Warton is a village in 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. Civil parishes can trace their origin to the ancient system of parishes, w ...

of Bryning-with-Warton, on the Fylde, in the Fylde district, in the county of

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. The village is west of Preston and south-east of

Blackpool Blackpool is a seaside town in Lancashire, England. It is located on the Irish Sea coast of the Fylde peninsula, approximately north of Liverpool and west of Preston, Lancashire, Preston. It is the main settlement in the Borough of Blackpool ...

. It is located on the banks of the River Ribble, close to its entry into the

Irish Sea The Irish Sea is a body of water that separates the islands of Ireland and Great Britain. It is linked to the Celtic Sea in the south by St George's Channel and to the Inner Seas off the West Coast of Scotland in the north by the North Ch ...

. It is best known for its airfield, Warton Aerodrome and the associated aircraft manufacturing plant of BAE Systems Military Air & Information.

History

The village is named Wartun or Wartuna 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 ...

, and the current spelling is first seen in 1227. For probate purposes, prior to 1858, Warton was in the Archdeaconry of Richmond, in the Diocese of Chester. Warton was formerly a

township A township is a form of human settlement or administrative subdivision. Its exact definition varies among countries. Although the term is occasionally associated with an urban area, this tends to be an exception to the rule. In Australia, Canad ...

and

chapelry A chapelry was a subdivision of an ecclesiastical parish in England and parts of Lowland Scotland up to the mid 19th century. Status A chapelry had a similar status to a Township (England), township, but was so named as it had a chapel of ease ...

in the parish of Kirkham, in 1866 Warton became a separate

, on 1 April 1934 the parish was abolished to form "Bryning with Warton", part also went to Freckleton. In 1931 the parish had a population of 585. In his 1870 Gazetteer, Wilson reports that the chapelry of Warton also included the Freckleton township, and comprised 6,598 acres, with a population 1,325 and 270 houses. The property is described as being "much subdivided".

Cotton Cotton (), first recorded in ancient India, is a soft, fluffy staple fiber that grows in a boll, or protective case, around the seeds of the cotton plants of the genus '' Gossypium'' in the mallow family Malvaceae. The fiber is almost pure ...

spinning and the manufacture of sacking, sailcloth, and cordage were the main occupations. There were two churches, both described as "good". There were also two

Methodist 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 ...

chapels. John Marius Wilson, ''Imperial Gazetteer of England and Wales (1870-72)''] Warton Post Mill, one of the last sunk

post mill The post mill is the earliest type of European windmill. Its defining feature is that the whole body of the mill that houses the machinery is mounted on a single central vertical post. The vertical post is supported by four quarter bars. These ar ...

s in England, was situated at the end of Mill Lane. All that remains of the former post mill is a circular wooden post that is stabilised by crossed timbers. The mill is thought to have been built in

Lincolnshire Lincolnshire (), abbreviated ''Lincs'', is a Ceremonial counties of England, ceremonial county in the East Midlands and Yorkshire and the Humber regions of England. It is bordered by the East Riding of Yorkshire across the Humber estuary to th ...

in about 1695 before being moved to Rufford, Lancashire, in the early-mid 18th century and subsequently to Warton in 1771. It was last wind worked in about 1895. It then deteriorated and the ruin was left standing in the middle of a scrap yard. In June 1999 the substructure was excavated by the Chorley Archaeological Society. The buried cross-trees and the lower ends of the main post and quarterbars were all found to be rotten. In September 1999 three of the quarterbars were destroyed by vandals. The mill was consequently dismantled and stored in the nearby

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 ...

factory. Only the millstone and the old anvil are preserved at the former smithy. It was a Grade II

listed building In the United Kingdom, a listed building is a structure of particular architectural or historic interest deserving of special protection. Such buildings are placed on one of the four statutory lists maintained by Historic England in England, Hi ...

from 1996 until 2019. The mill is reflected in the name of the modern nearby street Post Lane.

St Paul's Church

The first church, Holy Trinity on Church Road, was built in 1722 and consecrated in 1725. Originally built as a

chapel of ease A chapel of ease (or chapel-of-ease) is a church architecture, church building other than the parish church, built within the bounds of a parish for the attendance of those who cannot reach the parish church conveniently, generally due to trav ...

to Kirkham, it eventually became a parish church with its own vicar. The present church has a sanctuary chair bearing the initials WS and MS and dated 1611. A William Shaw, who died in 1720, donated the land for the old church to be built on, and a local historian has suggested that the initials may be those of two of his ancestors. In his 1870 Gazetteer, Wilson reports that the living was a vicarage in the diocese of Manchester with a value of £350, the patron being Christ Church in

Oxford Oxford () is a City status in the United Kingdom, cathedral city and non-metropolitan district in Oxfordshire, England, of which it is the county town. The city is home to the University of Oxford, the List of oldest universities in continuou ...

. The present church, now dedicated to St Paul, was built in 1886. A selection of celebratory events took place for the 125th Anniversary of the church, over the weekend of 25 and 26 June 2011, including an organ recital. The church is linked with a

Lutheran Lutheranism is a major branch of Protestantism that emerged under the work of Martin Luther, the 16th-century German friar and Protestant Reformers, reformer whose efforts to reform the theology and practices of the Catholic Church launched ...

church in Timmerlah in the Diocese of Braunschweig in

Northern Germany Northern Germany (, ) is a linguistic, geographic, socio-cultural and historic region in the northern part of Germany which includes the coastal states of Schleswig-Holstein, Mecklenburg-Vorpommern and Lower Saxony and the two city-states Hambur ...

. On 4 August 2014 the church hosted a photographic exhibition to mark the 100th anniversary of the start of

World War I World War I or the First World War (28 July 1914 – 11 November 1918), also known as the Great War, was a World war, global conflict between two coalitions: the Allies of World War I, Allies (or Entente) and the Central Powers. Fighting to ...

. During the hours of darkness the church is floodlit. Since June 2018 the vicar has been Rev. Jane Greenhalgh. The curate is Rev. Fiona Haines. Greenhalgh was criticised, in 2018, for wearing a white poppy for the annual

Remembrance Day Remembrance Day (also known as Poppy Day owing to the tradition of wearing a remembrance poppy) is a memorial day observed in Commonwealth of Nations, Commonwealth member states since the end of the First World War to honour armed forces me ...

service and for by including references to

white supremacy White supremacy is the belief that white people are superior to those of other races. The belief favors the maintenance and defense of any power and privilege held by white people. White supremacy has roots in the now-discredited doctrine ...

, the

Ku Klux Klan The Ku Klux Klan (), commonly shortened to KKK or Klan, is an American Protestant-led Christian terrorism, Christian extremist, white supremacist, Right-wing terrorism, far-right hate group. It was founded in 1865 during Reconstruction era, ...

and the

English Defence League The English Defence League (EDL) was a Far-right politics, far-right, Islamophobia, Islamophobic organisation active in England from 2009 until the mid-late 2010s. A social movement and Advocacy group, pressure group that employed street demo ...

in her sermon.

Parish council

Bryning-with-Warton Parish Council is one of fifteen such councils that serves the Borough of Fylde. The parish spans across Bryning to Warton hall.

Air Training Corps

Warton is home to the 967 (BAE Warton Squadron)

Air Training Corps The Air Training Corps (ATC) is a British Youth organisations in the United Kingdom, volunteer youth organisation; aligned to, and fostering the knowledge and learning of military values, primarily focusing on military aviation. Part of the ...

, nicknamed the Warton Wanderers. It is a member of the Cumbria and Lancashire Wing of the ATC.

Education

Bryning-with-Warton St Paul's

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, ...

Primary School is located on Lytham Road ( A584). St Paul's was established in 1821 and is a Voluntary Aided

primary school A primary school (in Ireland, India, the United Kingdom, Australia, New Zealand, Trinidad and Tobago, Jamaica, South Africa, and Singapore), elementary school, or grade school (in North America and the Philippines) is a school for primary ...

. Holy Family

Catholic The Catholic Church (), also known as the Roman Catholic Church, is the List of Christian denominations by number of members, largest Christian church, with 1.27 to 1.41 billion baptized Catholics Catholic Church by country, worldwid ...

Primary School is also located on Lytham Road.

Amenities

Warton Library was situated at 156 Lytham Road The library premises closed in 2010 but has since been re-furbished and is used as staging point for police community support officers. On 8 February 2013 the premises re-opened as a community library offering a book exchange service every Wednesday and Saturday. The village has two public houses. The Birley Arms is located on Bryning Lane. The Birley family were 19th century flax and cotton mill-owners in nearby Kirkham. In October 2012 the public house formerly named the Pickwick Tavern became the Clifton Arms at Warton. In addition to the two public houses there is a social club, the Chequers, located on Harbour Lane. There is also a Morrisons on Harbour Lane and a Tesco Express on Lytham Road. The village Post Office closed in July 2012 and the premises is now for sale. In June 2015 a Post Office counter was opened in McColl's, which is open from 6am to 10pm daily. The village has a number of car sales outlets. The main garage in the village, J. Townsend and Son, was largely demolished in 2017 and reopened as a Spar, including butchers and delicatessen in 2018. Fuel is now sold on the new forecourt through the Spar counters but Townsends have retained their tyre and car repair business, sharing their space with Coastal Coaches. The village also attracts many tourists from the populous caravan and holiday parks in the area including Oaklands Caravan Park situated on Lytham Road which is owned by the U.K. Leisure Parks group.

Sport

National League National League often refers to: *National League (baseball), one of the two baseball leagues constituting Major League Baseball in the United States and Canada *National League (division), the fifth division of the English football (soccer) system ...

football club AFC Fylde originally played home games at Kellamergh Park in the village, between 2006 and 2016, having previously played at the council-owned Coronation Road in Kirkham. They now play at a purpose-built stadium at the new £18m development Mill Farm Sports Village in Wesham.

References

External links

Warton at genuki.org
{{authority control Villages in Lancashire Populated coastal places in Lancashire Former civil parishes in Lancashire Geography of the Borough of Fylde