The earliest inhabitants of the Fylde area are believed to be the

Setantii tribe who were a pre-roman celtic tribe.  There were certainly people living around Thornton in the Iron Age with the recent discovery

of a settlement in Thornton.  There is however no evidence of any Roman settlement, but with a Roman Road and the lost harbour, it is highly likely they were here.

In Saxon times the village of Thornton was located from where Raikes Road and Woodhouse Road meet Lambs Road, up the hill past Thornton Hall Farm and down to Bulker on the riverbank.  Standing at the centre, where the farm now stands was the original Thornton Hall.

The first mention of Thornton itself is in the Domesday book of 1086.  

It was listed as Torentun in the ancient hundred of Amounderness and the area was described as mainly waste land with very few inhabitants.  At this time Thornton covered a much larger area and included the land where today Fleetwood and Cleveleys stand, most of which at the time was ancient rabbit warrens.  Fleetwood did not become an independent town until as late as 1894.

Before 1799 Thornton was common marshland with the hamlets within

it occupying the higher ground.  The land was drained by Bold Fleetwood Hesketh, who 5 years earlier had constructed Marsh Mill, turning it into valuable arable land.  Thornton now thrived through agriculture.

In 1840 the Preston and Wyre railway opened to connect Preston with the port of Fleetwood.  The original station at Thornton, called Thornton for Cleveleys, was opened in 1865 near an older halt called Ramper Road.  This station was closed in 1927 when a newer station was built on the opposite side of the crossing where Somerfield’s now stands.  In its time it was a busy station with passenger trains every 30 minutes, fish trains from Fleetwood, trains for the Isle of Man boat and a coal yard.  It finally closed for good in 1970 although freight trains continued to Burn Naze until 1999.