All Saints' Church is one of the many "Waterloo" churches built as an expression of national thankfulness for  victory at the battle of Waterloo in 1815. The one million pounds set aside in 1818, and further enhanced by £500,000, was part of the Government's strategy to counteract the possibility of political unrest sparked by the industrial revolution, culminating in the "Peterloo" massacre in Manchester in 1819. The decision to build at Stand, an open pastoral area at the time, was considered necessary to divide the enormous parish of St.Mary Prestwich as the local population was growing year by year. In 1821, the Parish of Prestwich had a population of 14,000, but between 1826 and 1926 a further 32 churches were built in the old Parish which, by 1931, had a population of 205,000. Sir John Soane, a distinguished London architect, was approached in 1821 to prepare designs for the church to cost no more than  £12,000 and seating some 1800 people : this he found to be impractical and was passed to the young Charles Barry and the cost limit raised to £20,000. The foundation stone was laid on the 3rd August 1821 and the Bishop of Chester consecrated the church for worship on the 8th  September 1826.