Pilling is a village and

civil parish In England, a civil parish is a type of administrative parish used for local government. It is a territorial designation which is the lowest tier of local government. Civil parishes can trace their origin to the ancient system of parishes, w ...

within the Wyre borough of

Lancashire Lancashire ( , ; abbreviated ''Lancs'') is a ceremonial county in North West England. It is bordered by Cumbria to the north, North Yorkshire and West Yorkshire to the east, Greater Manchester and Merseyside to the south, and the Irish Sea to ...

, England. It is north-northeast of

Poulton-le-Fylde Poulton-le-Fylde (), commonly shortened to Poulton, is a market town in Lancashire, England, situated on the coastal plain called the Fylde. In the 2021 United Kingdom census, it had a population of 18,115. There is evidence of human habitatio ...

, south-southwest of Lancaster and northwest of Preston, in a part of the Fylde known as Over Wyre. The civil parish of Pilling, which includes the localities of Stake Pool, Scronkey and Eagland Hill, had a total resident population of 1,739 in 2001, increasing to 2,020 at the 2011 Census. Populations in the 19th century ranged from 1,281 in 1851 to 1,572 in 1871.

Etymology

Eilert Ekwall Bror Oscar Eilert Ekwall (8 January 1877 in Vallsjö – 23 November 1964 in Lund) was a Swedish academic, Professor of English at Sweden's Lund University from 1909 to 1942 and one of the outstanding scholars of the English language in the firs ...

suggests the name is

Celtic Celtic, Celtics or Keltic may refer to: Language and ethnicity *pertaining to Celts, a collection of Indo-European peoples in Europe and Anatolia **Celts (modern) *Celtic languages **Proto-Celtic language *Celtic music *Celtic nations Sports Foot ...

, linking it with the Welsh place-name element "Pîl" (rendered as Pyl in

Old English Old English ( or , or ), or Anglo-Saxon, is the earliest recorded form of the English language, spoken in England and southern and eastern Scotland in the Early Middle Ages. It developed from the languages brought to Great Britain by Anglo-S ...

). This etymology would suggest the settlement started as a tidal inlet used as a harbour. Ekwall suggested the geography of Pilling may be "accurately described as a pill". The name appears as ''Pylin'' in 1246 and, if the name is indeed Celtic in origin, the termination is almost certainly the same as the common Welsh diminutive suffix "-yn", giving the meaning of "small harbour or inlet".

History

Pilling is an ancient settlement, founded on what was essentially an "island" with the sea on one side and marsh on the others. From artefacts finds, there is evidence of spasmodic human activity within this territory dating back to the

Neolithic The Neolithic or New Stone Age (from Ancient Greek, Greek 'new' and 'stone') is an archaeological period, the final division of the Stone Age in Mesopotamia, Asia, Europe and Africa (c. 10,000 BCE to c. 2,000 BCE). It saw the Neolithic Revo ...

period. Some of the materials that went into the extension of the Garstang railway from to came from Richard Fleetwood's first

charity school Charity schools, sometimes called blue coat schools, or simply the Blue School, were significant in the history of education in England. They were built and maintained in various parishes by the voluntary contributions of the inhabitants to ...

at Preesall. The school had gradually become more and more dilapidated so the contractors knocked it down and used the stones for the railway. Damside Windmill, on Taylors Lane, was built in 1808.A Short History of Pilling Windmill : 1808–2007
accessed 16 October 2011 "Pilling in Bloom" was a competition held in 2004.

Geography

Pilling is an extensive mossland parish covering 3,387 hectares situated on the southern corner of

Morecambe Bay Morecambe Bay is an estuary in north-west England, just to the south of the Lake District National Park. It is the largest expanse of intertidal mudflats and sand in the United Kingdom, covering a total area of . In 1974, the second largest ga ...

. Bus routes link Pilling to Lancaster, Knott End and

Fleetwood Fleetwood is a coastal town in the Borough of Wyre in Lancashire, England, at the northwest corner of the Fylde. It had a population of 25,939 at the 2011 United Kingdom census, 2011 census. Fleetwood acquired its modern character in the 1830 ...

Governance

Since 1974, Pilling has formed part of the Wyre borough of

served by both Wyre Borough Council and

Lancashire County Council Lancashire County Council is the upper-tier local authority for the non-metropolitan county of Lancashire, England. The non-metropolitan county of Lancashire is smaller than the ceremonial county, which additionally includes Blackburn with Dar ...

, having previously (from 1894) lain within the

Garstang Garstang is an ancient market town and civil parish within the Wyre borough of Lancashire, England. It is north of the city of Preston and the same distance south of Lancaster. In 2011, the parish had a total resident population of 4,26 ...

Rural District A rural district was a type of local government area – now superseded – established at the end of the 19th century in England, Wales Wales ( ) is a Countries of the United Kingdom, country that is part of the United Kingdom. I ...

of Lancashire. Pilling has its own Parish Council. The population of Pilling

electoral ward A ward is a local authority area, typically used for electoral purposes. In some countries, wards are usually named after neighbourhoods, thoroughfares, parishes, landmarks, geographical features and in some cases historical figures connected t ...

in 2011 was 2,293. Pilling is within the constituency of Lancaster and Fleetwood which returned Cat Smith

Labour Party (UK) The Labour Party, often referred to as Labour, is a List of political parties in the United Kingdom, political party in the United Kingdom that sits on the Centre-left politics, centre-left of the political spectrum. The party has been describe ...

as M.P. in 2019.

Places of interest

Pilling has two

pubs A pub (short for public house) is in several countries a drinking establishment licensed to serve alcoholic drinks for consumption Licensing laws of the United Kingdom#On-licence, on the premises. The term first appeared in England in the ...

: The Elletson Arms in Stakepool and The Golden Ball in the village. There is a community area in the village, equipped with a pathway to Pilling Sands. There are also several churches, including St John the Baptist Church (

Church of England The Church of England (C of E) is the State religion#State churches, established List of Christian denominations, Christian church in England and the Crown Dependencies. It is the mother church of the Anglicanism, Anglican Christian tradition, ...

) in the village, St William's Church (

Catholic The Catholic Church (), also known as the Roman Catholic Church, is the List of Christian denominations by number of members, largest Christian church, with 1.27 to 1.41 billion baptized Catholics Catholic Church by country, worldwid ...

) in Stakepool, and the Pilling

Methodist Methodism, also called the Methodist movement, is a Protestant Christianity, Christian Christian tradition, tradition whose origins, doctrine and practice derive from the life and teachings of John Wesley. George Whitefield and John's brother ...

Church in the village. There are two primary

school A school is the educational institution (and, in the case of in-person learning, the Educational architecture, building) designed to provide learning environments for the teaching of students, usually under the direction of teachers. Most co ...

s: Pilling St John's Church of England Primary SchoolPilling-st-johns.lancs.sch.uk
/ref> and St William's, both associated with the respective churches.

Notable people

* Ralph Slater,

millwright A millwright is a craftsman or skilled tradesman who installs, dismantles, maintains, repairs, reassembles, and moves machinery in factories, power plants, and construction sites. The term ''millwright'' (also known as ''industrial mechanic'') ...

References

External links

Official parish websitePilling
at

GENUKI GENUKI is a genealogy web portal, run as a charitable trust. It "provides a virtual reference library of genealogical information of particular relevance to the UK and Ireland". It gives access to a large collection of information, with the emphas ...

Pilling St. John's Church of England Primary SchoolSt. William's Catholic Primary SchoolGolden Ball Hotel
{{authority control Villages in Lancashire Civil parishes in Lancashire Geography of the Borough of Wyre The Fylde Populated coastal places in Lancashire Morecambe Bay