DOLPHINHOLME is a village and ecclesiastical parish, formed July 25th, 1862, out of Ellel in Cockerham and St. Helen’s, Garstang, in the townships, of Ellel and Nether Wyresdale, on the river Wyre, 6 ½ miles south-east from Lancaster and 1 ¾ miles east from the Bay Horse station on the Lancaster, and Preston section of the London and North Western railway, in the rural deanery and archdeaconry of Lancaster and diocese of Manchester. The church of St. Mark, erected in 1839, was demolished in 1897, and a new church erected at a cost of about £3,000, on the old foundations in the Perpendicular style, from designs by Messrs. Paley and Austin, architects, of Lancaster; it consists of chancel, nave, transept, north aisle, organ chamber, vestry and a central tower. The register dates from 1839 to 1853, and from 1862. The living is a vicarage, net yearly value £180, with residence, in the gift of Capt. Charles Henry Garnett J.P. and held since 1901 by the Rev. John Wesley Looker B.A. of Queens’ College, Cambridge. Here are Wesleyan and Congregational chapels. There is good fishing in the river and shooting on the moors. The Fleece inn has excellent accommodation, and standing upon an eminence commands good views. Capt. Charles Henry Garnett, of Wyreside, Lancaster, is the principal, landowner. The soil in most parts is strong, clay; subsoil, clay. The land is entirely pasturage. The population in 1901 was 408.

Public Elementary School (mixed & infants), built in 1866, for 120 children; average attendance, 84.