 Unmentioned in the "Domesday Book" of 1086, Pemberton does not appear in records until 1212, when it was documented to have been a thegnage estate, or manor, comprising "two plough-lands", with an annual rate of 20 shillings payable by the tenant, Alan de Windle, to King John.There were several collieries in the area, and sandstone was also quarried.At Newtown were cotton mills and iron works.