Ormskirk and District Family History Society (registered charity no. 1004895) covers a fairly specific area. Although changing regional boundaries mean that some of the key towns and villages are now in Merseyside, we take the following ancient parishes and townships to be part of our Western Lancashire territory:

Aughton, Bickerstaffe, Burscough, Downholland, Halsall, Hesketh with Becconsall, Lathom, Lydiate, Maghull, Melling, Rufford, Scarisbrick, Simonswood, Skelmersdale and Tarleton.

We welcome anyone with an interest in family history to our meetings which are held in the centre of Ormskirk every month (except December) and can offer local knowledge, transcribed records, help, advice and much more, whatever stage your research is at.

In March 2010 we launched our second website, dedicated to researching the families of West Lancashire people who lived and worked on the Leeds-Liverpool canal and connected waterways. 3000+ individuals were accounted for then; in March 2012 the total passed 10,900 people, in November 2013 it stood at nearly 15,900 and in March 2014 we hit 17,000.