Place:Marton, Lancashire, England

source: Family History Library Catalog

the following text is based on an article in Wikipedia Marton (#10 on map + space south of Blackpool) is a settlement on the coastal plain of the Fylde 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, before the development of Blackpool as a resort (i.e. before 1879). By no later than the end of the 11th century, St Chad's Church had been built in the nearby town of Poulton le Fylde and became the parish church for the area following the Reformation in the 16th century. Marton residents travelled 5 miles (8.0 km) 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, as did , Lancashire, England|Layton and Blackpool. It was not until 1800 that their request was granted and the Church of St Paul was built in Great Marton. The church was consecrated in 1804, originally as a chapel of Poulton le Fylde. 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 the Sea (later Lytham St. Anne's) to the south of Blackpool.

Marton is the unmarked place between Blackpool and St. Anne's on the Sea.

Research Tips

• See the Wikipedia articles on parishes and civil parishes for descriptions of this lowest rung of local administration. The original parishes (known as ancient parishes) were ecclesiastical, under the jurisdiction of the local priest. A parish covered a specific geographical area and was sometimes equivalent to that of a manor. Sometimes, in the case of very large rural parishes, there were chapelries where a "chapel of ease" allowed parishioners to worship closer to their homes. In the 19th century the term civil parish was adopted to define parishes with a secular form of local government. In WeRelate both civil and ecclesiastical parishes are included in the type of place called a "parish". Smaller places within parishes, such as chapelries and hamlets, have been redirected into the parish in which they are located. The names of these smaller places are italicized within the text.
• Rural districts were groups of geographically close civil parishes in existence between 1894 and 1974. They were formed as a middle layer of administration between the county and the civil parish. Inspecting the archives of a rural district will not be of much help to the genealogist or family historian, unless there is need to study land records in depth.
• Civil registration or vital statistics and census records will be found within registration districts. To ascertain the registration district to which a parish belongs, see Registration Districts in Lancashire, part of the UK_BMD website.
• Lancashire Online Parish Clerks provide free online information from the various parishes, along with other data of value to family and local historians conducting research in the County of Lancashire.
• FamilySearch Lancashire Research Wiki provides a good overview of the county and also articles on most of the individual parishes (very small or short-lived ones may have been missed).
• Ancestry (international subscription necessary) has a number of county-wide collections of Church of England baptisms, marriages and burials, some from the 1500s, and some providing microfilm copies of the manuscript entries. There are specific collections for Liverpool (including Catholic baptisms and marriages) and for Manchester. Their databases now include electoral registers 1832-1935. Another pay site is FindMyPast.
• A map of Lancashire circa 1888 supplied by A Vision of Britain through Time includes the boundaries between the parishes and shows the hamlets within them.
• A map of Lancashire circa 1954 supplied by A Vision of Britain through Time is a similar map for a later timeframe.
• GENUKI provides a website covering many sources of genealogical information for Lancashire. The organization is gradually updating the website and the volunteer organizers may not have yet picked up all the changes that have come with improving technology.
• The Victoria County History for Lancashire, provided by British History Online, covers the whole of the county in six volumes (the seventh available volume [numbered Vol 2] covers religious institutions). The county is separated into its original hundreds and the volumes were first published between 1907 and 1914. Most parishes within each hundred are covered in detail. Maps within the text can contain historical information not available elsewhere.
• A description of the township of Marton from British History Online (Victoria County Histories), published 1912