The completion in 1761 of the Bridgewater Canal allowed Worsley to expand from a small village of cottage industries to an important town based upon cotton manufacture, iron-working, brick-making and extensive coal mining.

Worsley Delph is a scheduled monument and a significant part of the town's historic centre is now a conservation area.

[6] Edward the Elder rebuilt the fortifications at Manchester, and in AD 924 captured all the land between the rivers Mersey and Irwell, making it demesne in the Kingdom of Wessex.

[10] Wheeler's Manchester: Its Political, Social and Commercial History, Ancient and Modern (1836) states that about one-fifth of the land around Worsley, Astley and Tyldesley was in tillage, lower on average than the surrounding areas.

It was created by William I and held for him by the Barton family in thegnage, and for them by a Norman knight named Elias, who fought in the crusades.

In 1833 the estate was inherited by Gower's son, Francis Leveson-Gower who changed his surname to Egerton, and in 1846 became the Earl of Ellesmere.

[12] He is recorded as saying that he found Worsley to be "a God-forsaken place, full of drunken, rude people with deplorable morals".

The coal seams in the area tend to be fairly thin, slanting downwards from north to south, and so deeper mining became necessary during the 17th century.

The Duke and his estate manager obtained an Act of Parliament empowering them to begin construction[22] on a planned route directly to Salford, avoiding the River Irwell.

James Brindley was brought in for his technical expertise and suggested varying the route of the proposed canal away from Salford and across the Irwell into Manchester.

Two entrances, built years apart, allowed access to the Starvationer boats, the largest of which could carry 12 long tons (12 t) of coal.

The entrances allow access to 46 miles (74 km) of underground canal on four levels, linked by inclined planes.

The Duke employed craftsmen to service a wide range of industries including boat-making, plastering, blacksmithing and mining.

[9] In a diary entry of 1773, Josiah Wedgwood wrote of the area "We next visited Worsley which has the appearance of a considerable Seaport Town.

[9] The mines ceased production in 1887,[29] and with the expiration of the Bridgewater Trust in 1903 the village began to change; the Duke's warehouse and the works on what is now Worsley Green were demolished.

[9] Although much of the industry that dominated Worsley was in decline, in 1937 Sir Montague Maurice Burton opened the Burtonville Clothing Works along the East Lancashire Road.

[37] Following its 2006 review of parliamentary representation in Greater Manchester, the Boundary Commission for England recommended the creation of a modified Worsley constituency, incorporating a part of Eccles.

[41] Sheltered at the foot of a middle coal measure running approximately northwest and southeast across the area, the village lies along the course of Worsley Brook, which cuts through the ridge.

[42] The area is bordered on the north by the East Lancashire Road, and on the south by the Liverpool and Manchester Railway and part of the Bridgewater Canal.

[43] The larger towns of Swinton and Eccles lie to the east and southeast respectively, and to the west the area is largely bordered by Chat Moss, open fields, and forest.

[44] The underlying measures of coal have proved important for the development of the area; it was around Worsley Delph that the settlement first began to grow.

[47][48] According to the Office for National Statistics, at the time of the United Kingdom Census 2001, the ward of Worsley had a population of 9,833, of which 4,801 were male and 5,032 female.

A cottage industry, cotton would be spun on spinning wheels and hand-operated looms in people's homes to produce cloth.

[17] As the canal passes through Worsley, iron oxide from the mines has, for many years, stained the water bright orange.

[69] Following an Act of Parliament of 1861,[70] in 1864 the Eccles, Tyldesley and Wigan branch line was opened by the London and North Western Railway, along with a station at Worsley which required the demolition of six cottages.

Both lines were closed under the Beeching Axe in 1969, and have since been partially reclaimed by Salford City Council as recreational pathways.

Designed by the architect George Gilbert Scott, the church was consecrated on 2 July 1846 by the Bishop of Chester, John Bird Sumner.

[89] Notable people from Worsley include the actress Helen Cherry,[90] and television commentator Kenneth Wolstenholme.

[91] Statistician Harry Campion, who played a leading role in the development of official statistics after the Second World War, was born in Kearsley in May 1905 and brought up in Worsley.

[93] Footballer Ryan Giggs caused controversy in the mid-2000s when he bought a Victorian mansion on the outskirts of the village and demolished it to build a new house.