Christ Church, Pennington

The parish was taken out of the ancient ecclesiastical parish of Leigh against the wishes of the vicar of Leigh Parish Church James Irvine. Irvine was opposed by his patron, Lord Lilford and many of his congregation including James Pownall the silk manufacturer. The vicar of St Stephen's Church, Astley, James Hewlett helped raise funds. The site, south of the Leeds and Liverpool Canal, cost £500 (£}} in 2014), the building, £3,800 (£}} in 2014), the churchyard fence and church furniture cost a further £500 (£}} in 2014).

The church was designed in the Gothic Revival style by E. H. Shellard and built in 1854 in hammer-dressed sandstone with ashlar dressings and a slate roof. Nikolaus Pevsner described it as a "Big, rather lifeless, church."