Ormskirk
You may well spot a wide-eyed look on quite a few young faces should you be planning to visit Ormskirk soon. This is because the historic West Lancashire market town is currently in the throes of welcoming its ‘freshers’ or first year students, who are embarking on degree courses at Edge Hill University, which is just a short walk from Ormskirk centre down leafy St Helens Road.
With applications for places up by 10 per cent in the last year and fourfold over the last decade, there are 2,000 of them in all. Roughly half will commute in for their lectures and tutorials but the other 50 per cent will be making Ormskirk their new home. Eager and excited, they will doubtlessly be keen to take up the freshers’ week invitation (freshers’ week runs from September 18th to 25th) from the university’s Student Union to join one of its free guided walking tours of the town.
Jessica Martin, the Student Union’s Entertainments Officer, said: ‘’As a campus university, a lot of our first year students live on site so the walking tour is an opportunity to introduce them to Ormskirk. It takes about 40 minutes. We show them where to find the supermarkets, the bus and train stations, the police station and of course, popular pubs. The good thing about Ormskirk is that it’s only quite small and the local people are very friendly.’
But if the prospect of leaving behind a loved one to their studies in Ormskirk is worrying you, let me offer you some reassurance in the form of my own take on the town.
Firstly, you don’t need an A Level in geography to find your way around. I defy anyone to get lost in Ormskirk town centre. I found that the best bet is to park on the Morrison’s supermarket car park, which is a left turn just after you’ve made your way on to the one-way system. It costs £1 for two hours but you get the fee back if you spend £2 in store. Bordering the store is Coronation Park, a pretty Victorian oasis with a children’s play area, duck pond and wrought iron band stand.
Cross at the pedestrian crossing at the bottom end of the car park (this is the end furthest from the park) and you find yourself at the foot of Aughton Street. Straight ahead of you is one of Ormskirk’s most famous landmarks, its clock tower, which dates to 1876.
The tower replaced Ormskirk’s original market cross, which was built to acknowledge the granting of its market charter by Edward I way back in 1286. The tower now acts as a brilliant beacon, a centre point for Ormskirk’s pedestrianised shopping area, and is the reason you cannot fail but to successfully navigate your way around what are some enchanting nooks and crannies.
If you take Aughton Street with its coffee shop and other bright and contemporary stores as being south of the tower then directly opposite to the north side is Burscough Street. You are now in one of the oldest parts of the town. It dates back to medieval times but also has many attractive Georgian and Victorian buildings. It’s here that you will find the Buck I’th’Vine. The pub is the only surviving inn on what was the Liverpool to Preston turnpike road and during its heyday, back in the mid 19th century, was welcome respite for travellers on the 30 coaches that left Ormskirk daily for Preston, Southport, Cheshire and London.
Read the full article in October's issue of Lancashire Magazine.
