Burscough developed originally as a small farming village on a low ridge above the West Lancashire Coastal Plain, and has Viking roots - Burh-skogr = fortress in the woods.
Of early importance to the village was Burscough Priory, the ruins of which stand to the southwest of the current settlement. The Priory formerly housed the tombs of the Earls of Derby, a prominent family in the region, which are now to be found in Ormskirk parish church.
With the building of the Leeds and Liverpool Canal and the coming of the railways in the mid-eighteenth century new developments took place north of the original village, in what came to be called Burscough Bridge, though the two communities have long since melded together. With constant development of new housing estates and apartments, Burscough's population has recently grown rapidly.
Further recent planned large developments at Yew Tree Farm, coupled with the long-term shortage of sewer capacity which causes widespread sewer flooding, along with regular severe traffic congestion on the A59/A5209 resulted in a parish poll being called by residents, in which more than 96% of the voters opposed the additional development on greenbelt farmland.
At the 2001 Census, the population of the parish stood at 8,968.
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