Marton is a settlement on the

coastal plain A coastal plain is flat, low-lying land adjacent to a sea coast. A fall line commonly marks the border between a coastal plain and a piedmont area. Some of the largest coastal plains are in Alaska and the southeastern United States. The Gulf Co ...

the Fylde The Fylde () is a coastal plain in western Lancashire, England. It is roughly a square-shaped peninsula, bounded by Morecambe Bay to the north, the Ribble estuary to the south, the Irish Sea to the west, and the foot of the Bowland hills ...

in Lancashire, England, most of which is now part of the seaside town of Blackpool. Marton, which consisted of Great Marton, Little Marton, Marton Fold and The Peel, was originally part of the parish of

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 i ...

, before the development of Blackpool as a resort.

History

Great Marton and Little Marton were collectively listed 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 manus ...

of 1086 as ''Meretun''. The name usually means "farmstead by a pool", derived from the

Old English Old English (, ), 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 was brought to Great Britain by Anglo-Saxon settlers in the mid-5th c ...

words ''mere'' and ''tūn''. Its area was estimated in that survey to be six

carucate The carucate or carrucate ( lat-med, carrūcāta or ) was a medieval unit of land area approximating the land a plough team of eight oxen could till in a single annual season. It was known by different regional names and fell under different forms ...

s of arable land. By no later than the end of the 11th century, St Chad's Church had been built in the nearby town of

and became the

parish church A parish church (or parochial church) in Christianity is the 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 community activities, ...

for the area following the

Reformation The Reformation (alternatively named the Protestant Reformation or the European Reformation) was a major movement within Western Christianity in 16th-century Europe that posed a religious and political challenge to the Catholic Church and in ...

in the 16th century. Marton residents travelled to worship at St Chad's, a journey that was difficult in winter. Around 1625, they petitioned to become a separate parish from Poulton-le-Fylde, with Layton and Blackpool. It was not until 1800 that their request was granted and the Church of St Paul was built in Great Marton. Originally a

chapel A chapel is a Christian place of prayer and worship that is usually relatively small. The term has several meanings. Firstly, smaller spaces inside a church that have their own altar are often called chapels; the Lady chapel is a common ty ...

of Poulton-le-Fylde, the church was consecrated in 1804. It later became a parish church. In 1857, the church as extended to accommodate Marton's growing population, and a tower was added. In 1894, the hamlet of Great Marton was incorporated into Blackpool and parts of Little Marton into St-Anne's-on-Sea.

Governance

Marton is an electoral ward in the borough constituency of Blackpool South. Since 1997, Blackpool South had been represented at

parliament In modern politics, and history, a parliament is a legislative body of government. Generally, a modern parliament has three functions: representing the electorate, making laws, and overseeing the government via hearings and inquiries. Th ...

Labour Labour or labor may refer to: * Childbirth, the delivery of a baby * Labour (human activity), or work ** Manual labour, physical work ** Wage labour, a socioeconomic relationship between a worker and an employer ** Organized labour and the labour ...

Gordon Marsden Gordon Marsden (born 28 November 1953) is a British Labour Party politician who served as the Member of Parliament for Blackpool South from 1997 to 2019. Early life Marsden was educated at Stockport Grammar School, an independent school in ...

.Since the 2019 General Election the area's representation has passed to Conservative MP Scott Benton.

Geography

The pool referred to by Marton's name is

Marton Mere Marton Mere is a mere (lake) and Local Nature Reserve in Blackpool, Lancashire, England. It is located near to the Blackpool districts of Marton and Mereside and the village of Staining. It is recognised as a Site of Special Scientific Inte ...

. The

glacial A glacial period (alternatively glacial or glaciation) is an interval of time (thousands of years) within an ice age that is marked by colder temperatures and glacier advances. Interglacials, on the other hand, are periods of warmer climate betwe ...

freshwater lake was once approximately long and wide. It was gradually drained throughout the 18th century to allow land to be reclaimed for agriculture. The mere is now part of Marton Mere Local Nature Reserve, which has been designated a Site of Special Scientific Interest. The other prominent geographical feature of the area is Marton Moss. It is approximately long and wide. The structure of the moss is

peat Peat (), also known as turf (), is an accumulation of partially decayed vegetation or organic matter. It is unique to natural areas called peatlands, bogs, mires, moors, or muskegs. The peatland ecosystem covers and is the most efficient ...

, on top of a layer of

clay Clay is a type of fine-grained natural soil material containing clay minerals (hydrous aluminium phyllosilicates, e.g. kaolin, Al2 Si2 O5( OH)4). Clays develop plasticity when wet, due to a molecular film of water surrounding the clay par ...

, in which is embedded whole (and fragments of) tree trunks. These trunks indicate that the area was once covered in dense woodland.

Landmarks

The original Church of St Paul was replaced by the current church, built 1908–09. It is situated a few metres from the original site, on Whitegate Drive, and was designed by F. Freeman of

Bolton Bolton (, locally ) is a large town in Greater Manchester in North West England, formerly a part of Lancashire. A former mill town, Bolton has been a production centre for textiles since Flemish weavers settled in the area in the 14th ...

. It is constructed of red and yellow sandstone, with more recent additions in brick. Little Marton Mill, situated close to the

M55 motorway The M55 is a motorway in Lancashire, England, which can also be referred to as the Preston Northern Bypass. It connects the seaside resort of Blackpool to the M6 at Preston. It is 12.2 miles (19.6 km) in length. One mile was originally ...

, was built in 1838 on the site of a previous mill. It was a working

gristmill A gristmill (also: grist mill, corn mill, flour mill, feed mill or feedmill) grinds cereal grain into flour and middlings. The term can refer to either the grinding mechanism or the building that holds it. Grist is grain that has been separat ...

, grinding corn until 1928. It is the only remaining mill in Blackpool.

Education

The first school in Marton was Baines' Free School, built in 1717, financed by James Baines who also built schools in Hardhorn-cum-Newton and Thornton. The school still exists, as Baines' Endowed Church of England Primary School. St Nicholas Church of England Primary School was founded in 1830, Our Lady of the Assumption Roman Catholic Primary was opened in 1953 and Marton Primary School was founded in 1991. Marton also has two secondary schools,

Highfield Leadership Academy Highfield Leadership Academy is a co-educational secondary school located in Marton, Blackpool, Lancashire, England. History It was originally known as Highfield High School. In 2004 the Department for Children, Schools and Families (DCSF) ...

and St George's School.

References

;Footnotes ;Sources * * * * * * * * * {{Blackpool geography Geography of Blackpool