Appley Bridge is a small, affluent village crossing the borders of Greater Manchester and West Lancashire, England. It is located off Junction 27 of the M6 motorway and is nestled in the Douglas Valley alongside the Leeds and Liverpool Canal.

Appley comes from Apple lea (on the River Douglas), from (boscus de "Woodland") Appelae, Appeleie, or Appeleye, found in 13th-century Chartulary of Cockersand Abbey; also "Appley Moor"; within the township of Wrightington in the ancient parish of Eccleston.

Once a busy industrial village with a paint and linoleum works, several quarries, and clay pits for the Wigan brick company, today the village still has several factories including a weighbridge manufacturer and a caravan factory. Today it is not as busy, its main purpose being providing housing for the many commuters who work along the M6 corridor.

Appley Bridge has two churches, (Methodist and Church of England), and is in the Deanery of Chorley, Diocese of Blackburn.

Appley Bridge railway station, opened in 1855 by the Lancashire & Yorkshire Railway, is situated on the Southport to Manchester line. The village contains a few convenience shops, a football field, multiple children's playing areas,several country pubs and a post office. Appley Bridge converges into the village of Shevington Vale which is within the Greater Manchester border. In Shevington Vale (which is distinct from nearby Shevington), there is a range of amenities including a SPAR convenience store, a Chinese takeaway, a hairdressing salon and a pharmacy. There is also a small children's play area and football pitch opposite Shevington Vale Primary School. The Golden Days garden centre is just outside the main village on Back Lane, near the M6 Motorway junction. A waste paper recycling yard is also present on Appley Lane North offering free disposal of cardboard and paper as well as other services.

In between Appley Lane North and Miles Lane is a road called Skull House Lane. The lane takes its name from a cottage known as Skull House, which is located about halfway down Appley Lane North, and the cottage in turn takes its name from a discoloured human skull on the living room mantelpiece of the house.

Some inhabitants of Appley Bridge claim that throughout the history of the house, many residents have tried to get rid of the skull, and all have experienced disastrous results after doing so. Recent tests indicate that the skull is female.

At around 8.45pm on Tuesday evening of 13 October 1914, the inhabitants of Appley Bridge (indeed Lancashire and Cheshire too) were treated to a sudden and spectacular illumination of the night sky, caused by a meteorite that was found in a farmer's field in the village the following day. Found just 18 inches below the surface of the field, with the appearance of burnt iron, the small rock weighed almost 33 lb (15 kg). An article in the "Scientific News" (No. 2588, 30 October 1914) stated, "a small fragment which had been detached from the larger mass was put on view in a shop-window at Appley Bridge." In September 2014 a book about the meteorite, by local author Russell Parry, was published ( ISBN 0954953126 ).