[3] The township was variously recorded as Penelbiri, Pennilbure, Pennebire and Pennesbyry in the 13th century, Penilburi in 1300, Penulbury in 1332; Penhulbury in 1358, Pendulbury in 1561 and Pendlebury after 1567.

On the division of the estates, Agecroft, and lands in Pendlebury, became the portion of Anne, who married William Dauntesey, from Wiltshire.

[4] Agecroft Hall, the Tudor home of the Lord of the Manor of Pendlebury, stood on rising ground on the west side of the River Irwell, where it flows southwards towards Salford and Manchester between the high ground of Kersal and Prestwich to the east and north, and Irlams o' th' Height and Pendlebury on the west.

Collieries were sunk around Agecroft Hall, railway tracks cut across the manor and a dirty lake formed on the edge of the estate.

The structure was dismantled, crated, shipped across the Atlantic, and painstakingly reassembled in Windsor Farms, Richmond, Virginia, United States.

Wheatsheaf Colliery was on Bolton Road between Carrington Street and City Walk on what is now the Wheatsheaf Industrial Estate and Newtown Colliery (on the Clifton/Newtown, Pendlebury boundary, bounded by Manchester Road/Bolton Road (A666), Billy Lane, Rake Lane and the pit lodge ('the Dam'), which later became known as "Queensmere").

Agecroft stood on the site of Lumn's Colliery[dubious – discuss] which had an unusual arrangement of winding gear concealed in three huge towers – the tallest of which was 174 feet (53 m) high and which was abandoned in 1932.

With the decline of the industry, the once popular Pendlebury Miners' Club (at the top of Temple Drive, Swinton) was demolished in the 1990s.

[4] Incorporation of Clifton into the Municipal Borough of Swinton and Pendlebury was a result of the abolition of the predecessor, Barton-upon-Irwell Urban District.

Pendlebury is situated on a ridge overlooking the lower Irwell Valley, almost midway between Manchester and Bolton and is neighboured by Irlams o' th' Height, Pendleton and Clifton.

Much of the boundary between Pendlebury and Clifton is defined by Slack Brook which was culverted many years ago after the area was used for landfill.

Acme Mill was situated south of the Manchester-Wigan railway line on the eastern side Swinton Hall Road.

Irlams o' th' Height railway station, in the eastern extremity of the borough, was closed for similar reasons four years earlier.

The 45-acre (18 ha) Northern or Agecroft Cemetery opened on 2 July 1903 by the County Borough of Salford (outside its boundaries) on the flood plain between Langley Road and the River Irwell by the border with Kersal.

A fund has been launched, supported by the council and external partners, to restore the unused central burial chapel which has fallen into a state of disrepair.

[14] The architectural highlight of the town is the Grade I listed Gothic style High Anglican St Augustine's Church, designed by the 19th century architect George Frederick Bodley between 1871 and 1874.

In May 2006, the church became the focal point of a campaign by English Heritage to save 19 places of worship in Greater Manchester from falling into dilapidation.

The former home of Swinton RLFC, Station Road, which held numerous internationals and major rugby league matches before its closure in 1992, was located in Pendlebury.

St. John the Evangelist churchyard is the burial place of Geoff Bent, one of the Busby Babes from Manchester United F.C., who perished in the Munich air disaster on 6 February 1958.

Pendlebury was home to the painter L. S. Lowry (1887–1976), who lived at 117 Station Road from 1909 to 1948, after his parents moved from Victoria Park in Manchester when he was 22.

It has been reported that, having missed a train from Pendlebury railway station, Lowry encountered the changing of shifts at Acme Mill and marvelled at the spectacle – this being the moment he decided that industrial scenes were fitting for further work.

[19] Actor Ben Kingsley, born in 1943 in Snainton, North Riding of Yorkshire, grew up in Pendlebury and was educated at the Manchester Grammar School.

Manchester United's Ryan Giggs grew up in Beverley Road in Pendlebury, after moving from South Wales with his family when his father Danny Wilson switched rugby codes to sign for Swinton R.L.F.C.