Thornton is a village in the Borough of Wyre, about north of Blackpool and south of Fleetwood. The civil parish of Thornton became an urban district in 1900, and was renamed Thornton-Cleveleys in 1927. In 2011 the Thornton built-up area sub division had a population of 18,941. History Thornton is first mentioned in 1086 in the Domesday Book, where it was referred to as Torentum (a name preserved by Torentum Court on Lawsons Road). At the time it covered a large area including what are now Cleveleys and Fleetwood, and had a very low population density. It is thought that a settlement had existed at the site since the Iron Age, and a Roman road passes close to the village. The area remained lightly populated until 1799, when the marshland around the village was drained and agricultural production began on a large scale. A railway station was opened in Thornton in 1865. The opening of salt works at nearby Burn Naze by the United Alkali Company in the early 1890s (later becoming ICI) led to significant expansion of the village, with new houses and community buildings constructed. Thornton became an Urban District Council in 1900, surviving until 1974 when it became part of the Wyre Borough Council. A notable early building, The Illawalla, stood in Skippool between 1902 and 1996. In 2015, the complete skeleton of a pre-historic wolf, nicknamed the Thornton Wolf, was discovered in the back garden of a home in the village. Transport Rail Thornton–Cleveleys railway station was formerly the principal intermediate stop on the Fleetwood branch of the LMS/British Rail London Midland Region railway, running from Poulton-le-Fylde, but it has been years since the station was used, and with the recent fencing-over of the level crossing in Station Road/Victoria Road East in order to prevent youths from congregating on the tracks, the glory days of Thornton are long since gone. However, a decision by an action group based in Poulton means they will finance a feasibility study into bringing the railway back to Thornton and Fleetwood. Bus Thornton Centre's stops 1 and 2 are served by five bus routes: Blackpool Transport routes 74 and 75, which originate at Albert Square in Fleetwood and terminate at Preston bus station Coastliner routes 24 and 660. The 24 originates in Fleetwood and terminates in Poulton-le-Fylde, while the weekday-only 660 originates in Cleveleys and terminates at Hodgson Academy in Poulton.