Until the beginning of the 19th century, members of the Church of England who lived in Rainhill had to travel to Prescot of Farnsworth to attend services. In 1836, the vicar of Prescot, the Reverend C.G.T. Driffield initiated an appeal for funds to build a chapel in Rainhill.
The first church, consecrated in 1839, was a simple rectangular building accommodating 375 people. Within five years it was necessary to extend the building and at the same time a tower with a spire was added. The church was enlarged again in 1869 and whilst the work was undertaken, parishioners worshipped in a large room provided by Mr John Roby at his brass foundry near Rainhill station.
In 1914, land was purchased by the Roby family to extend the churchyard. They also funded the building of a Lych Gate with the inscription Presented in loving memory of William Henry Roby by his wife and children 1915.
In the late 1940s the steeple became unsafe and had to be removed.