The history of Lytham goes back for 1000 years with evidence in the Domesday Book (1086). Originally a rural community, relatively poor and backward for centuries, the Fylde was a ‘wetland’ which people were glad to avoid.
Lytham is first thought to have been settled by the Anglo Saxons c.600AD. About 900AD, the Fylde, was subject to a huge wave of immigration by Vikings. These were Irish-Norse Vikings and had been expelled from Dublin. They crossed the Irish Sea forming new fishing, farming and trading communities in Lancashire and Cumbria.
The Vikings became Overlords of the Lytham area and local place names such as Kilgrimol (near Lytham) and Kellermergh (by the Birley Arms, Warton), date from this period.
After the conquest of Northern England by the Normans, Lytham’s Viking Overlords seem to have adapted to Norman rule by becoming Norman Thanes and the second generation were given French names. The last of these Norse descendents was Richard Fitz Roger. He had no heir and bequeathed all his lands at Lytham to the Benedictine Monks of Durham.
For a period of 350 years Lytham belonged to Durham, and it was governed by a succession of Priors sent by Durham to reside in the small Benedictine Priory in the Lytham Hall Park area. With the exception of the occasional plague, inundation, storm and riot, the centuries passed peacefully here, mainly because of Lytham’s isolation.
After the Dissolution of the Monasteries, Lytham had several successive landowners who subleased Lytham to tenant farmers .
In 1606, as part of a land deal, the Clifton family of nearby Westby came into possession of Lytham. They made it their family seat, converting the old priory buildings into Lytham Hall and the estate became Lytham Manor. In their 250 year association with Lytham, the Clifton family carried out huge agricultural improvements to their large estate.
From the 1790s onwards, the Clifton family oversaw the transition of Lytham from farming and fishing community, to a health resort and residential village but progress was initially slow.
The industrial revolution transformed many towns in Lancashire creating large manufacturing districts and greatly increased the population of the county. Lytham remained isolated from manufacturing but benefited from the prosperity of Preston because as the River Ribble was too shallow for larger vessels, Lytham was used as a port to transfer cargos onto lighters.
As the manufacturers’ wealth grew they visited Lytham for their health and hotels were built and enlarged. Several schools opened at Lytham for the sons and daughters of industrialists.
The township occupies a level tract of land at the mouth of the Ribble; Lytham proper is at the eastern end, and is bounded on the south by the Ribble; while St. Anne’s, formerly called Heyhouses, occupies the north-west portion and looks out over the Irish Sea to the west. The area between the two extremes is known as Ansdell; the new residential district called Fairhaven is here, while Heyhouses is more inland. Formerly a large part of the total area was occupied by sandy wastes on the sea side and mosses inland, but there was arable land to the north-east of the village. The township by the county lay of 1624 had to pay £2 6s. 2¼d. to each £100 levied on the hundred. About 130 years ago Lytham came into notice as a sea-bathing place for summer visitors. It is of pleasant appearance and attracts a large number of visitors in the season, while its mild climate makes it a favourite resort in winter also. There are wide sands, an open promenade with a stretch of grass called the Green along the sea front, and a pier built in 1864–5 and rebuilt in 1891. A windmill near it is still working.
A branch of the Preston and Wyre railway was made to Lytham as early as 1846, and was continued along the shore to Blackpool in 1863 with stations at Ansdell and St. Anne’s.
In the 1870s the sand dunes and farmland at the West End of Lytham Manor was developed into the new resort of St.Annes on the Sea.
