The parish of Prestwich-cum-Oldham has "no united history", and instead was a loose affiliation of rural townships between the South Pennines and West Pennine Moors that had one early-medieval church building between them. Prestwich-cum-Oldham traces its existence to the colony of priests whose presence gave Prestwich its name, as well as tithes, levies and terms of land-tenure related to the ancient Royal Manor of Tottington, a unit used for governance in the manorial system that spanned most of the territory. Stretching for from east to west from the High Middle Ages onwards, Prestwich-cum-Oldham was probably larger in extent in earlier times; documents suggest an ecclesiastical connection with Radcliffe and Middleton. Manorialism in the parish was comparatively weak when compared nationally; ruling families were either non-resident or of "only local importance". An exception was the Pilkingtons, from the western portion of the parish, who ranked "among the great families of the county". Their military allegiance to Richard III and the House of York during the Wars of the Roses, though, brought about their overthrow in the late-15th century.