Kearsley is a town in the Metropolitan Borough of Bolton, Greater Manchester, England. The population at the 2011 census was 14,212. Historically part of Lancashire, it lies 8 miles (13 km) northwest of Manchester, 5 miles (8 km) southwest of Bury and 3 3/4 miles (6 km) south of Bolton.

It is bounded on the west by Walkden, the east by Whitefield, the north by Farnworth and the south by Clifton.

Kearsley was a township in the ancient ecclesiastical parish of Deane, in the Hundred of Salford. Kearsley Urban District was a local government authority from 1894 until 1974. In 1933, part of Clifton was added to Kearsley Urban District. Part of Outwood, Radcliffe became part of Kearsley in line with the 1933 Lancashire Review.

Kearsley lay within the historic county boundaries of Lancashire and was industrialised by 1752 when James Brindley solved drainage problems at the Wet Earth Colliery on the borders of Kearsley and Clifton. In 1780, a mill was built at the point where the River Croal meets the River Irwell In 1830 it was described as:

"Kersley, a township in the parish of Deane, Hundred of Salford, 7 miles N.W. from Manchester. Inhabitants 1,833. In this township is Kearsley Moor, an extensive common, under the surface of which there are many valuable coalmines".

In the Industrial Revolution a papermill, cotton mills, chemical works, an iron foundry, a quarry and 15 coal mines operated within its boundaries.

In the mid-19th century, the area was a busy coal mining area. Several street names such as Moss Colliery Road (in nearby Clifton) bear testimony to this. The largest coal mine was the Unity Brook Colliery. On 12 March 1878 an explosion in the mine killed 43 men and boys and 19 of the dead were buried at the parish church. By 1900 the coal mining industry had all but disappeared.

In the late 1920s, the coal-fired Kearsley Power Station was built. It used water for cooling from the River Irwell. The power station closed, and was demolished, on 12 May 1985. The power station had a railway connection, which has been removed and is now a pedestrian trail.