Lying within the boundaries of Lancashire since the 12th century, Stoneclough was a small settlement in the township of Kearsley in the civil and ecclesiastical parish of Deane in the Salford Hundred. Stoneclough became part of the Kearsley Local Government District in 1865, and then part of Kearsley Urban District in 1895. Under the Local Government Act 1972, Kearsley Urban District was abolished in 1974 and its former area, including Stoneclough, became an unparished area of the Metropolitan Borough of Bolton in Greater Manchester.