Manley station was situated on the Cheshire Lines Committee’s (CLC) Mouldsworth to Helsby Junction railway which opened on the 1 September 1869. The CLC was jointly owned by the Great Northern Railway (GNR), the Manchester Sheffield & Lincolnshire Railway (MSLR) and the Midland Railway (MR) and the purpose of the line was to provide them with access to the Birkenhead Dock system via the Birkenhead Joint Railway (BJR) which had a line that ran from Helsby to Birkenhead.
The line was primarily constructed for goods services but a passenger station was opened at Manley on the 22 June 1870.
The station was located on the south side of Manley Lane. The line was a single track railway and the station had only a single platform on the east side. A driveway led up to a single storey stone building that contained the booking and waiting facilities.
A signal cabin was located on the platform which controlled a passing loop and sidings to south of the station. There was also a quarry branch to the south of the station which served Manley Quarry.
Passenger services ran between Helsby & Alvanley and Northwich but it did not prove very popular and it was withdrawn by the CLC on 1 May 1875.
The line became a busy freight artery for the CLC, the Manley Quarry branch was closed by 1910.
Manley station closed completely on 6 March 1961.
The line remained busy with freight traffic from Stanlow and Ellesmere Port until the line was closed on 14 September 1991. The track remained in situ for a number of years before being lifted and left to become overgrown.
Today the station can be seen from the Dunham Heath to Manley road and it is in use as a private dwelling.