The origins of the market stem from a Royal Charter and a Priory’s Patronage
The market’s official beginning dates to 1286, when King Edward I and his brother Edmund, Earl of Lancaster granted a market charter to the Canons of Burscough Priory. This royal endorsement allowed the priory to hold weekly markets, establishing Ormskirk as a centre for agricultural trade, the rural medieval Lancashire fertile fields providing corn and grass for farming stock.
The town’s strategic location—at the crossroads of routes to Liverpool, Preston, and Wigan—made it an ideal gathering point for traders and travellers. The market cross, a traditional symbol of commerce and community, marked the original site and became a focal point for local life.
By the 18th century, the market had grown significantly. A sustained effort to protect the local traders of livestock and crops throughout the first few hundred years secured the market’s future. Toll Bars were put in place every market day at the entrance to the town on all four routes into the town and every drover or herdsman had to pay a toll per head of their stock. This money went into the coffers of the Court Leet who operated the Market.
A pig market was held close to the Queens Head, and this evolved into a champion pig breeding business behind the Queen’s Head and the Adjacent Anchor Inn. Pigs however were not subject to tolls, and the dealers did encounter some hostility because of this.
The days of the Court Leet ended in 1876 when the Ormskirk Urban District Council was formed. Funds left over from the Market Tolls were invested in a new iconic building for the centre.
In 1876, the Clock Tower was erected at the junction of Aughton, Church, Burscough, and Moor Streets—right where the old Market Cross once stood. This iconic structure became the new heart of the market, surrounded by stalls and bustling activity.
A table of tolls was displayed at the base of the tower, listing fees for stallholders. Interestingly, locals paid less than outsiders—a nod to community loyalty and local privilege.
Traditionally held on Thursdays, Ormskirk Market became an essential part of the working life of local Farmers, artisans, and merchants, who sold everything from livestock and grain to textiles and gingerbread—the latter becoming a beloved local specialty.
The market wasn’t just about commerce; it was a social hub. People gathered to exchange news, celebrate festivals, and enjoy public performances. Over time, the market adapted to changing tastes, incorporating modern retail while preserving its historic charm.
The market fitted perfectly into the traditional Medieval layout of the four streets and new retail opportunities developed around the market trading center, with shops, inns, and workshops springing up to support the growing economy. Even the Old Town Hall, built in 1779, played a role in market governance, hosting the Court Leet and managing trade regulations. Beneath the first-floor civic buildings where Town issues were planned and implemented, there was the old corn exchange and the butcher’s market. As the market grew and thrived so did the agricultural production in the surrounding townships and produce began to be transported into Liverpool and Preston markets.
Carts delivering local farm produce into these other town markets would return with other good for the local shops to sell or for new stallholders to buy to sell on the stalls, expanding the range of goods offered on the weekly market.
During the late 19th Century one of the huge draws the market had been the Charabancs coming in every Thursday from Southport and other local towns. The local pubs and inns were closed on the Thursday Market Days in the afternoons, and this had been a decision made to keep the streets quiet and avoid any disruption.
The market bell would be rung to signal the start of trading, early trading before the bell was rung resulted in a fine, collected by a man paid to ring the bell, set out the stalls and collect tolls. Before 1867 the bell would ring at 1 o’clock in the afternoon but by order of the Lord of the Manor, Lord Derby, from November 1867 the Market Bell was rung at 9am. As the market was for butter; cheese; eggs; fruit; vegetables; fowl and livestock it meant that all deals and purchases could be made within a couple of hours of opening, the bell signalling trading could begin at 1pm meant that the market ran on into the evenings, with no closing time, traders who had travelled in had to wait until 1 to sell their produce. Bringing the bell ringing forward to 9am was to see the deals struck, the animals removed by the purchaser and the town cleared of all the considerable quantity of manure left all over the streets, not easy to see as the evenings drew in.
Another consideration was that market traders had started to stand other markets beyond the Ormskirk boundary to get an earlier start and finish their day earlier. The 9am bell became a popular change to Ormskirk Traders and buyers alike.
Copyright Dot Broady Hawkes, August 2025