The name Golborne derives from the Old English golde and burna, meaning "stream where marsh marigolds grow".

The earliest settlements in the present-day town were on banks of the Millingford Brook, hence its name being derived from a water course where calendula grew.

The old Manor of Golborne stood to the north side of the village, giving its name to a public house on Church Street (now demolished).

The Venerable Bede wrote in his Historia ecclesiastica gentis Anglorum of a well near Golborne sacred to St. Oswald's memory.

Holcroft Hall, now a farm, was the home of Colonel Blood who, during the reign of Charles II, attempted to steal the Crown Jewels.

On 18 March 1979, there was a methane explosion at the town's colliery caused by an electrical spark, which took the lives of ten miners.

[a] The closure of the colliery led to the loss of employment for a large proportion of Golborne's population, as well as people from nearby towns and villages such as Abram, Lowton and Ashton-in-Makerfield.

The service was attended by ex-miners and their families, and was the fruition of two years of fund-raising to erect the 6-by-3-foot (1.83 m × 0.91 m) stone, commissioned in memory of the men and women who worked and died at Golborne Colliery between its opening in 1880 and its closure in 1989.

Funding was also received from a community chest grant from Wigan Metropolitan Borough Council, Alpla (UK) Ltd of Golborne, and the Coal Industry Social Welfare Organisation.

The Mayor of Greater Manchester, Andy Burnham, commented that “Golborne has a rock solid case for a station.