Church Lawton is an ancient parish, though there is some evidence that it began by being part of the ancient parish of Astbury (now Newbold Astbury.). It also was part of Nantwich Hundred, Congleton Poor Law Union, Rural Sanitary District, and after 1866 it formed part of Congleton Rural District. County boundary changes in 1965 led to an exchange of small pieces of land between it and the civil parish of Kidsgrove, in Kidsgrove Urban District, in the neighbouring county of Staffordshire. From 1974 the civil parish was served by Congleton Borough Council, which was succeeded on 1 April 2009 by the new unitary authority of Cheshire East .