Thornton, Lancashire Genealogy

England Lancashire  Lancashire Parishes

Chapelry History
THORNTON, a township, in the parish of Poulton, union of the Fylde, hundred of Amounderness, N. division of Lancashire, 1¾ mile (N. by E.) from Poulton; containing, with the town of Fleetwood (which see), 3847 inhabitants. In the Testa de Nevill is mentioned Matilda de Thorenton, who was at the king's donation, but unmarried. In the 17th of Edward II., half the town of Thornton was held by William Banastre, and the other moiety by Laurence de Thorneton, a descendant probably of the above-named Matilda; in the 13th of Henry VIII., Thomas, Earl of Derby, held the manor. It is now considered merely a manor by reputation, of which Sir Peter Hesketh Fleetwood, Bart., is lord. Singleton-Thorpe, a village in this part, was entirely washed away by a sudden irruption of the sea in 1555. The township is bounded on the north by Morecambe bay, on the west by the Irish Sea, and on the east by the estuary of the Wyre; and comprises 4688 acres, equally divided between arable and pasture: the Marsh was inclosed in 1800, and is now celebrated for its corn. Burn Hall, here, is a dwelling of the 15th century, now used as a farmhouse. A church, dedicated to Christ, was erected in 1835, at a cost of £800: the living is a perpetual curacy, in the patronage of Five Trustees; net income, £110, with a house. The impropriate tithes have been commuted for £244. 2. 6., and a rentcharge of £40 has been awarded to the perpetual curate. James Baines in 1717 bequeathed land now producing £40 per annum, for teaching children.

From: A Topographical Dictionary of England by Samuel Lewis (1848), pp. 337-341. URL: http://www.british-history.ac.uk/report.aspx?compid=51337 Date accessed: 31 July 2010.

Civil Registration
Birth, marriages and deaths were kept by the government, from July 1837 to the present day. The civil registration article tells more about these records. There are several Internet sites with name lists or indexes. A popular site is FreeBMD.

Church records
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Census records
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Probate records
Records of wills, administrations, inventories, indexes, etc. were filed by the court with jurisdiction over this parish. Go to Lancashire Probate Records to find the name of the court having primary jurisdiction. Scroll down in the article to the section Court Jurisdictions by Parish.

Maps and Gazetteers
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 * England Jurisdictions 1851
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Web sites
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