Ormskirk Parish Church - Question 1

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Robert Bootle        History Coursework        Ormskirk School

Is The Two Sisters Story True?

Ormskirk dates back to over a millennium ago to when Viking settlers were settling in Britain and Ormskirk was one of the many settlements founded by Vikings. The Two Sisters Story is a legend of how Ormskirk Parish Church ended up having both a tower and a spire. According to the legend, Orme, one of the Viking settlers sailed down the North West Coast found the hill Ormskirk is built upon and founded the settlement and the church. Building the church was no problem but his two sisters each wanted the church to be different. One sister wanted the church to have a tower which was sturdy and strong and the other sister wanted the church to have a spire, tall and elegant. Orme, who was torn between each of his sisters' wills couldn't decide which to build and so he tried to please both of his sisters and built the church with both a tower and a spire.

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Although the legend of the two sisters is a nice story and part of Ormskirk folk lore, it is incorrect. There are two main reasons why the legend cannot be true: first, the legend states that both the tower and the spire were built at the same time, this is definitely not true because the the spire was originally built around 1430 along with the other two spires in it's family around the area, the other spires being at Halsall and Aughton. The Viking settlers came to Britain over a millennium ago so it is impossible for Orme to ...

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