Ormskirk

A Town Built on Faith

For as long as people have lived on this stretch of West Lancashire, they have gathered here to worship.

Cottage Lane Mission, known today as CLM Church, is one chapter in that much longer story: a town where the call to love Jesus and share Jesus has echoed, in one form or another, for the best part of a thousand years.

The Christian Heritage of Ormskirk

Ormskirk’s very name is a piece of Christian history.
It comes from the Old Norse Ormres kirkja, “Orm’s church”, suggesting a Viking settler named Orm founded, or gave his name to a church here more than a thousand years ago.

Almost nothing else is known about Orm himself, but the name has stuck for a millennium: a quiet reminder that this market town has been shaped by faith since before written records began.

  • 1800s

    1849 - A new railway connected the market town of Ormskirk to Liverpool and Preston.

    1850 - Ormskirk's local board of health formed and was one of the first in England.

    1876 - The Clock Tower, still the town's landmark today, was built to replace the old market cross.

    1885 - Edge Hill College opened as a teacher training college in the Edge Hill District of Liverpool, not moving to Ormskirk until 1933.

    1888 - Every mission hall has an origin story, and the earliest chapter of Cottage Lane Mission is believed to begin in 1888 when the doors to a small mission hall first opened the doors.

  • 1900s

    1913 - The railway line to Liverpool was electrified, and commuting into the city began in earnest.

    1920 - County Road was built to carry the Liverpool–Preston traffic around the town, running through what was then open fields well to the west.

    1933 - Edge Hill College opens in Ormskirk, having moved from Liverpool.

    1948 - The NHS is founded; the old Wigan Road workhouse becomes Ormskirk's hospital.

    1981 - By this point Ormskirk had shifted from an industrial market town to a service centre for the wider district, with large-scale commuting in both directions.

  • 2000s

    2000 - Two Saints Retail Park opens (McDonald's, Argos, Poundland, Aldi).

    2006 - Edge Hill becomes a full university, with its own degree-awarding powers.

    2014 - Just eight years after gaining university status, Edge Hill is named Times Higher Education's "University of the Year."

    2026 - A Royal Charter granted by Edward I in 1286 to the monks of Burscough Priory (still going today as a twice-weekly open-air market), Thursdays and Saturdays, in the pedestrianised town centre. That makes 2026 Ormskirk’s 740th anniversary.

    2026 - CLM Church continues to be active in Ormskirk and has a vision to Love Jesus and Share Jesus in the local community.

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