The club was founded in 1878 as
Hurst Football Club and the earliest known match report dates back to a game against Hurst Red Star on 16 March 1879. and it was they who advanced to the third round after Hurst refused to play the replay. In 1885 they won the first edition of the
Manchester Senior Cup, beating
Newton Heath (now Manchester United) 3–0 in the final. The club joined the Ashton & District League in 1891, but after finishing ninth in the league in the 1891–92 season, it was reported in June 1892 that they had folded. Hurst Football Club was reformed in April 1909, when there was a meeting of former members and players and it was decided to form a committee to revive the club to play at the Hurst Cross ground. The reformed club were admitted to the
Manchester League as it was expanded from 16 to 18 clubs. In their first season in the league, they finished level on points at the top of the table with Salford United, resulting in a play-off for the championship, which Salford won 2–1. but switched to the
Cheshire County League in 1923. changing their name to Ashton United on 1 February 1947. They subsequently rejoined the Lancashire Combination in 1948 and were placed in Division One. which they won in 1961–62 to earn promotion back to Division One. In 1964 Ashton United switched to the
Midland Counties League, where they played for two seasons before moving back to Division Two of the Lancashire Combination in 1966. With the creation of the
Conference North in 2004, a 14th-place finish in
2003–04 saw Ashton United play-off against
Hyde United and
Bradford Park Avenue for the right to play in the new league. Following a 2–1 win over Hyde, they lost 2–1 to Bradford Park Avenue in the final. However, after the demise of
Telford United, an extra place became available in the new structure and Ashton took their place in the Conference North. The
following season saw them finish second-from-bottom, resulting in relegation back to the Northern Premier League's Premier Division. In 2010–11 Ashton United won the Northern Premier League Challenge Cup, beating
Northwich Victoria 1–0 in the final. After finishing fifth in
2013–14 the club qualified for the promotion play-offs; however, after beating
F.C. United of Manchester 2–1 after extra time, they lost the final to
AFC Fylde on penalties after a 1–1 draw. The
2014–15 season saw a third-place finish, again qualifying for the promotion play-offs, in which they lost on penalties to local rivals
Curzon Ashton after a 1–1 draw. A third consecutive play-off campaign followed a fourth-place finish in
2015–16, but saw the club lose 3–1 to
Salford City in the semi-finals. In
2017–18 they were Premier Division runners-up; in the play-offs they defeated
Farsley Celtic 2–0 in the semi-finals, before beating
Grantham Town in the final to earn promotion back to the renamed
National League North; they were relegated back to the Northern Premier League at the end of the
following season after finishing third-from-bottom. Ashton United finished fifth in the Premier Division in
2024–25, going on to lose 2–1 to
Worksop Town in the play-off semi-finals. ==Ground==