Thornton Cleveleys

Thornton means “thorn-tree enclosure” and Cleveleys means “woodland clearing near a cliff or bank”. You can still see the remains of a petrified forest on the beach today. Thousands of years ago, trees lined the river that once ran along the route of Victoria Road. Borehole logs of ground samples show that there is geological evidence of a major river outlet here, probably the River Wyre.

There was probably a settlement here in the Middle Ages, although the name of Cleveleys is new. Much of the land from the 1700’s belonged to the Fleetwood Hesketh family. A lot of it was sold off after their railway plans of the 1800’s became the downfall of their wealth. Lands in Cleveleys were sold mainly to the Horrocks’ family. They were textile manufacturers from Preston.

Both Parliamentarian and Royalist armies were after the prize of these lands. However Cromwell’s army had to go via Garstang and Over Wyre, where his supporters were. On the other hand, Lord Derby being amongst friends, was able to march right up to Layton Hawes and alongside the Fylde coast without any interference. He therefore secured the booty for the Royalists.

The Marsh Act Award ordered the first road over Thornton Marsh to be built in 1805, with gravel from the beach. Old sea defences, were known as ‘ramps’, ramparts or banks. They enclosed the marshland, and you can still see traces of them today. Victoria Road was once called ‘Ramper Road’, and re-named at the time of the Queen’s Jubilee. Due to erosion by the sea, the old ‘Ross Hall’ and its accompanying building was abandoned in 1820 and is now underwater. A new ‘Ross Hall’ was built further inland, now part of Rossall School.

Way back in 1889, 22 acres of land at Burn Naze near the Wyre Estuary were acquired for building a salt works. Production began in the early 1890’s. The site, now called Hillhouse Enterprise Zone, is still an important industrial area to this day. At the time, the chemical works on the banks of the Wyre at Burn Naze in Thornton were owned by ICI. The chemical works drove the growth of the Thornton area. Hundreds of workers moved here, also spreading out to nearby Cleveleys.

The tramway was the thing which spurred on the growth of Cleveleys. Speeded along by a man called Tom Lumb. Mr Lumb was the one who employed Edwin Lutyens. He was the English architect who imaginatively adapted traditional architectural styles to the requirements of his era. He designed many English country houses, war memorials and public buildings.

Lutyens drew up plans for a Cleveleys Garden City. Those plans were never realised, although some of the arts and crafts style houses were built to his designs. They still stand today.

In 1904 the Fleetwood Estates Company acquired land from the Horrocks estate, and organised the ‘Cleveleys Cottage Exhibition of 1906’. This was in the area now known as Cleveleys Park, and marked another stage of growth in the history of Cleveleys.

The hamlet of Singleton Thorpe was reputedly to be found about a mile out into the sea off Rossall Beach at Cleveleys. The name Singleton being a derivation of ‘Shingleton’. In other words habitation in a shingly place.

In 1555 the sea surged inland and destroyed several villages, one of which was Singleton Thorpe. Legend has it that most of the inhabitants escaped and moved inland to settle at Singleton Village.

There’s still the evidence on the beach at Cleveleys of petrified forests when the tide goes out. Low spring tides sometimes expose preserved tree trunks, once buried under the tide many years ago. Pieces of petrified forest have been radiocarbon dated to 7000 BC.

The Abana was sailing from Liverpool to Florida, when she was caught in a storm in the Irish Sea on 22nd December 1894. She ended up drifting north to be wrecked off Little Bispham at 5pm. It can be viewed as Cleveleys first ‘famous’ shipwreck. At low tide on the beach just off the new sea defences at Princes Way, you can see the wooden remains of the Abana. The crew of the Abana and the lifeboat, including the ships dog, were taken to the Red Lion Inn at Bispham to recover from their ordeal. The ship’s bell and dog were given to the landlord of the Cleveleys Hotel, who’d raised the alarm. The ship’s bell now hangs in St. Andrew’s Church in Cleveleys.

On the night of 31st January 2008 a storm blew it off the course of its Ireland to Heysham sailing. It ended up on the beach at Anchorsholme, close to where the Abana had wrecked, many years before. Removing the ship from the beach took some time as the ferry was first cut up and taken away by truck. The ferry had also managed to land right on top of an outfall pipe and crush it. Once the ship was dismantled, the pipe under the beach needed repairing.

Cleveleys Hydro was a big, prominent hotel. You’d have found it around where the ‘pointy roofed’ houses are today against the seafront at Anchorsholme. In the late 1800s, the landmark Cleveleys Hydro is built on the site of the former Eryngo Lodge. Fully licensed, it was heated throughout, with hydropathic baths, an 18 hole golf course, tennis courts and a resident orchestra. It held banquets, dance and whist drives.