Skelmersdale is a town in the West Lancashire district of England. It sits on the River Tawd, 6 miles west of Wigan, 13 miles north-east of Liverpool and 15 miles south-west of Preston. In 2006, it had a population of 38,813. The town is known locally as Skem. While the first record of the town is in the Domesday Book of 1086, much of the town, including the current town centre, was developed as a second wave new town in the 1960s.