Neolithic and Bronze Age artefacts have been found locally and the area may have been inhabited in those periods. Medieval Flixton was a parish within the Hundred of Salford and encompassed the manor of Flixton, along with its church, 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.