In the very early 20th century the church authorities determined to construct a new building and they commissioned Ninian Comper to undertake the task.

[1][a] The land and much of the funding was supplied by Samuel Chetham, of Turton Tower and Castleton Hall and High Sheriff of Lancashire in 1738.

The parish authorities determined that repairing the structure would be more expensive than the construction of a new building and commissioned Ninian Comper to design a new church.

[3] Claire Hartwell and Matthew Hyde, in their 2004 revised Lancashire: Manchester and the South-East Pevsner, describe the "sensationally high nave [as] uniquely effective’’.

[5] The interior contains a memorial stained glass window by Comper which commemorates the members of the parish killed in the First and Second World Wars.