Church of St Peter and St Paul, Ormskirk

The exact date of the foundation of a church in Ormskirk is unclear, although it is likely that there was a church on the site of the present one in Saxon time. On the south of the chancel are two arches dating from c.1280, which formerly led into a chapel of the same date. In 1729 the nave was reconstructed in the neoclassical style, including the arcades. This work was almost entirely destroyed between 1877 and 1891 during an extensive restoration by the Lancaster architects Paley and Austin. The north arcade was entirely rebuilt, the nave arcades reconstructed in the Gothic style, and the windows of the south aisle replaced. Many of the features and details of the church are consequently…

in the church]] The nave's ceiling is of wood and has carved hammerbeam trusses. The five-bay aisle arcades have moulded piers and two-centred arches. Between the steeple and the south aisle there is a chamfered arch. The vestry has in its western wall, an unglazed window that opens into the north aisle. It has a square head and original iron stanchions and saddle bars. The Derby Chapel is enclosed to the north and west by a 17th-century wooden screen with high balusters and wrought iron fleur-de-lis cresting. The chapel also contains three alabaster Derby effigies (probably to Thomas Stanley, 1st Earl of Derby and his two wives) and two tomb chests. The Scarisbrick Chapel contains a…