The earliest reference to the church dates from the reign of Richard I, when Theobold Walter passed on his rights to the churches of Poulton and Bispham to St Mary’s of Lancaster. Another reference in 1345, from the records of the Archdiocese of Richmond, tells of the lamentable state of disrepair of both the church of Poulton and the chapel of Bispham, implying that Bispham was a chapel annexed to the parish of Poulton.