Astley appears in written form as Asteleghe in 1210, when its lord of the manor granted land to the religious order of Premonstratensian canons at Cockersand Abbey.

Medieval and Early Modern Astley is distinguished by the dignitaries who occupied Damhouse, the local manor house around which a settlement expanded.

[5] Evidence for the presence of Anglo-Saxons in the sparsely populated, heavily wooded and isolated region is provided by place names incorporating the Old English suffix leah, such as in Leigh, Tyldesley, Shakerley and Astley.

[10] The stone and timber structure was named from the stream which was dammed to supply water to a waterwheel powering a corn mill near the house.

[11][12] Adam Mort's descendants continued to support the chapel and school and remained at Damhouse until 1734 when it was bought by Thomas Sutton.

Froggatt's descendants owned Damhouse until 1800 when it was leased to tenants, one of whom was George Ormerod, owner of the Banks Estate in Tyldesley who gave land for its churchyard and church school.

[15] The Durie's daughter Katharine, who married first, Henry Davenport and second Sir Edward Robert Weatherall, became lady of the manor after her mother's death but the family was in financial difficulties and the house and estate sold in November 1889.

[16] The Leigh Hospital Board bought Damhouse in 1893 for use as a sanatorium dealing with cases of diphtheria, scarlet fever and, in 1947, poliomyelitis.

A factory was built by James and Robert Arrowsmith on Peel Lane at Astley Green, near the Bridgewater Canal in 1833.

Arrowsmith's factory lasted until 1955, when mining subsidence damaged its foundations and it was demolished, ending Astley's link with the textile industry.

Pit head baths, a canteen and medical centre designed for the Miners' Welfare Committee by architect C. Kemp, were built in 1935–36 at a cost of over £24,000 (£2.1 million as of 2025).

[24] There was a mining accident at Astley Green on 7 June 1939 when five men including the manager died in an explosion of firedamp.

It is made from wrought-iron lattice girders with rivetted plates at all the joints, three wheels, two large and one small, are mounted at the top.

[26] In the winding house is a twin tandem compound steam engine made by Yates and Thom of Blackburn who also supplied 16 Lancashire boilers.

[27] Historically, Astley formed part of the Hundred of West Derby, a judicial division of southwest Lancashire.

For most of its existence in Wigan borough up to revisions in 2004, Astley was part of the "Bedford-Astley" ward joining it with rural land in the Bedford area south of Leigh.

[37] From 1983 to 2010, Astley, along with neighbouring Tyldesley, was part of the Worsley parliamentary constituency, joining it with the western half of the City of Salford.

However, a review of parliamentary representation in Greater Manchester, the Boundary Commission recommended that Astley and Tyldesley should be part of the Leigh constituency at the 2010 United Kingdom general election.

At 53°30′3″N 2°26′44″W / 53.50083°N 2.44556°W / 53.50083; -2.44556 (53.5008°, −2.4454°), and 163 miles (262 km) northwest of central London, Astley is on the northern side of the Chat Moss bog, about 177 feet (54 m) above sea level.

[17] The underlying geology consists of the Permo-Triassic New Red Sandstone in the south, and the Middle Coal Measures of the Manchester Coalfield to the north.

[44] The isolated hamlet of terraced houses at Gin Pit was built by the Astley and Tyldesley Collieries Company.

The site of Astley Green Colliery Museum, a scheduled ancient monument, retains its engine house and headgear, a prominent feature that can be seen from around the local area.

[49] Damhouse, the former manor house, is a listed building, parts of which were dated to 1595 by the Greater Manchester Archaeological Unit.

In 1999, Morts Astley Heritage Trust was formed to preserve Damhouse and open the surrounding woodland to the public.

[53] Sir Thomas Tyldesley was the most famous of this line of the family, having been a Cavalier commander and supporter of Charles II, King of England during the English Civil War.

The hall passed through the Legh and Wilkinson families until it was sold to Tyldesley Urban District Council and the land used for a sewage works.

Canal traffic brought trade to Astley Green where the Hope and Anchor Inn (now the Boathouse) was built with stabling for horses that pulled the barges.

A national school built by subscription on land donated by Captain Durie of Damhouse opened in November 1841.

On Easter Sunday 1641, the Catholic priest, Ambrose Barlow was arrested during a service at Morleys Hall at the instigation of the vicar of Leigh.

St Ambrose Barlow parish is in the Leigh Pastoral Area in the Roman Catholic Archdiocese of Liverpool.