The Fylde () is a coastal plain in western Lancashire, England. It is roughly a square-shaped peninsula, bounded by Morecambe Bay to the north, the River Ribble estuary to the south, the Irish Sea to the west, and the foot of the Bowland hills to the east which approximates to a section of the M6 motorway and West Coast Main Line.
Geography
It is a flat,
alluvial plain, parts of which have deposits of and were once dug for
peat. The
River Wyre meanders across the Fylde from
Garstang on the eastern edge, westwards towards
Poulton-le-Fylde and then northwards to the sea at
Fleetwood. The area north and east of the tidal Wyre, known as
Over Wyre, is the more rural side of the river. The Fylde is roughly trisected by the M55 motorway and A586 road.
The west coast is almost entirely urban, containing the towns of Fleetwood, Cleveleys, Blackpool, St Annes and Lytham; with Thornton, Carleton and Poulton-le-Fylde not far inland. This area forms the Blackpool Urban Area. The central southern part of the Fylde includes the smaller towns of Kirkham and Wesham. The rest of the Fylde is rural, containing villages that include Freckleton, Warton, Wrea Green, Great Eccleston, Hambleton, Knott End and Pilling.
Geology
The Fylde is underlain by
sedimentary rock bedrock of
Triassic age though it is everywhere concealed by a thick cover of superficial deposits (exceeding thickness in places) laid down during the present
Quaternary period. The older rocks are the Sherwood Sandstones which "
subcrop" in the east. The slightly younger
and
of the Mercia Mudstone Group are found west of a line drawn roughly between Freckleton, St Michael's on Wyre and
Preesall. The group is subdivided into formations and members; one in particular is of note, the "Preesall Halite member", traditionally referred to as the Preesall Salt. It was the basis of former commercial operations in the area. Amongst others, boreholes sunk in connection with the former saltfield have provided much of the information on the bedrock of the area. The Mythop salt beds within the Mercia Mudstone succession are also conjectured to outcrop beneath the southwest corner of the Fylde.
The Quaternary cover consists of glacial till deriving from the last ice age (Devensian) together with some scattered glaciofluvial deposits, mainly sand and gravel. A small drumlin field is recognised between Preesall, Thornton and Hambleton. Of more recent origin are alluvium forming both modern river and , most of which are associated with the River Wyre and its tributaries. Also post-glacial in age are the and of the broad mudflat around Fleetwood and the Morecambe Bay coast and the Ribble estuary. Large areas of blown sand forming dune characterise the coastal zone north and east of Lytham St Annes whilst a thinner strip follows the north coast east from Fleetwood. Peat deposits are common in the shallow north–south valley occupied by Main Dyke just east of Blackpool and also forming the peat bog in the northeast of the area.
Governance
|
The Borough of Fylde | FY postcode area |
The Borough of Fylde is a local government area covering the south of the Fylde plain. The rest is covered by the boroughs of Wyre and
Blackpool to the north and west respectively. The local justice area covering all of the Fylde is called
Fylde Coast.
The FY postcode area, whose letters refer to the Fylde, covers its western half—the eastern half is in the PR postcode area. Historically, the Fylde formed the western part of the wapentake or hundred of Amounderness.
==Gallery==
See also
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Public transport in the Fylde
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Fylde Rugby Club
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Fylde (UK Parliament constituency) (1983 to date)
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Blackpool & Fylde Aero Club v Blackpool Borough Council 1990 EWCA Civ 13 is a leading English contract law case on the issue of offer and acceptance in relation to Call for Bids such as in tendering.