[2] St John's was built as a Commissioners' church between 1824 and 1826 to a design by Thomas Hardwick.

[3] The chancel and porches were added in 1873 by the Lancaster architects Paley and Austin, and the church was restored, at a cost of £4,000 (equivalent to £450,000 in 2023).

Its plan consists of a five-bay nave, a three-bay chancel, a south vestry, an organ loft to the north, and a west tower.

The tower is in four stages separated by string courses, and has octagonal buttresses rising to turrets at the corners.

[2] The stained glass in the east window depicts the Baptism of Jesus and the Crucifixion.

[9] The churchyard also contains the grave of Thomas Bonsor Crompton, inventor of the felted drying cylinder, which he patented in 1821.