In the 14th century, when John de Leghes was a retainer of the local Lord of the Manor, Lees was a conglomeration of hamlets, ecclesiastically linked with the township of Ashton-under-Lyne.

Farming was the main industry of this rural area, with locals supplementing their incomes by hand-loom weaving in the domestic system.

At the beginning of the 19th century, Lees had obtained a reputation for its mineral springs; ambitions to develop a spa town were thwarted by an unplanned process of urbanisation caused by the rise of textile manufacture during the Industrial Revolution.

[2][3] Lees was one of the localities which, on 16 August 1819, sent a contingent of parishioners to the mass public demonstration at Manchester, now known as the Peterloo massacre.

[3] Ambitions to develop Lees into a spa town – "Lancashire's very own Harrogate"[3] – were thwarted by an unplanned process of urbanisation caused by introduction and profitability of textile manufacture during the Industrial Revolution.

[2][3] The Industrial Revolution brought cotton spinning to Lees in the form of eleven mills, which by the late-19th century, had changed the character of the village completely.

[2] Lees has grown in size in terms of both amenities and residential population, in its role as a commuter village for people working in Oldham and West Yorkshire.

[7] The church has a Sunday School and hosts meetings of the Mothers Union, Rainbows, Brownies, Guides, Beavers and Scouts.

Lees is separated from the main conurbation of Oldham by a small amount of green belt land in the valley of Leesbrook, on either bank of the River Medlock.

[2] Annie's younger, Lees-born sister Jessie Kenney was also a campaigner for women's suffrage in the United Kingdom.