The Fylde (/ˈfaɪld/) is a coastalplain in westernLancashire, England. It is roughly a 13-mile-long (21-kilometre)square-shapedpeninsula, bounded byMorecambe Bay to the north, theRibble estuary to the south, theIrish Sea to the west, and the foot of theBowland hills to the east which approximates to a section of theM6 motorway andWest Coast Main Line.[1]
It is a flat,alluvial plain, parts of which have deposits of and were once dug forpeat. TheRiver Wyre meanders across the Fylde fromGarstang on the eastern edge, westwards towardsPoulton and then northwards to the sea atFleetwood. The area north and east of the tidal Wyre, known asOver Wyre, is the more rural side of the river. The Fylde is roughly trisected by theM55 motorway andA586 road.
The west coast is almost entirely urban, containing the towns ofFleetwood,Cleveleys,Blackpool,St Annes andLytham; withThornton,Carleton andPoulton-le-Fylde not far inland. This area forms theBlackpool Urban Area. The central southern part of the Fylde includes the smaller towns ofKirkham andWesham. The rest of the Fylde is rural, containing villages that includeFreckleton,Warton,Wrea Green,Great Eccleston,Hambleton,Knott End andPilling.
The Fylde is underlain bysedimentarybedrock ofTriassic age though it is everywhere concealed by a thick cover ofsuperficial deposits (exceeding 30 metres (98 ft) thickness in places) laid down during the presentQuaternary period. The older rocks are theSherwood Sandstones which "subcrop" in the east. The slightly youngermudstones andsiltstones of theMercia Mudstone Group are found west of a line drawn roughly between Freckleton,St Michael's on Wyre andPreesall. The group is subdivided intoformations andmembers; 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.[2]
The Quaternary cover consists of glacialtill deriving from thelast ice age (Devensian) together with some scatteredglaciofluvial deposits, mainlysand andgravel. A smalldrumlin field is recognised between Preesall, Thornton andHambleton. Of more recent origin areclays, silts, sands and gravels forming both modern riverfloodplains andriver terraces, most of which are associated with the River Wyre and its tributaries. Also post-glacial in age are theclays andsilts of the broadtidal flats around Fleetwood and the Morecambe Bay coast and the Ribble estuary. Large areas of blown sand formingdune systems 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 themosses in the northeast of the area.[3][4]
 The Borough of Fylde |  FY postcode area |
TheBorough of Fylde is a local government area covering the south of the Fylde plain. The rest is covered by the boroughs ofWyre andBlackpool to the north and west respectively. Thelocal justice area covering all of the Fylde is calledFylde Coast.
TheFY postcode area, whose letters refer to the Fylde, covers its western half—the eastern half is in thePR postcode area. Historically, the Fylde formed the western part of thewapentake orhundred ofAmounderness.
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