Ashton-in-Makerfield is a town administratively under two local authorities. The Metropolitan Borough of Wigan, Greater Manchester and St. Helens, Merseyside. It is situated 4.2 miles (6.8 km) south of Wigan, 7 miles (11.3 km) north-northwest of Warrington, 15.1 miles (24.3 km) east-northeast of Liverpool and 16 miles (26 km) west of the city of Manchester. In 2001 it had a population of 28,505.
Historically a part of Lancashire, Ashton-in Makerfield was anciently a township in the parish of Newton- in Makerfield ( as Newton le Willows was once known) Winwick and hundred of West Derby. With neighbouring Haydock, Ashton-in-Makerfield was a chapelry, but the two were split in 1845. The place has long been a centre for the manufacture of locks and hinges, but also sits on the Lancashire Coalfield, and so was a coal mining district.
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