Tottington is a town in the Metropolitan Borough of Bury in Greater Manchester, England, on the edge of the West Pennine Moors.

Historically in Lancashire, it was a medieval fee, a type of royal manor, which encompassed several townships from Musbury and Cowpe with Lench in the north to Affetside in the west and Walshaw in the south west, while the township of Tottington itself was a small agricultural settlement surrounded by open farmland and hunting ground where deer and wild boar were found.

[8] During this time the family financed the building of St Anne's Church and vicarage, and refurbished Tottington Hall leaving it much as it stands today.

In 1863 the hall and grounds were put up for sale and came under the Roberts family before being bought by the recently formed Tottington Urban District Council in 1918 for £2,750.

The site on Royds Street South reverted to typical Lancashire textile production until 1925, when the Kirklees Rayon Company began producing viscose continuous filament yarn at the mill.

[14] The rapid expansion of the local population in the early 19th century, and the abundance of public houses that followed, led to the building of Tottington Dungeon in 1835 to lock up drunks and miscreants.

[16] However, it does share architectural similarities with the folly built in the grounds of Nabbs House in Greenmount, which was constructed at the same time by John Turner.

[17] The following is a first hand account from a local mill worker, as published in Victorian and Edwardian Lancashire by John Hudson (Published 13 November 2008): In those days a large fair used to be held yearly in Tottington, about the end of August, when the street from Turton Road down to the Parish Church, as far down as the present Town Hall, was lined with stalls selling nuts and brandysnaps, etc.

The ground about the Robin Hood Hotel served as the cheapjacks' stand, and also for the shooting gallery, while the field on the left of Harwood Road was the place where the trading in cattle, horses and pigs was done.

[23] The Whitehead family of nearby Stormer Hill Hall raised funds to have the area turned into a memorial garden, which was dedicated in 1950.

[4] Lower End contained the village of Tottington, the hamlets of Woolfold, Bolholt and Walshaw in the south; Affetside and Hawkshaw in the west; Greenmount, Holcombe Brook, Redisher, Hazelhurst and Holcombe in the centre, and Brooksbottom, Nuttall, Nuttall Lane and Ramsbottom (with Tanners and Carr to its west) in the north-east, with the River Irwell forming the eastern boundary.

The urban district was divided into four wards – Central, North, East and West – each returning three members to the council.

Following an October 2015 by-election, the Councillors representing the ward are:[29]] As of 2015, Ian Gartside is the leader of the opposition on Bury Council.

[30] Tottington is part of the Bury North parliamentary constituency, which has been represented by James Daly (Conservative)since the 2019 general election.

Tottington's physical geography is characterised by its position at the edge of the West Pennine Moors and the Rossendale Valley.

Within the Kirklees Valley there are a number of artificial mill ponds and reservoirs created during Tottington's industrial heyday.

There is no history of coal mining in Tottington, although most original buildings such as the dungeon are built from sandstone and gritstone quarried locally.

[32] Running along Market Street, Tottington features a number of independent retailers including a veterinary practice,[33] plus restaurants, a post office and a medium-sized Co-Op Food store.

Built of Portland stone as is the Cenotaph in London; it bears the inscription "We owe more tears to those dead men than time shall see us pay"; a line taken from Shakespeare's play Julius Caesar.