Within the boundaries of the historic county of Lancashire, Prestwich was the seat of the ancient parish of Prestwich-cum-Oldham, centred around the Grade I listed Church of St Mary the Virgin.

Prestwich is possibly of Old English origin, derived from preost and wic, which translates to the priest's farm.

[8] John Booker B.A., 19th century author and curate of the parish church, considered these were agrarian camps built to protect cattle kept in the woods of Broughton and Kersal.

[9] The camp was "just to the right of the old road to Bury, immediately beyond Singleton Brook, on the first field in the Parish of Prestwich, which was formerly known as Lowcaster".

[7] After Sir Robert Langley's death in 1561 the manor passed to his daughter Margaret, who married John Reddish.

The manor was acquired by Peter Drinkwater of Irwell House in 1794 and it descended to his son Thomas who died in 1861.

The lord of the manor administered land tenure and inheritance, but law and order was kept by parish constables assisted by the church wardens.

[13] In the late 18th century the area was mainly rural with scattered farms and small settlements grew at Great and Little Heaton.

The area between these centres remained rural, however, the arrival of the railway in 1881 encouraged affluent merchants from Manchester to build villas and move to the town.

[13] Sedgley Park Teacher Training College was established in Prestwich after the Faithful Companions of Jesus bought a house to accommodate it in 1903.

[14] When Mike Leigh was a lecturer at the Catholic women teachers' training college Sedgley Park he devised and directed two big-cast projects for the Manchester Youth Theatre: Big Basil and Glum Victoria and the Lad with Specs.

[13] Prestwich, together with Whitefield and Radcliffe, is part of the marginal Bury South Parliamentary constituency, which has been represented by MP Christian Wakeford since 2019.

In previous years, they have been represented by all three major political parties, but since the 2023 local elections, all nine seats across the three wards are held by Labour.

Historically, Prestwich was the ecclesiastical centre of Prestwich-cum-Oldham an ancient parish in the Salford Hundred of Lancashire.

[21] Under the Local Government Act 1972 it became an unparished area in the Metropolitan Borough of Bury in Greater Manchester,[1] taking effect on 1 April 1974.

[26] According to the Sunday Times, the area is an "interesting mix of old and new",[27] with various more upmarket bars and restaurants alongside traditional venues.

Prestwich is served by four tram stations on the Manchester Metrolink line from Manchester to Bury, at Besses o' th' Barn on the Whitefield border to the north, Prestwich in the centre of the village, Heaton Park in the centre-east and Bowker Vale on the Blackley border to the south-east.

Buses on the road operate between Prestwich and central Manchester and Bury, with high frequency services operated by Go North West Local bus routes link the village to northern areas of Salford including Pendlebury, Swinton, Monton and Eccles.

[31] Bury New Road also intersects the M60 motorway at Junction 17, the Whitefield Interchange, a short distance north of the centre of Prestwich.

[32] Richard Buxton (1786–1865), a shoemaker born at Sedgley Hall Farm[7] published a botanical guide to the plants found around the Manchester area in 1849.

[37][38] The renovated Philips Park Barn which has become a major environmental education and countryside centre for the borough and is used by a number of local groups .

St Monica's featured a Sixth Form centre offering vocational courses from 2011 but the centre was closed down in 2017, so for both A-level and vocational studies the nearest tertiary education providers are both in Bury, Holy Cross College and Bury College.

A feature of the church is the Arts and Crafts Movement oak carved reredos, choir stalls, rood screen, panelling, pulpit, bishop's chair and altar rails by Arthur Simpson of Kendal, widely believed to be the finest collection of his ecclesiastical work.

[43] The migration of Jewish families, mainly from the nearby Cheetham area of Manchester and Broughton Park in Salford, and the later arrival of Muslims into this urban area, resulted in synagogues, such as Heaton Park Hebrew Congregation,[44] and mosques being constructed alongside Christian places of worship.

The Longfield Centre civic hall, which previously had one of the largest sprung floor ballrooms in the north-west of England, was permanently closed in 2021.