[4] Historically a part of Lancashire, Pemberton was formerly a township and parish in the hundred of West Derby.

[3][5] Coal mining was the principal industry of what was described in 1911 as an "unpicturesque, bare and open" area.

[7][8] Unmentioned in the Domesday Book of 1086, Pemberton does not appear in records until 1212, when it was documented to have been a thegnage estate, or manor, comprising "two plough-lands", with an annual rate of 20 shillings payable by the tenant, Alan de Windle, to King John.

[14] Pemberton today is considered part of Wigan for purposes of the Office for National Statistics, and in most reputable contemporary publications.

The ward covers the following neighbourhoods: Described in 1911 as "unpicturesque, bare and open",[3] Pemberton is predominantly made up of privately owned homes and local authority maintained housing, including Newtown, Worsley Mesnes, Norley Hall, Worsley Hall and Marsh Green.