Astley

Astley may refer to:

People

Places in England

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Astley, Greater Manchester

Coordinates: 53°30′03″N 2°26′43″W / 53.5008°N 2.4454°W / 53.5008; -2.4454

Astley is a settlement within the Metropolitan Borough of Wigan in Greater Manchester, England, variously described as a suburb or a village. Astley lies on flat land to the northwest of the city of Manchester, and is crossed by the Bridgewater Canal and the A580 "East Lancashire Road". It forms a continuous urban area with neighbouring Tyldesley, and is equidistant from Wigan and Manchester city centre, both 8.3 miles (13.4 km) away. The Astley Mosley Common ward of Wigan MBC, which covers both settlements, had a population of 11,654 in the 2001 Census, falling to 11,270 at the 2011 Census.

Historically a part of Lancashire, the name Astley is derived from Old English, indicating Anglo-Saxon settlement. It means "east Leigh" or "east of Leigh", a reference to Astley's location relative to the town of Leigh; or ēastlēah the "eastern wood or clearing". Throughout the Middle Ages, Astley constituted a township within the parish of Leigh and hundred of West Derby. Astley first appears in written form as Asteleghe in 1210, when its lord of the manor granted land to the religious order of Premonstratensian canons at Cockersand Abbey.

Astley, Warwickshire

Coordinates: 52°30′07″N 1°32′35″W / 52.502°N 1.543°W / 52.502; -1.543

Astley is a village and parish within the North Warwickshire district of Warwickshire, England. In the 2001 census it had a population of 219, reducing slightly to 218 at the 2011 census.

Astley is Knebly in George Eliot's Mr Gilfil's Love Story. Eliot's parents were married in the church.

St Mary the Virgin

The parish church was rebuilt by Sir Thomas Astley in 1343. An Anglo-Saxon carving of a sundial from an earlier church was preserved in the tower. Thomas Grey, 2nd Marquess of Dorset was entombed in the church in 1530. The present church dates from another rebuild in 1617 by the Chamberlayne family. It is mainly the chancel of the 1343 building and the original east window incorporated into the tower. Preserved in the church are effigies of the Grey family, eighteen choir stalls painted with images of the prophets and apostles and, on the ceiling, 21 heraldic shields of Midlands families.

Astley Castle