an urban district in the Radcliffe-cumFarnworth parliamentary division of Lancashire, England, on the river Irwell, 2 m. S.S.W. of Bury, on the Lancashire & Yorkshire railway. Pop. (1901) 25,368. The church of St Bartholomew dates from the time of Henry IV.; some of the Norman portions of the building remain. Cotton-weaving, calico-printing, and bleaching, dyeing, paper-making, iron founding and machine-making are the principal industries, and there are extensive collieries in the neighbourhood.