire, England, situated on the coastal plain called the Fylde. In the 2001 United Kingdom census, it had a population of 18,264. There is evidence of human habitation ...

, but it has been years since the station was used, and with the recent fencing-over of the level crossing in Station Road/Victoria Road East in order to prevent youths from congregating on the tracks, the glory days of Thornton are long since gone. However, a decision by an action group based in Poulton means they will finance a feasibility study into bringing the railway back to Thornton and Fleetwood.

Amenities

Marsh Mill Marsh Mill is an 18th-century tower windmill in Thornton, Lancashire, England. It was built in 1794 by Ralph Slater for local landowner Bold Hesketh. It functioned as a corn mill until the 1920s and has been fully restored. It is a good example ...

, a large, well-preserved

windmill A windmill is a structure that converts wind power into rotational energy using vanes called windmill sail, sails or blades, specifically to mill (grinding), mill grain (gristmills), but the term is also extended to windpumps, wind turbines, and ...

built in 1794, is a prominent landmark. It was commissioned by Bold Hesketh, uncle of

Peter Hesketh Sir Peter Hesketh-Fleetwood, 1st Baronet, (9 May 1801 – 12 April 1866) was an English landowner, developer and Member of Parliament, who founded the town of Fleetwood, in Lancashire, England. Born Peter Hesketh, he changed his name by ...

(later Peter Hesketh-Fleetwood), who would go on to play a prominent role in the expansion of

. Tragedy struck in May 1930, when a Miss Alice Baldwin and a Mrs Mary Jane Bailey visited the windmill with an interest in purchasing it. However, when both women stepped onto the fantail platform, the platform collapsed and the women fell to their deaths. Thornton contains a number of schools, including Baines Endowed Primary School, Thornton Primary School, Stanah Primary School, Royles Brook Primary School and Millfield Science and Performing Arts College. The public library, situated at Four Lane Ends, was closed down in the autumn of 2016 as a result of cost-cutting measures by

Lancashire County Council Lancashire County Council is the upper-tier local authority for the non-metropolitan county of Lancashire, England. It consists of 84 councillors. Since the 2017 election, the council has been under Conservative control. Prior to the 2009 La ...

. This decisions was hugely unpopular and despite protests and a petition, the decision to close the library wasn't initially overturned, but the library reopened in February 2018 after the decision was reversed.

Sport

Thornton-Cleveleys is home to Thornton-Cleveleys R.U.F.C. who play rugby in the RFU Northern Division, North Lancs 1. Their home ground is the

YMCA YMCA, sometimes regionally called the Y, is a worldwide youth organization based in Geneva, Switzerland, with more than 64 million beneficiaries in 120 countries. It was founded on 6 June 1844 by George Williams in London, originally ...

sport centre in Thornton. Thornton-Cleveleys F.C. play in the West Lancashire Football League, they play their home matches at New Bourne Park. The town boasts two cricket clubs - Thornton-Cleveleys C.C. and Norcross C.C. both playing in the Moore & Smalley Palace Shield competition and both having three senior sides and several junior teams in a variety of age groups. Thornton Judo Club was established in 1974, formerly at The Sports centre and now at the Scout Hall on Marsh Road. It is a Member club of The British Judo Council and The

British Judo Association The British Judo Association (BJA) is the governing body for the Olympic Sport of Judo in the United Kingdom. In 2019 there were 35,000 members. The BJA represents the United Kingdom internationally and is a member of the International Judo F ...

Gallery

File:Thornton Station 05C318.jpg, Former site of Thornton for Cleveleys railway station File:Sacred Heart Roman Catholic Church, Burn Naze - geograph.org.uk - 1961987.jpg, Sacred Heart Roman Catholic Church File:Thornton Library.jpg, County Library at Four Lane Ends File:Row of Cottages at Stanah - geograph.org.uk - 130018.jpg, Rows of cottages on Underbank Road

References

External links

Visit Cleveleys - all about the Thornton Cleveleys area
{{Lancashire Unparished areas in Lancashire Geography of the Borough of Wyre The Fylde