The parish includes the village of Mere Brow and the hamlets of Sollom and Holmes, and is an agricultural area.

[2] Tarleton is derived from the Old Norse Tharaldr, a personal name and the Old English tun, a farmstead or enclosure.

The manor of Tarleton was part of the Montbegon or Hornby fee and divided into two moieties: two ploughlands were granted to John Malherbe and the remainder to the Banastres of Bretherton.

[4] In the 19th century a labourer discovered a small leaden box without a lid containing about a hundred silver coins whilst digging in a copse.

The village has 18 listed buildings including barns, houses, farmhouses and St Mary's Church, which are of historical and architectural merit.

[10] Holmeswood Hall, dated 1568, was built as a hunting or fishing lodge by the Heskeths of Rufford, and is a grade II listed farmhouse.

Sir Thomas Hesketh bought and demolished the chapel, leaving Tarleton without a place of worship.

In 1650 the inhabitants of Tarleton, Holmes and Sollom built a Presbyterian church at Three Lanes End which was assigned a parish in 1658.

[4] In 1719 land was given, by Henrietta Maria Legh, of Bank Hall, for a new church close where the main road crosses the river.

Holy Trinity Church has some Robert (Mouseman) Thompson furniture and woodwork, which is notable for the mice carved on them.

[14][15] Tarleton mosses is an area of reclaimed mossland that stretches along the coastal plain from the Ribble Estuary in the north to the A565 in the south.

The Police UK website states that in the Tarleton area there were just five incidents of street crime and 19 occasions of Anti-social behaviour during March 2012.

[20] The high quality soil of the former mossland means that a major economic activity in Tarleton is market gardening, particularly growing salad crops.

Tarleton has a small public library;[24] The fire station in the village has a training tower and houses one appliance.