St Helens takes its name from the chapel dedicated to St Helen, first mentioned in 1552. The chapel of ease was probably of medieval origin, and stood at the junction of the Warrington to Ormskirk, and Preston to Ashton roads.
The area around St Helens Chapel was a well-wooded township until 1750 when industrialization began. The population of the four townships of Parr, Sutton, Eccleston and Windle, (prior to the formation of St Helens Borough) was 7,573 in 1801.
The population of St Helens town doubled between 1830 and 1845. On the 2nd February, 1868, Queen Victoria, granted St Helens a municipal charter and 20 years later St Helens became a county borough.
Glass and copper industries on the coalfield turned what was
only an inn, a crossroads, and a chapel into the modern St Helens.