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The history of Ashton United Football Club has been traced back as far as 1878, when the club was formed under its previous name of Hurst FC.  Hurst was then a seperate district from Ashton-under-Lyne and boasted several teams of good standard including Hurst Ramblers and Hurst Nook Rovers.

The original Hurst club were nicknamed ‘The Lambs’ and they proved a very progressive outfit, gaining respect for their playing performances.  In 1885 the club landed its first silverware; the Manchester FA started a new competition for member clubs called the Manchester Senior Cup and Hurst won the first ever final against Newton Heath, the forerunners of the present-day Manchester United, taking the trophy after a 3-0 victory.

Despite their early success, the club’s fortunes waned and in 1892 after finishing 9th, just one point off the bottom of the 12 team Ashton and District League, the club folded having failing to gain membership of the newly formed Manchester League.

Hurst FC reformed in 1909 and although the club had lain dormant for some 17 years there was much continuity between the two versions of the club.  James Ingham, captain and goalscorer in the 1885 Manchester Cup triumph was now a committee member and the club moved back into its old Hurst Cross ground, still their home to this date.

Club colours in those early days were black and white stripes and the ‘new’ club was an instant success on the field, beating Altrincham 4-0 on the opening day of the season and only losing the league title after an end-of-season play-off.  The following campaign saw the Manchester Junior Cup won and in 1912 the cup was retained as the club also won the Manchester League championship in their final season in the competition.

In 1913 Hurst gained promotion after just one season in the 2nd Division of the Lancashire Combination and in 1915 the club finished runners-up in the 1st Division.  The club stood down from competitive action in 1915 but galvanised itself to resume playing in 1916-17, winning the Lancashire Combination, after which the club again stood down until World War I was over.

In 1919 Hurst resumed playing in the Lancashire Combination with mixed success, a 13-1 victory over Marple in February that year remains the club record victory but no silverware came to the club.  Hurst joined the stronger Cheshire League in 1923, the early years were fairly uneventful at the club; they finished in the top half more frequently than the bottom half of the table but no silverware was accrued until 1933, when the Manchester Junior Cup was regained after a gap of 21 years.

Between 1935 and 1940 the club reached four Manchester Challenge Cup finals, winning the trophy in 1936 and 1939.  Just before the outbreak of World War II the club secured the services of ‘Dixie’ Dean at the end of his glorious career; alas Adolf Hitler was to deny the folk of Hurst more than a few glimpses of Dean’s skills and the club’s progress was once again interrupted by war.

Hurst FC became Ashton United in 1946 and in 1948 when the club weren’t re-elected to the Cheshire League, they rejoined the Lancashire Combination.  Ashton’s first post war honours were to again come in the form of the Manchester Challenge Cup, won in 1950 and then held for three seasons from 1953 to 1955.  Ashton’s cup form was good in the 1950’s as they twice reached the first round proper of the FA Cup; losing a replay at Hurst Cross to Halifax Town in 1953 (before a ground record 7,474 spectators) and again in 1956 when the Robins were defeated at Southport.  In 1959 Ashton won the Manchester Intermediate Cup and later that year under the managership of his father the club saw the debut of schoolboy Alan Ball, who was to go on to become a World Cup winner in 1966.  In 1961 Ashton were demoted from the 1st Division of the Combination despite finishing 12th – they had resigned in the hope of rejoining the Cheshire League but were beaten in a vote by Wigan Athletic and had to re-apply for membership of their former league.  Ashton came back with a vengeance by storming to the 2nd Division title in 1962, taking the League Cup for good measure too.  1963 saw the club win the Intermediate Cup once more, a feat repeated in 1966.

The club remained in the top flight of the Combination until 1964, when a two year experiment of playing in the Midland League was entertaining but financially unrewarding.  In 1966 the club rejoined the Lancashire Combination in the 2nd division but after two further seasons opted to move back to the Cheshire League, where they stayed until the North West Counties League was formed in 1982.  The intervening years had seen the club twice win the Manchester Senior Cup and their first season in the NWCL saw Ashton land their second Manchester Premier Cup in three years.

In 1984 the club sank to its lowest point as they were relegated to the 2nd Division of the NWCL; Hurst Cross was a tip and the club had little money to do anything much about its situation.  In 1988 the club won the NWCL 2nd Division in impressive style but the club were still struggling off the pitch.  Businessman Terry Liversidge came to Hurst Cross in 1990 and helped transform the club and ground, whilst on the field the Robins finished third in the NWCL in 1991 under manager Dave Denby.  The following season Denby led Ashton to the NWCL title, the League Cup, League Challenge Cup and the Manchester Premier Cup.  The club soon established itself as a force in the Northern Premier League 1st Division, finishing 3rd on six occasions over ten seasons and winning the 1st Division Cup in 1994, 1997 and 1999.  The Robins posted their best ever FA Trophy run in 1997, before losing to Dagenham & Redbridge in the Quarter Finals. Ashton finally won promotion via the inaugural NPL play-offs in 2002 and also retained the Manchester Premier Cup they had won the previous season – they were to win it again in 2003 and were beaten finalists in 2004.

In 2004 Ashton became founder members of the new Conference North, but their stay in the new league was ended after just one season – only the club’s third relegation in over a hundred seasons of football.  Scott Green was appointed as manager in December 2005 and in the summer of 2006 John Milne was re-installed to the chair of Ashton United as the Robins looked to build for the future. However 2006/07 resulted in another relegation battle and Green spectacularly resigned on the morning of the UniBond President's Cup Semi-final in March 2007. After a brief caretaker stint from Chris Royle, Danny Johnson was appointed as manager with just three games remaining in the season. Ashton won two and drew one of these to remain in the UniBond top flight. The following season Johnson guided the Robins to 10th place and their highest ever UniBond Premier Division finish. David Aspinall took over as club chairman midway through the same season. In 2008/09 Ashton spent long spells in the play-off places and were even top of the table for a brief spell, but injuries took their toll with the Robins still finishing in a very respectable 9th place.