An extract from the Earlestown and Newton News c1960:

Parishes were first formed in England about the year 636 AD. Oswald, a Christian prince of Northumbria, had his palace in this district at the time, and, as Winwick Church now bears his name, it seems reasonable to suppose that Winwick Parish was formed shortly after his death, and is, therefore, one of the oldest Parishes in the country. It then included Croft, Kenyon, Culcheth, Lowton, Newton, Earlestown, Ashton, Haydock and Wargrave. There was a Church in Winwick at the time of the Domesday Book Survey of 1086.

In 1650, when a commission under the great seal sat Wigan, the Parish of Winwick was still as extensive, but Chapels had to be built at Ashton, Newton and Culcheth, each of which was fit to be made a Parish Church. There was no Chapel at Lowton, but the Commissioners thought that one should be built for the townships of Lowton, Golborne and Kenyon.

It took eighty years for their advice to be regarded, for the next evidence found on the subject is the "Lowton Chapel Agreement", dated December 1st, 1731. By this agreement twenty-seven charterers and freeholders within the township of Lowton agree that eleven acres of waste and common land on Lowton Common and on Lowton Heath, near the Locking Stoops, shall be enclosed at their expense, with the consent of Peter Legh, Esquire, Lord of the Manor of Lowton, for the erecting of a Chapel of Ease, and of a convenient schoolhouse. The yearly profits of the land so enclosed were to be employed for the maintenance of an orthodox Minister of the Church of England. Overseers were 'appointed and given authority to set men on work for these purposes, and to see them paid out of monies to be collected from the inhabitants of Lowton, and from others charitably disposed to contribute to the said work.

From the date, 1732, on the Church door, the building seems to have been completed within a year, but the Chapel was not consecrated until St.Luke's Day, Thursday 18th October 1733, when the ceremony was performed by the Bishop of Chester, in whose diocese it then was.

The deed of consecration, which was read in Chapel on that day gives most of the information we have about the beginnings of Lowton Parish. The Chapel was built for the ease and convenience of the inhabitants of Lowton, by reason of the great distance of Lowton from Winwick, which hindered them, especially in winter time, from repairing to said Church as often as they would, to partake of Divine Service celebrated therein. Lowton Chapel was built on land given for that purpose by Hugh Stirrup, yeoman, of Lowton, and a parcel of land around it was given at the same time, for  Chapel Yard.
 

The legal transfer of the lands for the maintenance of the minister, was not completed at the time of the consecration, and the Rev. Francis Annesley, Rector of Winwick, and Joseph Byrom, of Manchester, owner of Byrom Hall, guaranteed to raise the sum of thirty pounds a year for this purpose until the land was transferred, or until a grant was obtained from the Governors of the Bounty of Queen Anne. In 1734 these lands were found suitable, and in consideration of their value of £400, Queen Anne's Bounty gave, in 1738, another £400 which was used for the purchase of lands and buildings, including the present Rectory and the fields behind it. these lands were then given to the Rev. Robert Rowbottom, and his successors, Curates of Lowton, for ever; peaceably and quietly to have, hold, occupy, possess and enjoy.

The Deed of Consecration granted the Curate full power to carry out all the Services and Sacraments of the Church which can be performed there to this day, but there were certain provisions which showed that the new Chapel was not yet a Parish Church. No corpse was allowed to be interred within the Chapel, or under any part thereof. The Registers of the Chapel were not to be kept permanently at Lowton, but forwarded every year to Winwick, to be included in the Parish Registers there; and no service was to be held in the Chapel at such times as the Holy Sacrament of the Lord's Supper was publicly administered in the Parish Church of Winwick, without the express consent of the minister thereof. Apart from these reservations all the benefits of the Church were available for the people inhabiting the Townships of Kenyon and Golborne, who should resort and be contributors to the Chapel; who were to take care that it was well and sufficiently repaired, kept, and maintained.

The power to dispose of pews in the newly-built chapel was granted to the Rectory of Winwick, and to Joseph Byrom of Manchester, and on his death to his sort Edward Byrom. Many of the pews now bear metal plates, showing their owners. The oldest of these is pew No.1 Edward Byrom, 1732, but many of the latest plates bear surnames which appear among those who signed the chapel agreement of 1731, or the consecration deed of 1733. Such names are Leigh, Kenyon, Green, Lowe, Worsley, Pierpoint, Mather and Tyler.
 

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