Page:History of the Fylde of Lancashire (IA historyoffyldeof00portiala).pdf/199

 found at no great distance, but the character of the relics is in no way suggestive of a sojournment, like that of the fragmentary domestic utensils and urns of Kirkham; and when it is remembered that the much-used Roman road (Dane's Pad) leading to the most important harbour of the west coast, passed through the vicinity on its way towards the Warren of Rossall, the explanation of the presence of the coins, as of other antiquities along its line, is obvious. The name of the town and district now under examination is of pure Anglo-Saxon origin, and acquired from its proximity to the pool of the Skipton, or Skippool, the signification of the word being, it is scarcely necessary to add, the enclosure or township of the pool. The date at which habitations first became visible on the soil must remain in a great measure a matter of conjecture, as the annals of history are silent respecting this and most other towns of Amounderness, until the arrival of William the Conqueror, but we may safely infer that it was not long after the advent of the Saxons before a situation so convenient both to the stream of Wyre and the frequented pathway just mentioned, attracted a small colony of settlers. Whatever century gave birth to Poulton, it is certain that from such epoch to 1066, the population would be constituted, almost exclusively, of the class known as "Villani," perhaps most appropriately interpreted by our term villagers, and that the occupation of these bondsmen of the soil would be the tillage of the land and the superintendence of swine. Their huts were doubtless of very rude and primitive construction, but somewhere within the boundaries of the township there must have been a dwelling of more pretentious exterior, the residence of the Town-Reve, who received the dues and tolls from the "Villani," on behalf of the large territorial lord, and exercised a general supervision over them. Athelstan appears to have held the lordship of the whole of Amounderness in 936, when he conveyed it to the See of York, and possibly before he ascended the throne it was invested successively in his regal predecessors.

After the Conquest, Poulton passed into the possession of the Norman nobleman, Roger de Poictou, by whom it was granted in 1094, to the priory of St. Mary, at Lancaster. "He gave," says the charter, "Poltun in Agmundernesia, and whatsover belonged