Within the boundaries of the historic county of Lancashire, Earlestown is named after Sir Hardman Earle (11 July 1792 – 25 January 1877.)

Vulcan Foundry received its final steam locomotive order in 1954, while Earlestown was home to the major wagon works.

[4] Other significant (non-railway) employers in the town included Sankey Sugar, and T&T Vicars, who produced biscuit manufacturing equipment.

The Saturday Market features many regular traders selling tools, clothing, antiques, records, DVDs, model railways, wartime memorabilia as well as cheap house clearance and bric-a-brac.

Earlestown has a small but busy town centre with many shops including high-street outlets such as Tesco, Boots, Wilko and several high street banks alongside independent retailers, bookmakers and fast-food takeaways.

Earlestown is well served by many fast food outlets offering a good range of Indian and Chinese dishes as well as fish and chips and the ubiquitous McDonald's.