Ramsbottom is a market town in the Metropolitan Borough of Bury, Greater Manchester, England. The population at the 2011 census was 17,872. Historically in Lancashire, it lies on the River Irwell in the West Pennine Moors, 3.9 miles (6.3 km) north-west of Bury and 12 miles (19 km) of Manchester. Its Victorian architecture, Pennine landscape and industrial heritage, including the East Lancashire Railway, contribute to heritage tourism in the town.

The name either means 'ram's valley' from the Old English ramm, 'a ram' and botm, 'a valley' but could mean a 'wild garlic valley', with the first element representing the Old English hramsa meaning 'wild garlic'. A record from 1324 recording the name as Ramesbothum is inconclusive. The town was alternatively recorded as Ramysbothom in 1540.

Evidence of prehistoric human activity has been discovered in the hills surrounding the town. Early records show that in Norman times Ramsbottom was part of the Forest of Rossendale. There are a number of Bronze Age burial sites around the town, the most notable of which is Whitelow Cairn, one mile (1.6 km) south-east of the town centre and three miles (4.8 km) north of Bury. The cairn was excavated by Bury Archaeological Group between 1960–62, under the leadership of Norman Tyson. Finds include one main and seven secondary cremations, four in urns, dating to the mid Bronze Age. Artefacts found during the excavation are housed in Bury Museum.

The early Anglo-Saxons who gave Ramsbottom its name progressively felled the woodland during the Middle Ages. Ramsbottom became an area of scattered woods, farmsteads, moorland and swamp with a small community of families until the late 18th century.

Ramsbottom developed during the 19th century as a manufacturing and mill town on the road from Bury to Haslingden by the River Irwell; its suburbs stretched south to Hazelhurst and north to Stubbins. Mills were built for spinning, weaving and printing. Square Mill was, in its day, innovative in combining many such processes under one roof.

With a readily available source of water power, Sir Robert Peel purchased land in Ramsbottom in the late 18th century to commence a major manufacturing career. It is this exchange that effectively founded Ramsbottom as a homogeneous settlement; the factory system, and Industrial Revolution facilitated a process of unplanned urbanisation in the area, contributing to it becoming an important and populous mill town.

The Grant Arms Hotel in Market Place was the home of William and Daniel Grant, 19th century industrialists closely associated with the rise of the town and reputed to be the inspiration for the Cheeryble brothers in Nicholas Nickleby by Charles Dickens. The Grants' employees were paid in tokens that had to be redeemed at a public house owned by the company. The landlord converted the tokens into cash, but only after deducting threepence per person, which had to be spent on beer, a variation on the truck system. The Grant Arms Hotel closed in 2018 and is currently being developed as offices, this has now been completed.

A network of roads and railways routed through Ramsbottom allowed for a series of diverse industries, including calico-printing, cotton spinning, machine-making, rope-making and iron and brass founding. Imports of foreign goods during the mid-20th century precipitated the decline of these sectors.