Ashton-in-Makerfield is a market town in the Metropolitan Borough of Wigan, Greater Manchester, England, 4 miles south of Wigan. As of the 2021 census, there was a population of 26,380. Historically part of Lancashire, Ashton-in-Makerfield was a township in the parish of Newton-in-Makerfield, Winwick and hundred of West Derby. With neighbouring Haydock, Ashton-in-Makerfield was a chapelry, but the two were split in 1845.