Chorley is a town and the administrative centre of the wider

Borough of Chorley The Borough of Chorley is a local government district with borough status in Lancashire, England. The population of the Borough at the 2011 census was 107,155. It is named after its largest settlement, the town of Chorley. History The non-met ...

Lancashire Lancashire ( , ; abbreviated Lancs) is the name of a historic county, ceremonial county, and non-metropolitan county in North West England. The boundaries of these three areas differ significantly. The non-metropolitan county of Lancashi ...

England England is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Wales to its west and Scotland to its north. The Irish Sea lies northwest and the Celtic Sea to the southwest. It is separated from continental Europe b ...

, north of

Wigan Wigan ( ) is a large town in Greater Manchester, England, on the River Douglas, Lancashire, River Douglas. The town is midway between the two cities of Manchester, to the south-east, and Liverpool, to the south-west. Bolton lies to the nor ...

, south west of

Blackburn Blackburn () is an industrial town and the administrative centre of the Blackburn with Darwen borough in Lancashire, England. The town is north of the West Pennine Moors on the southern edge of the Ribble Valley, east of Preston and north-n ...

, north west of

Bolton Bolton (, locally ) is a large town in Greater Manchester in North West England, formerly a part of Lancashire. A former mill town, Bolton has been a production centre for textiles since Flemish people, Flemish weavers settled in the area i ...

, south of Preston and north west of

Manchester Manchester () is a city in Greater Manchester, England. It had a population of 552,000 in 2021. It is bordered by the Cheshire Plain to the south, the Pennines to the north and east, and the neighbouring city of Salford to the west. The t ...

. The town's wealth came principally from the

cotton Cotton is a soft, fluffy staple fiber that grows in a boll, or protective case, around the seeds of the cotton plants of the genus ''Gossypium'' in the mallow family Malvaceae. The fiber is almost pure cellulose, and can contain minor perce ...

industry. In the 1970s, the skyline was dominated by factory chimneys, but most have now been demolished: remnants of the industrial past include Morrisons chimney and other mill buildings, and the streets of terraced houses for mill workers. Chorley is the home of the

Chorley cake Chorley cakes are flattened, fruit filled pastry cakes, traditionally associated with the town of Chorley in Lancashire, England. Chorley cake A Chorley cake is made using currants, sandwiched between two layers of unsweetened shortcrust pastr ...

History

Toponymy

The name ''Chorley'' comes from two

Anglo-Saxon The Anglo-Saxons were a Cultural identity, cultural group who inhabited England in the Early Middle Ages. They traced their origins to settlers who came to Britain from mainland Europe in the 5th century. However, the ethnogenesis of the Anglo- ...

words, and , probably meaning "the

peasant A peasant is a pre-industrial agricultural laborer or a farmer with limited land-ownership, especially one living in the Middle Ages under feudalism and paying rent, tax, fees, or services to a landlord. In Europe, three classes of peasants ...

s' clearing". (also or ) is a common element of place-name, meaning a clearing in a woodland; refers to a person of status similar to a

freeman Freeman, free men, or variant, may refer to: * a member of the Third Estate in medieval society (commoners), see estates of the realm * Freeman, an apprentice who has been granted freedom of the company, was a rank within Livery companies * Free ...

or a

yeoman Yeoman is a noun originally referring either to one who owns and cultivates land or to the middle ranks of servants in an English royal or noble household. The term was first documented in mid-14th-century England. The 14th century also witn ...

Prehistory

There was no known occupation in Chorley until the Middle Ages, though archaeological evidence has shown that the area around the town has been inhabited since at least the

Bronze Age The Bronze Age is a historic period, lasting approximately from 3300 BC to 1200 BC, characterized by the use of bronze, the presence of writing in some areas, and other early features of urban civilization. The Bronze Age is the second pri ...

. There are various remains of prehistoric occupation on the nearby

Anglezarke Anglezarke is a sparsely populated Civil parishes in England, civil parish in the Borough of Chorley in Lancashire, England. It is an agricultural area used for sheep farming, also site of reservoirs that were built to supply water to Liverpool. T ...

Moor, including the

Round Loaf Round Loaf is a late-Neolithic or Bronze Age tumulus on Anglezarke Moor in the West Pennine Moors near Chorley in Lancashire, England. The bowl barrow is a scheduled monument considered to be of national importance. It was first scheduled in Mar ...

tumulus which is believed to date from 3500 BC. A pottery

burial urn An urn is a vase, often with a cover, with a typically narrowed neck above a rounded body and a footed pedestal. Describing a vessel as an "urn", as opposed to a vase or other terms, generally reflects its use rather than any particular shape or ...

from this period was discovered in 1963 on land next to

Astley Hall Astley Hall may refer to * Astley Hall (Chorley), country house in Lancashire, England * Astley Hall (Stourport-on-Severn) Astley Hall is a country house in Astley near Stourport-on-Severn, Worcestershire, England. The hall was the home of Pr ...

Farm and later excavation in the 1970s revealed another burial urn and four cremation pits dating from the

Roman period

During the

Roman Roman or Romans most often refers to: *Rome, the capital city of Italy *Ancient Rome, Roman civilization from 8th century BC to 5th century AD *Roman people, the people of ancient Rome *''Epistle to the Romans'', shortened to ''Romans'', a letter ...

era a Roman road ran near Chorley between

and Walton-le-Dale. Hoards dating from the Roman period have also been found at nearby at

Whittle-le-Woods Whittle-le-Woods (commonly shortened to Whittle) is a village and civil parish of the Borough of Chorley in Lancashire, England. The population of the civil parish at the United Kingdom Census 2011, 2011 census was 5,434. Whittle-le-Woods lie ...

and

Heapey Heapey is a village and civil parish of the Borough of Chorley, in Lancashire, England. The village is two miles from Chorley and on the western fringe of the West Pennine Moors. In 2001 the population was 955, increasing to 1,001 at the 2011 c ...

Medieval period

Chorley was not listed in the ''

Domesday Book Domesday Book () – the Middle English spelling of "Doomsday Book" – is a manuscript record of the "Great Survey" of much of England and parts of Wales completed in 1086 by order of King William I, known as William the Conqueror. The manusc ...

'' of 1086, though it is thought to be one of the twelve berewicks in the

Leyland Hundred The Leyland Hundred (also known as Leylandshire) is a historic subdivision of the English county of Lancashire. It covered the parishes of Brindle, Chorley, Croston, Eccleston, Hoole, Leyland, Penwortham, Rufford, Standish and Tarleton. In ...

. Chorley first appears in historical records in the mid thirteenth century as part of the portion of the

Croston Croston is a village and civil parish near Chorley in Lancashire, England. The River Yarrow flows through the village. The population of the civil parish taken at the 2011 census was 2,917. History Croston was founded in the 7th century when ...

Lordship acquired by William de Ferrers, Earl of Derby, around 1250. The Earl established Chorley as a small borough comprising a two-row settlement arranged along what later became Market Street. It appears that the borough was short lived, as it does not appear in a report of a commission on the Leyland Hundred in 1341. It is most likely that the borough was sacked by the Scots during the

Great Raid of 1322 The Great Raid of 1322 was a major raid carried out by Robert the Bruce, during the First Scottish War of Independence, on Northern England between 30 September and 2 November 1322, resulting in the Battle of Old Byland. Numerous raids began by ...

, with Chorley being one of the southernmost points reached in

Northern England Northern England, also known as the North of England, the North Country, or simply the North, is the northern area of England. It broadly corresponds to the former borders of Angle Northumbria, the Anglo-Scandinavian Kingdom of Jorvik, and the ...

. This led to the construction of a

Peel tower Peel towers (also spelt pele) are small fortified keeps or tower houses, built along the English and Scottish borders in the Scottish Marches and North of England, mainly between the mid-14th century and about 1600. They were free-standin ...

, which said to have been located somewhere close to

Duxbury Hall Duxbury Hall was a 19th-century country house in Duxbury Park estate in Duxbury Woods, Lancashire that has been demolished. The hall was a plain two-storey building faced in millstone grit ashlar standing in a well-wooded park 1½ miles (2.5&nbs ...

. The manorial history of Chorley is complex as the manor had no single lord throughout most of this period, as it had been split into moieties and was managed by several different families. This led to Chorley having several manorial halls, which in this period included Chorley Hall, built in the 14th century by the de Chorley family, which has since the 19th or 20th century been demolished. Very little is known of Chorley Hall, although according to what the painter John Bird painted in 1795, its location to where it once stood is said to have been where The Parish of St Laurence Church of England Primary School now stands. There is also Lower Chorley Hall, which was owned by the Gillibrand family from 1583 (later rebuilt in the 19th century as Gillibrand Hall). It is believed the borough of Chorley was not a success in this period because of the lack of manorial leadership and the dispersed nature of the small population.

St Laurence's Church St. Laurence's Church, Saint Lawrence's Church, or ''variations'' on those names or spellings, may refer to: Australia * Christ Church St Laurence, Sydney Austria * Basilica of St. Lawrence, Enns Czech Republic * Church of St. Lawrence, Roman ...

is the oldest remaining building in Chorley and first appears in historical records when it was dedicated in 1362, though it is believed there was already an earlier

chapel on the site which was a daughter foundation of Croston Parish Church. It is believed that the church is named after

Saint Laurence Saint Lawrence or Laurence ( la, Laurentius, lit. " laurelled"; 31 December AD 225 – 10 August 258) was one of the seven deacons of the city of Rome under Pope Sixtus II who were martyred in the persecution of the Christians that the Roman ...

, an Irish saint who died in

Normandy Normandy (; french: link=no, Normandie ; nrf, Normaundie, Nouormandie ; from Old French , plural of ''Normant'', originally from the word for "northman" in several Scandinavian languages) is a geographical and cultural region in Northwestern ...

in the 12th century, whose bones were conveyed to the church by local noble Sir Rowland Standish

Duxbury Duxbury (alternative older spelling: "Duxborough") is a historic seaside town in Plymouth County, Massachusetts, United States. A suburb located on the South Shore approximately to the southeast of Boston, the population was 16,090 at the 20 ...

, an ancestor of

Myles Standish Myles Standish (c. 1584 – October 3, 1656) was an English military officer and colonizer. He was hired as military adviser for Plymouth Colony in present-day Massachusetts, United States by the Pilgrims. Standish accompanied the Pilgrims on ...

(an English military officer hired by the Pilgrims as military adviser for their Plymouth expedition to the New World). As happened in many other instances following the Dissolution of the Monasteries, these relics went missing in the turmoil of the

English Reformation The English Reformation took place in 16th-century England when the Church of England broke away from the authority of the pope and the Catholic Church. These events were part of the wider European Protestant Reformation, a religious and poli ...

under the rule of

Henry VIII Henry VIII (28 June 149128 January 1547) was King of England from 22 April 1509 until his death in 1547. Henry is best known for his six marriages, and for his efforts to have his first marriage (to Catherine of Aragon) annulled. His disa ...

. A market was held every Tuesday in Chorley and a fair was held annually on the feast of

St Lawrence Saint Lawrence or Laurence ( la, Laurentius, lit. " laurelled"; 31 December AD 225 – 10 August 258) was one of the seven deacons of the city of Rome under Pope Sixtus II who were martyred in the persecution of the Christians that the Roman ...

since 1498.

19th century to present

Chorley, like most Lancashire towns, gained its wealth from the

Industrial Revolution The Industrial Revolution was the transition to new manufacturing processes in Great Britain, continental Europe, and the United States, that occurred during the period from around 1760 to about 1820–1840. This transition included going f ...

of the 19th century which was also responsible for the town's growth. Chorley was a vital cotton town with many mills littering the skyline up to the late twentieth century. Most mills were demolished between the 1950s and 2000s with those remaining converted for modern business purposes. Today only a minority remain in use for actual manufacturing, and the last mill to stop producing textiles was Lawrence's in 2009. Also, given its location on the edge of

Lancashire Coalfield The Lancashire Coalfield in North West England was an important British coalfield. Its coal seams were formed from the vegetation of tropical swampy forests in the Carboniferous period over 300 million years ago. The Romans may have been the fir ...

, Chorley was vital in

coal Coal is a combustible black or brownish-black sedimentary rock, formed as rock strata called coal seams. Coal is mostly carbon with variable amounts of other elements, chiefly hydrogen, sulfur, oxygen, and nitrogen. Coal is formed when dea ...

mining. Several pits existed in

Duxbury Woods Duxbury Woods is an area of woodland and parkland situated in Chorley, Lancashire, at the foot of the West Pennine Moors. The area originally existed as a township with the council meeting at the Yarrow Bridge pub; this was absorbed into Chorl ...

, the Gillibrand area and more numerously in

Coppull Coppull is a village and civil parish in Lancashire, England. It is part of the Borough of Chorley, lies around above sea level. Its population is around 8,000, having been counted at 7,959 in the 2011 Census. It is bounded by Whittle Brook, Cl ...

Chisnall Hall Colliery Chisnall Hall Colliery was a coal mine in Coppull in Lancashire, England. It was the largest coal mine on the Lancashire Coalfield north of Wigan. The colliery on Coppull Moor was owned by Pearson and Knowles Coal and Iron Company in 1896 when it ...

was considered the biggest Lancashire pit outside of Wigan and one of many located in the Chorley suburb. The last pit in the area to close was the

Ellerbeck Colliery Ellerbeck Colliery was a coal mine located on the border of Coppull and Adlington in the Borough of Chorley in Lancashire, England. The Hilton House and Red Moss Coal Company sank the first shaft in 1876 and the colliery closed in 1928. In 189 ...

in 1987 which was located south of Chorley, between

and Adlington. The town played an important role during the

Second World War World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great powers—forming two opposin ...

, when it was home to the

Royal Ordnance Factory Royal Ordnance Factories (ROFs) was the collective name of the UK government's munitions factories during and after the Second World War. Until privatisation, in 1987, they were the responsibility of the Ministry of Supply, and later the Ministr ...

, a large munitions manufacturer in the village of

Euxton Euxton ( ) is a village and civil parish of the Borough of Chorley, in Lancashire, England. The population of the civil parish as taken at the 2011 census was 9,993, however, the population is now estimated to be around 14,000 due to the incre ...

about from the town centre. A smaller factory was also built near the railway line of Blackburn–Wigan in

Religion

The

Church of England parish church A parish church in the Church of England is the church which acts as the religious centre for the people within each Church of England parish (the smallest and most basic Church of England administrative unit; since the 19th century sometimes ca ...

of St Laurence, located on Union Street, has been a place of Christian worship for over 800 years. The Church of England parish church of St George, situated on St George's Street, is an important example of the work of architect

Thomas Rickman Thomas Rickman (8 June 17764 January 1841) was an English architect and architectural antiquary who was a major figure in the Gothic Revival. He is particularly remembered for his ''Attempt to Discriminate the Styles of English Architecture'' ...

, a major figure in the

Gothic Revival Gothic Revival (also referred to as Victorian Gothic, neo-Gothic, or Gothick) is an architectural movement that began in the late 1740s in England. The movement gained momentum and expanded in the first half of the 19th century, as increasingly ...

. It was built as a

Commissioners' church A Commissioners' church, also known as a Waterloo church and Million Act church, is an Anglican church in the United Kingdom built with money voted by Parliament as a result of the Church Building Acts of 1818 and 1824. The 1818 Act supplied ...

in 1822. St Mary's Roman Catholic Church is based in the town centre at Mount Pleasant. The parish was founded in 1847, in a chapel in Chapel Street. The land for the church was purchased in 1851 and the first building erected in 1853. It was opened in June 1853. The church can sit 750 persons.

Pugin & Pugin Pugin & Pugin ( fl. 1851– c. 1958) was a London-based family firm of church architects, founded in the Westminster office of Augustus Welby Northmore Pugin (1812–1852). The firm was succeeded by his sons Cuthbert Welby Pugin (1840–1928) a ...

of London and

Hansom The hansom cab is a kind of horse-drawn carriage designed and patented in 1834 by Joseph Hansom, an architect from York. The vehicle was developed and tested by Hansom in Hinckley, Leicestershire, England. Originally called the Hansom safety cab, ...

are the architects. Chorley United Reformed Church is home to one of the oldest and largest

United Reformed Church The United Reformed Church (URC) is a Protestant Christian church in the United Kingdom. As of 2022 it has approximately 40,000 members in 1,284 congregations with 334 stipendiary ministers. Origins and history The United Reformed Church resulte ...

es in the north west. Founded in 1792 as an Independent Church it later affiliated to the

Congregational church Congregational churches (also Congregationalist churches or Congregationalism) are Protestant churches in the Calvinist tradition practising congregationalist church governance, in which each congregation independently and autonomously runs its ...

and in 1972 voted to become part of the new United Reformed Church (URC). The church is home to the oldest

Scout Troop A Scout troop is a term adopted into use with Boy Scouts, Girl Scouts and the Scout Movement to describe their basic units. The term troop echoes a group of mounted scouts in the military or an expedition and follows the terms cavalry, mounted infa ...

in the town, established in 1919. In January 2017 it was announced that the church building, which had been at its current site since 1792, would be demolished, and the congregation relocated to other premises. The church enjoys extensive youth work, with two church youth groups affiliated to the URC's youth fellowship FURY, and a Junior Church together with Beavers, Cubs, Scouts, Rainbows, Brownies and Guides. During 2012, the church became the first church to advertise from the air when a very large cross was painted on the church car park. The cross is now visible on earth mapping websites such as

Google Earth Google Earth is a computer program that renders a 3D computer graphics, 3D representation of Earth based primarily on satellite imagery. The program maps the Earth by superimposition, superimposing satellite images, aerial photography, and geog ...

. In the north of the town, there is a park containing a meeting house and a temple of

the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, informally known as the LDS Church or Mormon Church, is a Nontrinitarianism, nontrinitarian Christianity, Christian church that considers itself to be the Restorationism, restoration of the ...

(LDS Church). The temple, which is regarded as a local landmark, is the largest LDS temple in Europe and named the

Preston England Temple The Preston England Temple is the 52nd operating temple of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints (LDS Church). The temple is located in the town of Chorley, south of Preston, in Lancashire, England. The temple serves Latter-day Sain ...

. Construction on the temple commenced in 1994 and was completed in 1998. Connected to the temple campus is the England Missionary Training Centre for the LDS Church which houses church representatives preparing to fill proselytizing and service assignments in Great Britain and other parts of Europe. Chorley's only

mosque A mosque (; from ar, مَسْجِد, masjid, ; literally "place of ritual prostration"), also called masjid, is a place of prayer for Muslims. Mosques are usually covered buildings, but can be any place where prayers ( sujud) are performed, ...

is to be found on the corner of Brooke Street and Charnock Street. The building officially opened in March 2006, having been in planning for over three years.

Governance

In 1837, Chorley joined with other

township A township is a kind of human settlement or administrative subdivision, with its meaning varying in different countries. Although the term is occasionally associated with an urban area, that tends to be an exception to the rule. In Australia, Ca ...

s (or

civil parish In England, a civil parish is a type of administrative parish used for local government. It is a territorial designation which is the lowest tier of local government below districts and counties, or their combined form, the unitary authority ...

es) in the area to become head of the Chorley Poor Law Union which took responsibility for the administration and funding of the

Poor Law In English and British history, poor relief refers to government and ecclesiastical action to relieve poverty. Over the centuries, various authorities have needed to decide whose poverty deserves relief and also who should bear the cost of hel ...

in the area. Chorley became incorporated as a

municipal borough Municipal boroughs were a type of local government district which existed in England and Wales between 1835 and 1974, in Northern Ireland from 1840 to 1973 and in the Republic of Ireland from 1840 to 2002. Broadly similar structures existed in S ...

in 1881, and was governed by a

mayor In many countries, a mayor is the highest-ranking official in a municipal government such as that of a city or a town. Worldwide, there is a wide variance in local laws and customs regarding the powers and responsibilities of a mayor as well a ...

and council of eight

aldermen An alderman is a member of a municipal assembly or council in many jurisdictions founded upon English law. The term may be titular, denoting a high-ranking member of a borough or county council, a council member chosen by the elected members them ...

and twenty four

councillor A councillor is an elected representative for a local government council in some countries. Canada Due to the control that the provinces have over their municipal governments, terms that councillors serve vary from province to province. Unl ...

s. The population of the

Municipal Borough of Chorley The Municipal Borough of Chorley was a local government district in the administrative county of Lancashire, England, with municipal borough status and coterminate with the town of Chorley. History Lying within the boundaries of the historic co ...

remained roughly static in the 20th century, with the 1911 census showing 30,315 people and the 1971 census showing 31,665. Under the

Local Government Act 1972 The Local Government Act 1972 (c. 70) is an Act of the Parliament of the United Kingdom that reformed local government in England and Wales on 1 April 1974. It was one of the most significant Acts of Parliament to be passed by the Heath Gov ...

, Chorley became the core of a larger non-metropolitan district on 1 April 1974. The present

has forty-two councillors, representing 14 three-member

electoral wards The wards and electoral divisions in the United Kingdom are electoral districts at sub-national level, represented by one or more councillors. The ward is the primary unit of English electoral geography for civil parishes and borough and distri ...

in Chorley town council. The Member of Parliament for the constituency of Chorley, since 1997, is

Lindsay Hoyle Sir Lindsay Harvey Hoyle (born 10 June 1957)'HOYLE, Hon. Lindsay (Harvey)', Who's Who 2013, A & C Black, an imprint of Bloomsbury Publishing plc, 2013; online edn, Oxford University Press, Dec 2012 ; online edn, Nov 201 Retrieved 31 December 20 ...

Speaker of the House of Commons Speaker of the House of Commons is a political leadership position found in countries that have a House of Commons, where the membership of the body elects a speaker to lead its proceedings. Systems that have such a position include: * Speaker of ...

. He was formerly a

Labour Labour or labor may refer to: * Childbirth, the delivery of a baby * Labour (human activity), or work ** Manual labour, physical work ** Wage labour, a socioeconomic relationship between a worker and an employer ** Organized labour and the labour ...

MP.Deputy Speakers: Hoyle, Primarolo and Evans elected
BBC News, 8 June 2010

Geography

The principal river in the town is the

Yarrow ''Achillea millefolium'', commonly known as yarrow () or common yarrow, is a flowering plant in the family Asteraceae. Other common names include old man's pepper, devil's nettle, sanguinary, milfoil, soldier's woundwort, and thousand seal. The ...

. The Black Brook is a tributary of the Yarrow. The name of the

River Chor The River Chor is a largely culverted stream in the Lancashire town of Chorley. Its name was back-formed from "Chorley". The source of the river is in the hills near Heapey Heapey is a village and civil parish of the Borough of Chorley, i ...

was back-formed from "Chorley" and runs not far from the centre of the town, notably through Astley Park. Chorley is located at the foot of the

West Pennine Moors The West Pennine Moors is an area of the Pennines covering approximately of moorland and Reservoir (water), reservoirs in Lancashire and Greater Manchester, England. It is a Site of Special Scientific Interest. The West Pennine Moors are separat ...

and is overlooked by

Healey Nab Healey Nab or "The Nab" is an area of countryside owned partly by Lancashire County Council containing rolling hills, moorland, woodland, ponds and streams to the east of Chorley, Lancashire, between the M61 and the West Pennine Moors. To its ...

, a small hill which is part of the

. It is the seat for the

which is made up of Chorley and its surrounding villages. Chorley had a population of 33,424 at the 2001 census, with the wider borough of Chorley having a population of 101,991. Chorley forms a conurbation with Preston and Leyland and was once proposed as being designated part of the

Central Lancashire Central Lancashire is an area of Lancashire, England. Central Lancashire New Town Central Lancashire New Town was the largest of the post-war English new towns, designated in 1970 and covering : the County Borough of Preston, parts of Chorle ...

New Town under the New Towns Act, a proposal which was eventually scaled back.

Economy

The first signs of industry as with many towns in Lancashire was mining, evidence of which can be seen by the various abandoned

quarries A quarry is a type of open-pit mine in which dimension stone, rock, construction aggregate, riprap, sand, gravel, or slate is excavated from the ground. The operation of quarries is regulated in some jurisdictions to reduce their environ ...

on the outskirts of the town. One of these is Anglezarke Quarry, between Chorley and

Horwich Horwich ( ) is a town and civil parish in the Metropolitan Borough of Bolton, Greater Manchester, England. Prior to 1974 in the historic county of Lancashire. It is southeast of Chorley, northwest of Bolton and northwest of Manchester. It l ...

. Remnants of mining include an old railway bridge from the Duxbury Mine off Wigan Lane. Eventually the mining industry was replaced by cotton mills. Manufacture of

truck A truck or lorry is a motor vehicle designed to transport cargo, carry specialized payloads, or perform other utilitarian work. Trucks vary greatly in size, power, and configuration, but the vast majority feature body-on-frame construction ...

s was inherited from the neighbouring town of Leyland. A large factory on Pilling Lane produced, including military vehicles and

tank A tank is an armoured fighting vehicle intended as a primary offensive weapon in front-line ground combat. Tank designs are a balance of heavy firepower, strong armour, and good battlefield mobility provided by tracks and a powerful engin ...

s during the

. After the Second World War, production was reduced, and the final part of the site was closed in 2008 by

BAE Systems BAE Systems plc (BAE) is a British multinational arms, security, and aerospace company based in London, England. It is the largest defence contractor in Europe, and ranked the seventh-largest in the world based on applicable 2021 revenues. ...

. A large part of the site has been redeveloped for residential and industrial use as

Buckshaw Village Buckshaw Village (often shortened to Buckshaw) is a 21st-century residential and industrial area between the towns of Chorley and Leyland in Lancashire, England, developed on the site of the former Royal Ordnance Factory (ROF) Chorley. It h ...

. Through the twentieth century, especially the latter half, Chorley suffered the loss of much of its manufacturing capacity with great losses in or the completely disappearance of its coal, textiles, motor vehicles and armaments industries.

Leyland Trucks Leyland Trucks is a medium- and heavy-duty truck manufacturer based in Leyland, Lancashire, England. It can trace its origins back to the original Leyland Motors, which was founded in 1896, and subsequently evolved into British Leyland. Afte ...

and

are the Central Lancashire area's largest employers at their sites in Leyland and

Samlesbury Samlesbury () is a village and civil parish in South Ribble, Lancashire, England. Samlesbury Hall, a historic house, is in the village, as is Samlesbury Aerodrome and a large modern brewery owned by Anheuser-Busch InBev. The population at the ...

respectively. Companies with a presence in the borough are: *

Telent Telent Technology Services Limited (styled as telent) is a British radio, telecommunications, and digital infrastructure systems installation and services provision company. The name was used from 2006 for those parts of the United Kingdom and G ...

FedEx FedEx Corporation, formerly Federal Express Corporation and later FDX Corporation, is an American multinational conglomerate holding company focused on transportation, e-commerce and business services based in Memphis, Tennessee. The name "Fe ...

, North West depot located in the town *

DXC Technology DXC Technology is an American multinational information technology (IT) services and consulting company headquartered in Ashburn, Virginia. History DXC Technology was founded on April 3, 2017 when the Hewlett Packard Enterprise Company (HPE) ...

, two locations, one in

and the other in

Clayton-le-Woods Clayton-le-Woods (Commonly shortened to Clayton) is a large village and civil parish of the Borough of Chorley, in Lancashire, England. According to the census of 2001, it has a population of 14,528. At the 2011 census the population of Cuerde ...

, north of Chorley *

Multipart Solutions TVS Supply Chain Solutions (TVS SCS) is a firm that supplies spare parts and components to customers in the automotive, defence and utility sectors in the United Kingdom, Europe and the US. It is part of the TVS Group of companies. The company i ...

Limited, successor to the parts arm of the

Leyland DAF Leyland DAF was a commercial vehicle manufacturing company based in Leyland, Lancashire, Leyland, United Kingdom, and a subsidiary of DAF NV. In February 1993, Leyland DAF was placed into receivership. History Leyland DAF was formed in Febru ...

Porter Lancastrian Porter Lancastrian Limited is a British manufacturer of point-of-sale dispense equipment for the brewing industry. The company sells its products under the Porta brand. It is also a fully accredited certified ISO 9001:2015 company. The company i ...

is a manufacturer of beer pumps, under the Porta brand In 2011, Chorley Council launched an initiative, "Choose Chorley", to encourage SME's and large businesses to relocate to Chorley. The initiative offers red carpet introductions to key people in the town, financial incentives and tailored support for business growth. The town is the home of the

. In October "Chorley Cake Street Fair", restarted in 1995, promotes the cakes, with a competition for local bakers to produce the largest ever Chorley cake.

Healthcare

Chorley is served by the local

NHS The National Health Service (NHS) is the umbrella term for the publicly funded healthcare systems of the United Kingdom (UK). Since 1948, they have been funded out of general taxation. There are three systems which are referred to using the " ...

hospital

Chorley and South Ribble Hospital Chorley and South Ribble Hospital is an acute general hospital in Chorley. The hospital is situated on Euxton lane in Chorley close to junction 8 of the M61. It is managed by Lancashire Teaching Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust. History The ho ...

which is located on Euxton Lane, in addition to a private hospital located in

. The town also had another major hospital formerly on Eaves Lane, before this closed in the 1990s. There was also the

Heath Charnock Heath Charnock is a small village and civil parish of the Borough of Chorley in Lancashire, England. According to the United Kingdom Census 2001 it has a population of 2,065, reducing to 2,026 at the 2011 Census. Location Heath Charnock is next ...

isolation hospital A fever hospital or isolation hospital is a hospital for infectious diseases such as scarlet fever and smallpox. Their purpose is to treat affected people while isolating them from the general population. Early examples included the Liverpool ...

on Hut Lane which dealt with infectious diseases before reverting to use for long term patients, before closing in the 1990s.

Transport

Road

Chorley is bisected by the A6 Roman road which goes straight through the town centre. The town is also near to the M61 of which Junction 6 and 8 serving the town. Also the

M6 motorway The M6 motorway is the longest motorway in the United Kingdom. It is located entirely within England, running for just over from the Midlands to the border with Scotland. It begins at Junction 19 of the M1 and the western end of the A14 at t ...

serves the west of the town with Junction 27 connecting the town to the motorway,

Charnock Richard services Charnock Richard Services is a motorway service area between Junctions 27 and 28 of the M6 in England. The services are in the Lancashire borough of Chorley and were the first on the M6 when they opened in 1963. Originally operated by Trust ...

on the M6 are located in Chorley Borough.

Bus

The town's bus station,

Chorley Interchange Chorley Interchange is a bus station in Chorley, England. History Chorley Interchange opened in February 2003 replacing the previous structure. It is owned by Lancashire County Council and operated by Stagecoach Merseyside & South Lancashire. ...

, opened in February 2003, replacing an older bus station also in the town centre. Bus services are provided by several operators: *

Stagecoach North West Stagecoach North West was a major operator of bus services in North West England. It was a subsidiary of the Stagecoach Group, and had its origins in the purchase of Cumberland in 1987 and Ribble Motor Services in 1988 from the National Bus Co ...

operate bus services which connect the town to

, Leyland, Preston and

and the

Network Chorley Stagecoach North West was a major operator of bus services in North West England. It was a subsidiary of the Stagecoach Group, and had its origins in the purchase of Cumberland in 1987 and Ribble Motor Services in 1988 from the National Bus Com ...

routes within the borough. *

Blackburn Bus Company The Blackburn Bus Company operates both local and regional bus services in Greater Manchester and Lancashire, England. It is a subsidiary of Transdev Blazefield, which operates bus services across Greater Manchester, Lancashire, North Yorkshire ...

operate the bus service between Blackburn and Chorley. *

National Express National Express Group is a British multinational public transport company headquartered in Birmingham, England. It operates bus, coach, train and tram services in the United Kingdom, Ireland (National Express operates Eurolines in conjunction ...

also operate a daily service from Chorley Interchange to

London London is the capital and largest city of England and the United Kingdom, with a population of just under 9 million. It stands on the River Thames in south-east England at the head of a estuary down to the North Sea, and has been a majo ...

Rail

The main central railway station is

Chorley railway station Chorley railway station serves the town of Chorley in Lancashire, England. Since 2004 it has been linked with Chorley Interchange bus and coach station. It is on the Manchester–Preston line. History of the station The current railway station ...

in the town centre. The railway station is used by: *

TransPennine Express TransPennine Express (TPE), legally First TransPennine Express Limited, is a British train operating company owned by FirstGroup that operates the TransPennine Express franchise. It runs regional and inter-city rail services between the major c ...

whose line runs between

Manchester Airport Manchester Airport is an international airport in Ringway, Manchester, England, south-west of Manchester city centre. In 2019, it was the third busiest airport in the United Kingdom in terms of passenger numbers and the busiest of those n ...

direct to Scotland without changing. *

Northern Northern may refer to the following: Geography * North, a point in direction * Northern Europe, the northern part or region of Europe * Northern Highland, a region of Wisconsin, United States * Northern Province, Sri Lanka * Northern Range, a ra ...

Manchester to Preston Line Manchester () is a city in Greater Manchester, England. It had a population of 552,000 in 2021. It is bordered by the Cheshire Plain to the south, the Pennines to the north and east, and the neighbouring city of Salford to the west. The two ...

runs through Chorley and also connects the town to Bolton, Preston and

. The railway station was also served by the Wigan-Blackburn Railway line up until it was closed in 1960. The line also had stops at

Brinscall Brinscall is a village in the Borough of Chorley, Lancashire, England. Located approximately five miles north-east of Chorley, Brinscall borders the similar-sized villages of Withnell and Abbey Village. Brinscall is part of the civil parish of W ...

Withnell Withnell is a village and civil parish in the Borough of Chorley, Lancashire, England. According to the census of 2001, it had a population of 3,631, reducing to 3,498 at the census of 2011. Withnell is about north-east of Chorley itself and ...

and the

White Bear railway station White Bear railway station, on Station Road, Adlington, Lancashire, England, was on the Lancashire Union Railway line between St Helens and Blackburn. The station was named in some timetables as White Bear (Adlington) or White Bear for Adling ...

at Adlington. Elsewhere in the borough there are railway stations at

on the Wigan–Preston line, at Adlington and

on the Manchester–Preston line, and at

on the

Ormskirk Branch Line The Ormskirk branch line is a railway line in Lancashire, England, running between Preston and Ormskirk. The train service is operated by Northern Trains, who usually operate class 150, 156, and 158 units. The line is the northern section of th ...

Waterways

White Bear Marina, on the Leeds and Liverpool Canal, Adlington, Chorley, Lancashire

The

Leeds and Liverpool Canal The Leeds and Liverpool Canal is a canal in Northern England, linking the cities of Leeds and Liverpool. Over a distance of , crossing the Pennines, and including 91 locks on the main line. The Leeds and Liverpool Canal has several small branc ...

runs parallel to Chorley and several marinas and locks are located on the Chorley area. Marinas along the canal include: *White Bear Marina, Adlington *Cowling Launch, Chorley *Top Lock, Whittle * Botany Brow * Botany Bay Boatyard *Riley Green,

Hoghton Hoghton is a small village and civil parish in the Borough of Chorley, Lancashire, England. At the 2011 Census, it had a population of 802. Brindle and Hoghton ward also includes the parish of Brindle. Hoghton Tower is a fortified manor hous ...

Education

Chorley is home to numerous primary schools, both council and church supported. Chorley has the following six high schools: *

Holy Cross Catholic High School Holy Cross Catholic High School is a Roman Catholic Voluntary aided comprehensive school in Chorley, Lancashire, England. The school provides co-educational education for approximately 830 pupils in the 11-16 age range, most of whom reside in ...

Albany Academy The Albany Academy is an independent college preparatory day school for boys in Albany, New York, USA, enrolling students from Preschool (age 3) to Grade 12. It was established in 1813 by a charter signed by Mayor Philip Schuyler Van Rensselaer ...

* Bishop Rawstorne CE Academy * Parklands High School *

Southlands High School Southlands High School is a coeducational secondary school in Chorley, Lancashire, United Kingdom. It has approximately 1,000 students per annum. Awards * Lancashire Evening Post School Of The Year 201Lancashire Evening Post Best in Educatio ...

St. Michael's CE High School St Michael's is a Church of England secondary school located in the town of Chorley, Lancashire, England. The school is home to 1,200 pupils, and is a performing Arts College. Since September 2016, the headteacher has been Jayne Jenks, who to ...

Some

independent schools An independent school is independent in its finances and governance. Also known as private schools, non-governmental, privately funded, or non-state schools, they are not administered by local, state or national governments. In British Eng ...

are also present just outside the borough. Most Chorley children go on to attend the nearby

Runshaw College Runshaw College is a further and higher education college based at three centres in Leyland and Chorley, Lancashire, England. History Runshaw College was established in 1974. It initially catered solely for school leavers from Balshaw's High ...

in Leyland. Runshaw College has also expanded into the former administration site of ROF Chorley and is using, amongst others, the main administration building.

Lancashire College Lancashire Adult Learning is an adult education college located in Lancashire, England . Courses offered by the college are aimed primarily at adult learners rather than recent school leavers, and include short courses, weekly courses, ESOL pro ...

, based in Chorley, is a part of

Lancashire County Council Lancashire County Council is the upper-tier local authority for the non-metropolitan county of Lancashire, England. It consists of 84 councillors. Since the 2017 election, the council has been under Conservative control. Prior to the 2009 La ...

's Lancashire Adult Learning, offering a wide range of courses, a speciality being intensive residential language courses. From 1905 to 1981, the town was home to Chorley Training College (from the 1960s known as Chorley 'Day' Training College), designed by the Victorian and Edwardian architect Henry Cheers, and the town centre building now occupying this site is now Chorley Public Library.

Sport

Chorley is home to the semi professional football team,

Chorley F.C. Chorley Football Club is a semi-professional football club based in Chorley, Lancashire, England. They currently compete in and play their home matches at Victory Park. The club was founded as a rugby union club in 1875 but switched to footba ...

, known as the Magpies due to their black and white strip. Founded as a rugby team in 1875, they switched to playing football eight years later. Since then they have had limited success, with their most memorable moments being two appearances in the second round of the

FA Cup The Football Association Challenge Cup, more commonly known as the FA Cup, is an annual knockout football competition in men's domestic English football. First played during the 1871–72 season, it is the oldest national football competi ...

, and two seasons in the

Football Conference The National League (named Vanarama National League for sponsorship reasons) is an association football league in England consisting of three divisions, the National League, National League North, and National League South. It was called the ...

in the late 1980s. They played in the National League in the 2019/20 season having won promotion from the National League North in the previous season, but were relegated back to the National League North. The team gained fame after qualifying for the 4th round of the 2020-21 season of the FA Cup. The town and surrounding boroughs boast a number of cricket clubs, with two teams taking the town's name.

Chorley Cricket Club Chorley Cricket Club is an English cricket club based in Chorley, Lancashire, playing their home matches at Windsor Park. The club's first team compete in the ECB Northern Premier Cricket League, while the Second, Third and Sunday development ...

currently play in the Northern League, and were finalists in the

ECB National Club Cricket Championship The ECB National Club Cricket Championship is a forty over limited overs knockout club cricket competition in England. The most successful clubs have been Scarborough, from North Yorkshire, with five titles and Old Hill, from Staffordshire, with ...

for three consecutive seasons from 1994 to 1996, winning the trophy on the first two occasions. Chorley St James Cricket Club are the second side in the town, competing in the Southport & District Amateur Cricket League, having been members of the Chorley League until its demise in 2005. The town is home to the Chorley Buccaneers

American Football American football (referred to simply as football in the United States and Canada), also known as gridiron, is a team sport played by two teams of eleven players on a rectangular field with goalposts at each end. The offense, the team with ...

Club. Founded in the year 2000, the Bucs now have eight competitive teams and over 120 players competing in the

BAFA National Leagues The BAFANL (BAFA National Leagues) are the primary American football domestic League competition in Great Britain. The League is run by the British American Football Association to coordinate contact football within England, Scotland and Wales. ...

structure. They are based at Parklands Academy in Chorley. The club has three National Championship titles to their name in their 17-year existence, most recently in 2016. Chorley RUFC was founded in the early 1970s and initially their matches were on played on fields at Astley Park. Since there was no club house in the early days the team played from the Prince of Wales pub, near the town's covered market. Work started on a new clubhouse on 22 March 1984 , on an area of land off Chancery Road, situated on the edge of the freshly constructed Astley Village Estate. The club currently run two senior sides and a mini section, the 1st XV playing in the

RFU The Rugby Football Union (RFU) is the national governing body for rugby union in England. It was founded in 1871, and was the sport's international governing body prior to the formation of what is now known as World Rugby (WR) in 1886. It pro ...

North Lancs 2 division. Until 2004, Chorley had a

rugby league Rugby league football, commonly known as just rugby league and sometimes football, footy, rugby or league, is a full-contact sport played by two teams of thirteen players on a rectangular field measuring 68 metres (75 yards) wide and 112 ...

side,

Chorley Lynx # Chorley Lynx was an English professional rugby league club based in Chorley, Lancashire. Under various names, they were members of the Rugby Football League 1989–93 and 1995–2004. History Formation as Chorley Borough Springfield Boroug ...

, who played in League Two of the Rugby League National Leagues. The club was forced to close in 2004 due to small crowds and the withdrawal of funding by backer

Trevor Hemmings Trevor James Hemmings (11 June 1935 – 11 October 2021) was a British billionaire businessman. Early life Hemmings was born in Woolwich, London, the son of a Royal Ordnance factory worker father. During the Second World War, part of the Royal ...

. Many of the club's players and staff joined nearby

Blackpool Panthers Blackpool Panthers RLFC was an English professional rugby league club based in Lytham St Annes, Lancashire. They played at Bloomfield Road, between 2005-2007, then moved to the Woodlands Memorial Ground owned by Fylde rugby union club. They wer ...

. Chorley is home to track cyclists including

Olympic gold medal Olympic or Olympics may refer to Sports Competitions * Olympic Games, international multi-sport event held since 1896 ** Summer Olympic Games ** Winter Olympic Games * Ancient Olympic Games, ancient multi-sport event held in Olympia, Greece b ...

winners

Jason Queally Jason Paul Queally (born 11 May 1970) is an English track cyclist. He won a gold medal at the 2000 Olympics in Sydney. Early years Born at Great Heywood, Staffordshire, Queally spent his childhood in Caton, a village near Lancaster. He att ...

and

Bradley Wiggins Sir Bradley Marc Wiggins, CBE (born 28 April 1980) is a British former professional road and track racing cyclist, who competed professionally between 2001 and 2016. He began his cycling career on the track, but later made the transition to r ...

, and Paralympic silver medallist

Rik Waddon Rik Waddon (born 27 February 1977) is a Professional Paralympic British road and track racing cyclist and Paralympian. Waddon is a brain injury survivor, after being involved in a bicycle accident at the age of five. This resulted in physical ...

, due in part to the proximity of the town to the

Manchester Velodrome Manchester Velodrome is an indoor Olympic-standard cycle-racing track in Manchester, England, which opened in 1994. Part of the National Cycling Centre, the facility has been home to British Cycling since 1994, coinciding with the nations rise to ...

. Chorley is also the home town of Paralympic gold medallist

Natalie Jones Natalie Jones (born 31 October 1984) is a British Paralympic swimmer. She competes in S6 classification events and has represented Great Britain at four Paralympics winning five medals, including two golds at Athens in 2004. Career history ...

. The council owned leisure centre contains a swimming pool, sports hall, squash courts and a small fitness suite. The borough also includes other gym facilities, two other council-owned leisure centres, at Clayton Green and

, and another public swimming pool at

. The town is also home to a Next Generation fitness centre, other private pools and leisure centres, and a David Lloyd Tennis Centre. south of Chorley town centre is Duxbury Park municipal

golf Golf is a club-and-ball sport in which players use various clubs to hit balls into a series of holes on a course in as few strokes as possible. Golf, unlike most ball games, cannot and does not use a standardized playing area, and coping wi ...

course. The town is home to many amateur football, rugby and cricket teams. There are also several grass football pitches, bowling greens and tennis courts. A public outdoor swimming pool in Astley Park was demolished in the 1990s for health and safety reasons. Chorley Athletic and Triathlon Club regularly compete in road, cross country, fell, athletics and triathlon events. Chorley

Cycling Cycling, also, when on a two-wheeled bicycle, called bicycling or biking, is the use of cycles for transport, recreation, exercise or sport. People engaged in cycling are referred to as "cyclists", "bicyclists", or "bikers". Apart from two ...

Club was formed in 2011, resurrecting a club which had disbanded around 1953. The club caters to both leisure and racing members and runs regular training and social rides on local roads. Chorley JKS

Shotokan Karate is a style of karate, developed from various martial arts by Gichin Funakoshi (1868–1957) and his son Gigo (Yoshitaka) Funakoshi (1906–1945). Gichin Funakoshi was born in Okinawa and is widely credited with popularizing "karate do" throug ...

Club established a club in the town 2012.

Media

Chorley has two local newspapers: the weekly ''Chorley Guardian'' and the free ''Chorley Citizen''. A British comedy television show, ''

Phoenix Nights ''Phoenix Nights'' is a British sitcom about The Phoenix Club, a working men's club in the northern English town of Bolton, Greater Manchester. The show is a spin-off from the "In the Club" episode of the spoof documentary series ''That Pete ...

'', cited Chorley's

radio station Radio broadcasting is transmission of audio (sound), sometimes with related metadata, by radio waves to radio receivers belonging to a public audience. In terrestrial radio broadcasting the radio waves are broadcast by a land-based radio ...

, Chorley FM, whose slogan was "Coming in your ears". The station, based in Chorley, originally broadcast for only a few weeks, but in 2005 received a licence to broadcast from Chorley Community Centre (see '' Chorley FM''). Chorley is the hometown of

Lee Mack Lee Gordon McKillop (born 4 August 1968), known by his stage name Lee Mack, is an English comedian, actor, podcaster and presenter. He is known for his quick wit, writing and starring in the sitcom ''Not Going Out'', being a team captain on the ...

, creator and central actor in the BBC sitcom ''

Not Going Out ''Not Going Out'' is a British television sitcom that has aired on BBC One since 2006, and has 12 series making it the second longest running British sitcom (in series) behind the longest running sitcom worldwide, Last of the Summer Wine. It sta ...

''. It is also the home of actor

Joseph Gilgun Joseph William Gilgun (born 9 March 1984) is an English actor known for several roles, including that of Vinnie O'Neill in the Sky One series '' Brassic'', Marcus in Hollyoaks, Eli Dingle in the ITV soap opera ''Emmerdale'', Jamie Armstrong in ...

, of ''Brassic'', ''

This is England ''This Is England'' is a 2006 British drama film written and directed by Shane Meadows. The story centres on young skinheads in England in 1983. The film illustrates how their subculture, which has its roots in 1960s West Indies culture, especi ...

'', ''Misfits'' and

Preacher A preacher is a person who delivers sermons or homilies on religious topics to an assembly of people. Less common are preachers who preach on the street, or those whose message is not necessarily religious, but who preach components such as a ...

. As well as ''

'', comedian

Dave Spikey Dave Spikey (born David Gordon Bramwell, 6 October 1951) is an English comedian, actor, writer and film producer. He is best known for his stand-up comedy, writing and starring in the British comedy programme ''Phoenix Nights'', presenting ''Bu ...

based his comedy series

Dead Man Weds ''Dead Man Weds'' is a six-part comedy series shown on ITV in Britain in January and early February 2005, and repeated on ITV2. The series was written by Dave Spikey, who played the part of Jerry St Clair in ''Phoenix Nights''. It was produ ...

in, and filmed most of it in, Chorley.

Steve Pemberton Steven James Pemberton (born 1 September 1967) is a British actor, comedian, director and writer. He is best known as a member of ''The League of Gentlemen'' with Reece Shearsmith, Mark Gatiss, and Jeremy Dyson. Pemberton and Shearsmith also co- ...

, the creator of

The League of Gentlemen ''The League of Gentlemen'' is a surreal British comedy horror sitcom that premiered on BBC Two in 1999. The programme is set in Royston Vasey, a fictional town in northern England, originally based on Alston, Cumbria, and follows the lives o ...

, based most of its characters on folk from Adlington.

Places of interest

* Astley Park and Astley Hall HH icon

Bank Hall Bank Hall is a Jacobean mansion in Bretherton, Lancashire, England. It is a Grade II* listed building and is at the centre of a private estate, surrounded by parkland. The hall was built on the site of an older house in 1608 by the Banastres ...

* Duxbury Park and Golf Course UKAL icon

White Coppice White Coppice is a hamlet near Chorley, Lancashire, England. It was the most populated part of the township of Anglezarke in the 19th century. Close to the settlement in the early 19th century were quarries and small coal mines. The hamlet lies ...

Great Hill Great Hill is a hill in Lancashire, England, on Anglezarke Moor, between the towns of Chorley and Darwen. It is part of the West Pennine Moors and lies approximately 3 miles north of Winter Hill, which is the highest point in the area at 456& ...

Heskin Hall Heskin Hall is a manor house in Heskin, Lancashire, England. Construction began on the present hall in 1545 making it a Tudor building which has been designated a Grade I listed building by Historic England. History In 1506 the lands were s ...

Leeds & Liverpool Canal The Leeds and Liverpool Canal is a canal in Northern England, linking the cities of Leeds and Liverpool. Over a distance of , crossing the Pennines, and including 91 locks on the main line. The Leeds and Liverpool Canal has several small bran ...

Rivington Pike Rivington Pike is a hill on Winter Hill, part of the West Pennine Moors at Rivington, Chorley in Lancashire, England. The nearest towns are Adlington and Horwich. The land and building are owned and managed by Chorley Council. The Pike Tower ...

* Winter Hill UKAL icon

Worden Park Worden Park is a large area of parkland situated on the outskirts of Leyland, a town in the borough of South Ribble, Lancashire, England. It is less than a quarter of a mile from the town centre. History Farington family The Farington family ...

* Yarrow Valley Country Park CP icon

Twin towns

Chorley is twinned with: *

Székesfehérvár Székesfehérvár (; german: Stuhlweißenburg ), known colloquially as Fehérvár ("white castle"), is a city in central Hungary, and the country's ninth-largest city. It is the regional capital of Central Transdanubia, and the centre of Fejér ...

, Hungary (1992) *

Lanzhou Lanzhou (, ; ) is the capital and largest city of Gansu Province in Northwest China. Located on the banks of the Yellow River, it is a key regional transportation hub, connecting areas further west by rail to the eastern half of the country. H ...

, China (2019)

Notable residents

Hubert von Herkomer (1849-1914) - Sir Henry Tate - N03517 - National Gallery

Loui Batley Louie Anne Batley (born in Chorley, Lancashire) is an English actress, singer, and dancer best known for her role in ''Hollyoaks'' as Sarah Barnes. Early life Louie Anne Batley was born in Chorley, Lancashire, England on 9 June 1987. She attend ...

(born 1987), (actress and dancer) *

Bill Beaumont Sir William Blackledge Beaumont, (born 9 March 1952 in Chorley, Lancashire, England) is a former rugby union player, and was captain of the England rugby union team, earning 34 caps. His greatest moment as captain was the unexpected 1980 Grand Sl ...

(born 1952), (former England

rugby union Rugby union, commonly known simply as rugby, is a close-contact team sport that originated at Rugby School in the first half of the 19th century. One of the two codes of rugby football, it is based on running with the ball in hand. In its m ...

captain) * Walter Berg (born 1947), (astrologer) *

Leonora Carrington Mary Leonora Carrington (6 April 191725 May 2011) was a British-born Mexican artist, surrealist painter, and novelist. She lived most of her adult life in Mexico City and was one of the last surviving participants in the surrealist movement of ...

(1917–2011), (painter) *

Phil Cool Phil Cool (born Philip Martin; April 1948)Neville Thurlbeck"Phil Cool reveals why he’s ready to bow out of touring " ''Wales Online'', 29 March 2013. Retrieved 19 May 2013.York Membery"Who'd have thought it... Phil Cool is not at all averse to ...

(born 1948), (comedian) *

C. D. Darlington Cyril Dean Darlington (19 December 1903 – 26 March 1981) was an English biologist, cytologist, geneticist and eugenicist, who discovered the mechanics of chromosomal crossover, its role in inheritance, and therefore its importance to evoluti ...

(1903–1981), (biologist) *

Derek Draper Derek William Draper (born 15 August 1967) is an English former lobbyist. As a political advisor he was involved in two political scandals, "Lobbygate" in 1998, and again in 2009 while Draper was editor of the LabourList website. He has worked ...

(born 1967), (former

spin doctor and newspaper columnist) *

Simon Farnworth Simon Farnworth (born 28 October 1963 in Chorley, Lancashire) is an English former footballer who played as a goalkeeper. He played for Bolton Wanderers, Bury, Preston North End and Wigan Athletic, and made over 500 appearances during his ca ...

(born 1963), (footballer, later physiotherapist) *

John Foxx John Foxx (born Dennis Leigh; 26 September 1948) is an English singer, musician, artist, photographer, graphic designer, writer, teacher and lecturer. He was the original lead singer of the new wave band Ultravox, before leaving to embark on a ...

(born 1948), (musician) *

(born 1984), (actor) * Paul Grayson (born 1971), (England rugby union player) *

Rick Guard Rick Guard is an English singer-songwriter who released his debut album, ''Hands of a Giant'', in 2002. Career Guard's first single gained top twenty positions in eleven countries (in most of which he toured) and was in the top ten downloaded ri ...

(jazz singer and songwriter) *

Sir Walter Haworth Sir Walter Norman Haworth FRS (19 March 1883 – 19 March 1950) was a British chemist best known for his groundbreaking work on ascorbic acid (vitamin C) while working at the University of Birmingham. He received the 1937 Nobel Prize in Chemis ...

(1883–1950), (Nobel Prize winner) *

(1935-2021), (businessman) *

Adam Henley Adam David Henley (born 14 June 1994) is a professional footballer who plays as a defender for National League North club Chorley. He primarily operates as a right-back, but can also be deployed at left-back. Born in the United States and rai ...

(born 1994), (footballer, playing for

Blackburn Rovers Blackburn Rovers Football Club is a professional football club, based in Blackburn, Lancashire, England, which competes in the , the second tier of the English football league system. They have played home matches at Ewood Park since 1890. T ...

, later for

Real Salt Lake Real Salt Lake, often shortened to RSL, is an American professional soccer franchise based in the Salt Lake City metropolitan area. The club competes as a member club of Major League Soccer (MLS) in the Western Conference. RSL began play in 20 ...

in the

MLS Major League Soccer (MLS) is a men's professional soccer league sanctioned by the United States Soccer Federation, which represents the sport's highest level in the United States. The league comprises 29 teams—26 in the U.S. and 3 in Canada ...

) *

Teddy Hodgson Edward Hodgson (1885 – 4 August 1919) was an English professional footballer who played as an inside forward. He originally played non-league football with his hometown club Chorley before joining Second Division side Burnley in 1911 at the ag ...

(1885–1919), (from Chorley, played for Burnley F.C., F.A. Cup Winners against Liverpool in 1914) *

Anna Hopkin Anna Hopkin (born 24 April 1996) is a British swimmer. She won gold as part of the British team at the 2020 Tokyo Olympics in mixed 4 × 100 metre medley relay, setting a new world record time. Career Hopkin, who is from Chorley, competed for ...

MBE (born 1996), (swimmer and Olympic gold medallist) *

(born 1957), (MP) *

Conrad Hunte Sir Conrad Cleophas Hunte, KA (9 May 1932 – 3 December 1999) was a Barbadian cricketer. Hunte played 44 Test matches as an opening batsman for the West Indies. Early life and career Hunte was born in rural St Andrew Parish in the ...

(1932–1999), (former West Indian Test cricketer, lived in Chorley before the 1957 Test Series against England) *

Charles Lightoller Charles Herbert Lightoller, (30 March 1874 – 8 December 1952) was a British mariner and naval officer. He was the second officer on board the and the most senior member of the crew to survive the ''Titanic'' disaster. As the officer in ch ...

(1874–1952), (highest-ranking crew member to survive the sinking of the RMS ''Titanic'') *

Paul McKenna Paul William McKenna (born 8 November 1963) is a British hypnotist, behavioural scientist, television and radio broadcaster and author of self-help books. McKenna has written and produced books and multimedia products, hosted self-impro ...

(born 1977), (footballer) *

Paul Mariner Paul Mariner (22 May 1953 – 9 July 2021) was an English football player and coach. A centre forward during his playing days, Mariner began his career with Chorley. He became a professional player in 1973 with Plymouth Argyle, where he scored ...

(1953–2021), (England international footballer) *Rifleman William Mariner VC (1882–1916), soldier awarded the

Victoria Cross The Victoria Cross (VC) is the highest and most prestigious award of the British honours system. It is awarded for valour "in the presence of the enemy" to members of the British Armed Forces and may be awarded posthumously. It was previously ...

Cambrin Cambrin () is a commune in the Pas-de-Calais department in the Hauts-de-France region of France. Geography A farming and light industrial village some east of Béthune and southwest of Lille, at the junction of the D166 and the N41 roads, by ...

in 1915. *

Barry Mason John Barry Mason (12 July 1935 – 16 April 2021) was an English singer and songwriter. A leading songwriter of the 1960s, he wrote the bulk of his most successful songs in partnership with Les Reed. Mason gained many gold and platinum awar ...

(1935–2021), (songwriter) *

Ken Morley Kenneth Morley (born 17 January 1943) is an English actor and comedian best known for playing the role of Reg Holdsworth in the ITV soap opera ''Coronation Street'' from 1989 to 1995 and General Leopold von Flockenstuffen in the BBC sitcom Al ...

(born 1943), (actor) *

Sheila Parker Sheila Parker (née Porter; born 1947) is an English former international football defender. In November 1972 she captained the England women's national football team in their first official match, a 3–2 win over Scotland in Greenock. ...

(born 1947), (former captain of the

England women's national football team The England women's national football team, also known as the Lionesses, have been governed by the Football Association (FA) since 1993, having been previously administered by the Women's Football Association (WFA). England played its first in ...

) *

Phil Parkinson Philip John Parkinson (born 1 December 1967) is an English professional football manager and former player who played as a midfielder. He is currently manager of National League side Wrexham. Parkinson is the only manager to take an English fou ...

(born 1967), (footballer, later football manager) *

(born 1967), (actor) *

Adam Nagaitis Adam Matthew Nagaitis (; born 7 June 1985) is a British actor best known for his roles as Caulker's Mate Cornelius Hickey in the AMC television series ''The Terror'' and firefighter Vasily Ignatenko in the HBO miniseries ''Chernobyl''. Nagait ...

(born 1985), (actor) *

(born 1970), (cyclist) * Thomas Rawlinson (18th-century industrialist, believed to have been born in Chorley) *

Kevin Simm Kevin Ian Simm (born 5 September 1980) is an English pop singer. He won ''The Voice UK'' on 9 April 2016. Simm was in the group Liberty X from 2001 until their split in 2007, and is currently the lead singer of the group Wet Wet Wet. Early lif ...

(born 1980), (musician of

Liberty X Liberty X (originally called Liberty) are a British-Irish group originally consisting of Michelle Heaton, Tony Lundon, Kevin Simm, Jessica Taylor and Kelli Young. The group was formed by the five finalists of the 2001 ITV talent show ''Popstars' ...

and

Wet Wet Wet Wet Wet Wet are a Scottish soft rock band formed in 1982. They scored a number of hits in the UK charts and around the world in the 1980s and 1990s. They are best known for their 1994 cover of The Troggs' 1960s hit "Love Is All Around", which w ...

fame, also winner of the fifth season of ''The Voice UK'') * Tom Smith (born 1985), (cricketer) *

(c. 1584 – 1656), (founder of the

Pilgrim Fathers The Pilgrims, also known as the Pilgrim Fathers, were the English settlers who came to North America on the ''Mayflower'' and established the Plymouth Colony in what is today Plymouth, Massachusetts, named after the final departure port of Plymo ...

) * Starsailor (pop group) * Tom Criddle Stephenson (1893–1987), (journalist and champion of walkers' rights) *

Sir Henry Tate Sir Henry Tate, 1st Baronet (11 March 18195 December 1899) was an English sugar merchant and philanthropist, noted for establishing the Tate Gallery in London. Life and career Born in White Coppice, a hamlet near Chorley, Lancashire, Tate was ...

(1819–1899), (sugar magnate and founder of the

Tate Gallery Tate is an institution that houses, in a network of four art galleries, the United Kingdom's national collection of British art, and international modern and contemporary art. It is not a government institution, but its main sponsor is the U ...

, London) *

Josh Charnley Joshua Charnley (born 26 June 1991) is an English international professional rugby league footballer who plays on the for the Leigh Leopards in the Super League. He previously played for the Warrington Wolves and Wigan Warriors, with whom he w ...

(born 1991), (rugby league footballer) *

David Unsworth David Gerald Unsworth (born 16 October 1973) is an English football coach and former professional footballer who is currently the manager of Oldham Athletic. Prior to this, he was most recently academy director and under-23's head coach at Prem ...

(born 1973), (Everton footballer, later Everton U-23 manager) *

Mickey Walsh Michael Anthony Walsh (born 13 August 1954) is a former professional footballer who works as a football agent. A striker, he spent his club career in England and Portugal. Born in England, he represented the Republic of Ireland national team ...

(born 1954), (former Irish international footballer) * Sir Holburt Jacob Waring Bt CBE FRCS (1866–1953),

vice-chancellor A chancellor is a leader of a college or university, usually either the executive or ceremonial head of the university or of a university campus within a university system. In most Commonwealth of Nations, Commonwealth and former Commonwealth n ...

of the

University of London The University of London (UoL; abbreviated as Lond or more rarely Londin in post-nominals) is a federal public research university located in London, England, United Kingdom. The university was established by royal charter in 1836 as a degree ...

from 1922 to 1924 *

Rosemarie Wright Rosemarie Wright (12 December 1931 – 25 April 2020) was an English pianist. Wright was born in Chorley, Lancashire. She studied at the Royal Academy of Music with Patrick Cory and Harold Craxton, winning many prizes including the Chappell S ...

(1931–2020), (pianist)

References

External links

Chorley Borough Council
* {{authority control Towns in Lancashire Market towns in Lancashire West Pennine Moors Unparished areas in Lancashire Geography of Chorley