The early history of Royton is linked closely with what was then its manor house, Royton Hall

This Hall was inhabited by the Byron family for over 350 years. 

During that period the Byrons' involvement in regional and national affairs added prestige to what was otherwise an obscure and rural township. 

John de Byron was a witness to the charter of incorporation of 1301, which elevated the township of Manchester to the status of a borough.

Farming was the main industry of this rural area, with locals supplementing their incomes by hand-loom woollen weaving in the domestic system.

Royton has the distinction of being the first town where a powered cotton mill was built.

At Thorp in 1764, and is one of the first localities in the world to have adopted the factory system. The introduction of textile manufacture during the Industrial Revolution facilitated a process of unplanned urbanisation in the area, and by the mid-19th century Royton had emerged as a mill town.

At its zenith, there were 40 cotton mills—some of the largest in the United Kingdom—

employing 80% of the local population. 

Imports of foreign cotton goods began the decline in Royton's textile industry during the mid-20th century, and its last mill closed in 2002.

There is evidence of Stone Age human activity in the area, by way of a Neolithic stone axe found at Royton Park. 

The ancient Britons are thought to have inhabited the area, and the Romans to have traversed it; 

The remains of a Roman or Early Medieval bloomery was discovered in 1836.

On 16 August 1819, Royton (like its neighbours) sent a contingent of its townsfolk to Manchester

to join the mass political demonstration now known as the Peterloo Massacre  (owing to the 15 deaths and 400–700 injuries that followed). 

Royton's contingent was of particular note, in that it sent a sizable female section to the demonstration.