Flixton is a suburb and electoral ward in the Metropolitan Borough of Trafford, Greater Manchester, England. The population of the ward at the 2011 census was 10,786. It lies six miles (9.7 km) southwest of Manchester city centre, in the historic county of Lancashire. Neolithic and Bronze Age artefacts have been found locally and the area may have been inhabited then. Medieval Flixton was a parish within the Hundred of Salford and manor of Flixton, first mentioned in the 12th century. The parish comprised isolated farmsteads and a manor house. Toward the end of the 17th century its population began to rise, continuing through the 19th century, although at a much slower pace than its neighbours. Flixton was a remote rural area with few transport links and did not witness the level of industrialisation other parts of Manchester saw, but its connection to the railway network in 1873 helped transform the area into a middle-class suburb. Flixton is represented in Parliament by Labour MP Andrew Western. Etymology Flixton has been recorded as fflixton, Fluxton, Flyxton, Flyxeton, Fleece-town, Flixston and Flixtone. It is not mentioned in the Domesday Survey, and first appears in historical records in 1176 or 1177. The name may be Scandinavian in origin, the Anglo-Saxon ton meaning a farmstead, although along with nearby Urmston, it may be an anglicised personal name from the 10th or 11th centuries and not a primary settlement name from earlier times. History Early history The area may have been inhabited during the Neolithic and Bronze Ages. Stone axes have been found on the banks of the River Mersey in Flixton, as well as on the banks of the River Irwell in Old Trafford. Further afield, two Neolithic arrowheads have been found in Altrincham and Dunham Massey, and a Bronze Age arrowhead in Warburton. Medieval Flixton was one of several parishes which existed in the Hundred of Salford. The parish encompassed the manors of Urmston and Flixton; the latter is first mentioned between 1189 and 1181 and was granted by the Mascy family of Dunham. The manor of Flixton's boundaries are unclear, although they were perhaps formed by a mixture of natural and man-made features including Carr Ditch, which divided Flixton and Urmston. St Michael's Church is also first recorded at about the same time, although the building may date from an earlier period. In keeping with a pattern found in northern and eastern