The Church of St Peter and St Paul in the centre of the town unusually has both a steeple and a tower. The tower added in the 16th century was constructed to take the bells of Burscough Priory (pictured below) after the religious community had been disbanded by Henry VIII. However the oldest feature found in the church is a stone carving on the outer face of the chancel's east wall that was probably the work of Saxon craftsmen.

Ormskirk too has a famous son; a market trader called Beecham who sold his own brand of liver pills that customers' described as 'worth a guinea a box'. His pills and powders made Beecham's fortune although his son Thomas a musical genius brought world-wide fame to the family.