Chorley is most well known throughout the area for its traditional markets and the famous 'Chorley cake'. Like many of the villages in the borough, Chorley began its life as a textile industry.

Chorley is found in quite a central location between Leyland and Wigan. There are excellent transport links to the Motorways and excellent rail and bus links. The public transport system in Chorley is now fantastic, the old bus station has been pulled down, making way for the new super hi tech interchange system found opposite the train station. There are regular buses to the far corners of Lancashire, and trains about 3 times an hour to Preston or Manchester and further afield.

Chorley also has a vast array of high street shops, most situated near to the 'Market Walk' shopping centre. The usual Woolworths, Boots, Dixons and WHSmiths. Chorley also boasts many smaller, family run businesses including haberdasheries, cafes, bakeries etc.

Not a month seems to pass by without some sort of festival or event taking place in Chorley, be it the annual fair which is setup all throughout Chorley, walking days, French markets, or even a celebration of old busses day!

Locals from the nearby villages all flock to Chorley on market days to get the freshest, cheapest veg and the best deals on practically everything you can imagine. There are two markets; the flat iron held every Tuesday- selling everything from clothes to plants, and the three day covered market with many varied stalls from fruit and veg, clothing, fish, cheese and books

During the ice age the whole Chorley area was covered by ice, when it drained away it left rich quarries of stone, an ideal location for early settlers. The first evidence of occupation in the Chorley area is a burial ground found on winter hill which dates back to 1500bc. Nearer the chorley area in Astley hall farm an urn was found containing female bones - after further investigation it was dated to 1400bc - making it the earliest dwelling in Chorley.

As the Romans conquered Europe they built a number of military bases in this area, although no evidence of a roman settlement in chorley exists, evidence of Roman roads have been found in the chorley area, and some Roman coins have been found in nearby Whittle le Woods. The A49 is thought to follow the path of a roman road.

During the time of the doomsday book (1086) there is no mention of Chorley, but there is mention of nearby Leyland. Like most of the villages in this area, Chorley started to expand and boom in the 17th century with the textile industry. As with other local villages weaving was the core employment. Cottages were set up for the handleloom weavers. They moved from wool in the middle ages to linen and then cotton.

As with most Northern towns, Chorley was expanding as a textile town with the boom of weaving mills, with its population rising massively from 4,516 in 1801 to 19,472 in 1881. Chorley did particularly well due to its excellent transport links, the Leeds Liverpool canal, and the railway. The Chorley Borough was recently enlarged in 1972 to contain Withnell and Adlington, bringing the combined population to 80,000 and now approaching 100,000.

An early photo of the current train station in Chorley after the extension of the line to Euxton in 1843. The walkway has now since vanished, replaced by a subway in 1891

There are many theories on how chorley acquired it's name, experts say Chorley is made from two Saxon words "Leah" (meaning a woodland, or a clearing) and "ceorl" (status of a freeman) So chorley would mean Woodland clearing made by a freeman. The most likely theory is that chorley is seated near the springhead of the river Chor.

Chorley is also well known as a traditional Northern Market town, it's market traditions date back to 1498, and was one of the reasons for its quick growth. During the early 1900's the market was set up along the aptly named 'Market Street' and only moved to its current position on the carpark relatively recently.