St. Chad’s Church
The early church in Poulton
Poulton-le-Fylde – ‘the town by the pool’ is recorded in the Domesday Survey of 1086, together with over 60 hamlets and small villages in Amounderness. The Survey also states there were three churches but does not name them, although there is good evidence that St Chad’s church in Poulton was one of them. Lancashire originally had two towns named Poulton, although the County itself was not to come into being for another hundred years. The term “le-Fylde” was officially added in 1842 to prevent mail being delivered in error to Poulton-le-Sands near present day Morecambe, but the town was being distinguished as “in-the-field” during the late 1700s, and newspaper archives from the early 1800s show that the town was even then referred to unofficially as Poulton-le-Fylde.
The first record of a church in Poulton is in a document written in 1094 which records that Roger de Poitou, a Norman knight, gave the church (together with St Mary’s Priory at Lancaster and St Michael’s at Kirkham) to the Abbey at Sees in Normandy. William divided the lands among his followers over a period of time after the Norman Conquest, and about the year 1070 the Hundred of Amounderness was given to Roger de Poitou, the third son of Roger of Montgomery and a cousin of William and Earl of Arundel and Shrewsbury.
Roger de Poitou was thought to have been responsible for the building of this church, however the dedication of the church to St Chad, the Saxon bishop of Lichfield who died in 672 AD, is possibly an unlikely choice for a Norman builder. Other evidence coming to light suggests that there may have been a Saxon church in Poulton long before 1094.
The medieval church was constructed of large blocks of red sandstone and it is recorded that in the mid-eighteenth century it had a double roof over the nave and north aisle supported by massive pillars. Like all old churches, St Chad’s must have undergone many major alterations over the centuries, about which no records remain. However, recent research shows that over a period of about four years, starting in 1751, the old building was drastically re-ordered inside, with galleries erected on three walls. At the same time the outer walls were clad with grey ashlar stone. Thus the ancient medieval church underwent its last and most recent major alteration, becoming the typical ‘Georgian preaching box’ which we have today – a style of church architecture very fashionable in the eighteenth century.

This very early photograph of the church from the eastern end shows it before the addition of the semi-circular apse in 1868.
A Guided Walk outside the Church
The tower was probably built sometime in the seventeenth century, and the join between the tower and the Georgian stonewalling is clearly seen. The small door in the south wall of the tower was added in 1787, at a cost of £1, 5s.,1d.; before that access to the ‘bell tower’ was from the back of the church. That entrance was blocked up, presumably when the outer door was built in 1787, but its semi circular arch can still be seen in the tower. The two small windows in the tower wall mark the spiral staircase, the third shows the original position of the clock before it was raised to its present position in 1864. At ground level on the south side of the church wall some of the red sandstone blocks of the medieval building can be seen. It is currently thought that the walling below window level may also be from the medieval building.

The outside of the church illustrates well the difference between the south side – always built as the most important side of the building (in the case of St Chad’s facing the Market Place) and the north side – in contrast dark and plain. The surround to the door on the south side had to be replaced in 1994 due to weathering; the builders used the original as a copy for the new stone.

Near the vestry door is the gravestone of Mr Edward Sherdley with its skull and crossbones. In the 18th century these were simply symbols of death but nowadays local traditions say they are associated with pirates.

The churchyard is a main thoroughfare for Poulton people and in early Spring is a carpet of purple crocuses. Until 1973 when a major re-design took place, it was crowded with gravestones and great forest trees planted in the late 19th century. Many of the ‘table tombs’ were left in place and their inscriptions can be clearly read. In medieval times the church and its large churchyard would have been used for gatherings of local people.


Until 1910 the churchyard was surrounded by buildings of all descriptions, which backed onto its walls; the shop standing by the gateway is the only one remaining.

The Thatched House by the other main gate is a reminder that all old churches have a public house nearby – parishioners would be in need of refreshment after walking five or six miles to St Chad’s every Sunday.

A Guided Walk inside St. Chad’s
The South door through which you passed is the main entrance to St Chad’s. On the immediate left is a dark carved screen which was once part of the family pew of the Fleetwood Hesketh family and stood originally where the choir stalls now are. The small door in the screen comes from the family pew of the Rigby family. The two were put in their present position in 1883 when the choir stalls were built and the box pews which once filled the church were removed. The vicar of the time was allowed to select the best panelling from the pews ‘to panel a parish room in the vicarage’. That building, dating from 1835, was replaced by the present vicarage in the 1950’s.
The Font, used for Baptisms, traditionally stands near to the main door of the church to signify the fact that it is through Baptism that individuals enter the fellowship of the church. The present font is a memorial dating from 1936. It is however rather inaccessible and so a portable font, which stands near the choir stalls, is now normally used for Baptism.
The inner porches over the north and south entrances, with their heavy wooden doors, were erected in 1837 and 1839.
Now walk down one of the Aisles towards the Altar.

The aisles may appear to be quite narrow. The ancient box pews, removed in the 1880s, were described by a visiting journalist in 1871 as being ‘broad, narrow, open, closed, high, low and in many of them may be seen a faded lining of green baize’. The Fleetwood Hesketh pew he described as looking like ‘a cross between a railway carriage and the centre piece of a gondola’. The centre aisle was put in during alterations in the 1950s; room was made by making the north and south aisles narrower.
The windows on the north and south sides are of plain glass, traditional in churches of this style. The memorial stained glass was put in during the late nineteenth century and commemorates local families. However it is interesting to see that the six main windows are not opposite one another as might be expected in a Georgian style church; maybe they mark the position of earlier windows replaced in the re-ordering of the 1750’s. Like the windows, the memorial tablets on the north and south walls date from the late Victorian period.

The Lady Chapel, a name traditionally given to smaller chapels in English Churches in honour of Our Lady, Mary the mother of Jesus, lies in the area created by the positioning of the organ. It is used for celebrations of the Holy Communion at which only a small number of worshippers are present. The rectangular design of a Georgian church does not include any secluded areas which are normally used in this way. The altar is a simple table of the type used during the Puritan period when church furnishings were required to be basic and plain.
The pulpit was probably made by local craftsmen and is thought to be Jacobean. It consists of four carved panels set into a modern framework. One panel is missing – the inscription along the top is incomplete. It may once have been part of the three-decker pulpit which stood in the centre of the floor until 1878. When that pulpit was replaced by a wrought iron one, the panels were saved and hung on the south wall. In 1955, during further alterations, the panels were put together to form the present pulpit.

The organ was first sited here in 1883 replacing an older one purchased in 1855 which originally stood in the west gallery. It in turn had replaced the group of musicians – including a viola player and violinists – who accompanied the services from the gallery. The present organ dates from 1912.
The High Altar is set in a portion of the church – technically called the Apse – which was added to the church building in 1886. During this period the Church of England had begun to re-discover the importance of the regular celebration of the Holy Communion. It was felt that St Chad’s ought to be a building which, through pulpit and Altar, placed an equal emphasis on the preaching of the Word and the celebration of the Eucharist (the Holy Communion). The Apse was built to enable this to happen.
The choir stalls stand on the site of the Fleetwood Hesketh family pew. Beneath this area (accessed from a door outside) is the Fleetwood family vault, opened in 1699 and containing the burials of over twenty members of the family. Sir Peter (1801 – 1864) was the founder of the town which bears his name.
Old memorial plates rescued from the re-ordering of the medieval church in the 1750s hang on the wall behind the choir. One marks the death of Geoffrey Hornby, during whose funeral in 1732 the west side of the Market Place was destroyed by fire.
Now Walk to the staircase at the back of the church.
The Galleries

The circular stained glass set into the staircase windows came from the original east window, replaced in 1868 when the east wall was extended by the building of the apse.
The staircase at the back of the church leads up to the galleries. The present staircase was built in 1883 replacing the original which led up to the centre back of the gallery. The two side galleries were cut short in 1883 to make room for the choir stalls on the south side and the organ on the north.
The galleries were erected as part of the major re-ordering of 1751. At that time the sermon was a most important part of the service and adding galleries almost doubled the number of people who could hear them. At this time the pulpit stood in the centre of the nave, in line with the first pair of plain glazed windows, so the preacher could be clearly seen and heard.
The Box pews in the two side galleries are the original ones built in 1751. Those on the north side have a separate compartment at the back for the servants, members of the family sat in the front. To help pay for the re-ordering, the pews were rented out and several still have brass name plates on their doors. Until 1883 all the pews in the church were of this design.
During restoration work in 1990 the white plaster on the west wall (now inside the cupboard) was removed and a dark diagonal line was discovered which professional historians consider could well be the mark of a roof line from the medieval building. The line continues into the roof space and research on this exciting discovery is continuing.
The roof of the 1750s would probably have been flat, but in 1846 the church was ‘receiled at a higher elevation and on a more ornamental plan’. The semi-circular apse was built onto the east end of the church in 1868. The archway leading to it meets the roof line rather awkwardly, suggesting the architect had difficulty matching the two shapes. The small oval windows in the galleries were put in during 1806 at a cost of £4,12s.,0d. They are rather uneven in shape and show clearly the thickness of the walls.
THE ROYAL COAT OF ARMS first appeared in the time of Henry VIII and were made obligatory by Charles II. They were repainted with the new arms as another king ascended the throne; this one refers to George II. It is recorded that in 1806 Mr Barrow ‘of Eccleston’ was paid 7 guineas for ‘printing and guilding the commandments and the King’s arms’. It cost the parish 5 shillings to have them carried to and from Eccleston for the work to be done.


THE HATCHMENTS which hang on the gallery walls are memorials to various members of the Hesketh and Fleetwood families. From the early 17th to the mid 18th century it was traditional for a painting of a family’s coat of arms to be carried in the funeral procession and then hung in the parish church. The Fleetwood family were granted patronage of St Chad’s by Queen Elizabeth in the 1530’s. It is thought that no other church in Lancashire has more hatchments than St Chad’s. They have recently been restored by Mrs Pat Allouis.
CHURCHWARDENS have played an important part in the life of the parishes for many centuries. Two were elected from each township in Poulton parish – until more churches were built in the nineteenth century, the parish of St Chad was made up of six townships and stretched from the River Wyre to Squires Gate Lane. Their role was to report to the Vicar and also to the Bishop on the activities, gossip and behaviour of the parishioners. They were also charged with keeping order in the church and churchyard. To help them do that they were handed poles or staves when they took up their office. You can see the churchwardens’ staves behind their chairs. A list of churchwardens’ names is at the bottom of the staircase. A list of Vicars dating back to the 12th century is on the east wall at the back of the church.
Sources and acknowledgements
Christine Storey, who contributed this article, has published a number of local histories in print, including quite a few on St Chads. The photographs used here are from the digital photographic archive of the Society and from an article published on the Society website a number of years ago.
The website for St Chad’s Church includes a link to a history of the church, written by Peter Fox and revised in 2004 by Christine.
27 June 2024