Chorley 5.83

Chorley is a market town in Lancashire, England, 8.1mi north of Wigan, 10.8mi south west of Blackburn, 11mi north west of Bolton, 12mi south of Preston and 19.5mi north west of Manchester. The town's wealth came principally from the cotton industry.In the 1970s, the skyline was dominated by factory chimneys, but most have now been demolished: remnants of the industrial past include Morrison's chimney and other mill buildings, and the streets of terraced houses for mill workers. Chorley is the home of the Chorley cake. At the 2011 Census, it had a population of 34,667.HistoryToponymyThe name Chorley comes from two Anglo-Saxon words, Ceorl and ley, probably meaning "the peasants' clearing". Ley (also leah or leigh) is a common element of place-name, meaning a clearing in a woodland. Ceorl refers to a person of status similar to a freeman or a yeoman.PrehistoryThere was no known occupation in Chorley until the Middle Ages, though archaeological evidence has shown that the area around the town has been inhabited since at least the Bronze Age. There are various remains of prehistoric occupation on the nearby Anglezarke Moor, including the Round Loaf tumulus which is believed to date from 3500 BC.