The name of the village appears in the Domesday Book as "Frecheltun" and is said to derive from 'Farmstead of a man called Frecla', with Old English tun and Nordic personal name. It was one of 62 settlements to be found in the Hundred of "Agemvndrenesse" (Amounderness). Another suggested derivation is from the Anglo-Saxon word for "lusty" or "argumentative".
Freckleton supplied water to the Roman fort at Kirkham, and in the 19th century was a port for the ship building industry. Rope and sailcloth, for the early boatbuilding industry, was made in the village for many years. Balderstone Mill, erected in 1880, was the first organised factory system in the village, its weaving shed had 320 looms, and the cloth it produced sold on the Manchester Cotton Exchange. The mills closed in 1980.
There was a water-mill, situated on the Dow Brook, from at least as early as 1427, when it was in the possession of a William Hodelliston. It was sold for the sum of £350, in 1882, with the sole purpose of its decommission, to allow the marsh to be more effectively drained.
Until the 1920s Freckleton had a tollgate and travellers to Lytham and Preston had to pay a toll to use the turnpike road. The toll was collected at toll house bridge. The toll could be avoided by crossing the Dow brook and walking along the bridle way.
In World War II, American forces from the neighbouring Warton Aerodrome resided in the village. The Freckleton Air Disaster occurred on 23 August 1944, when an aircraft attempting to land at Warton during stormy weather crashed onto Freckleton's Holy Trinity School. Sixty-one people lost their lives, including thirty-eight infants, their two teachers, and the three air crew. Other victims included several residents and US personnel in a snack bar across the road from the school. Annual commemorations still take place, attended by residents and US veterans.
The aerodrome was subsequently purchased by English Electric, now BAE Systems, and many BAE employees live in the village.
The area around the village War Memorial, now protected by railings, was once the village green, where stood the smithy and toll house.
The Quaker burial ground at Quaker's Wood, also known as "Twill Furlong", in Lower Lane, between Freckleton and Kirkham, has a single gravestone.
|
