Whaley Bridge (/ˈhweɪli/) is a town and civil parish in the High Peak district of Derbyshire, England. It is situated on the River Goyt, 16 miles (26 km) south-east of Manchester, 7 miles (11 km) north of Buxton, 9 miles (14 km) north-east of Macclesfield and 28 miles (45 km) west of Sheffield. The parish includes Furness Vale, Horwich End, Bridgemont, Fernilee, Stoneheads and Taxal; the parish had a population of 6,311 at the 2021 census. Whaley Bridge historically straddled Derbyshire and Cheshire until boundary changes in 1936 placed it entirely in Derbyshire.

There is evidence of prehistoric activity in the area, including early Bronze Age standing stones, burial sites and the remains of a stone circle. A bronze-age axe head was discovered in 2005. There has long been speculation that the 'Roosdyche', a complex of banks and ditches on the eastern side of the town, is of prehistoric human origin, but investigations in 1962 concluded that it was formed by glacial meltwater.

The name of Weyley or Weylegh appears in many 13th-century documents and is derived from the Anglo Saxon weg lēah, meaning 'a clearing by the road'. In 1351, the lands of Weyley and Yeardsley were granted to William Joddrell for his faithful service to Edward, the Black Prince. In the 14th century, it housed the residence of William Jauderell and his descendants; their name also spelt 'Jodrell', who gave their name to the modern Jodrell Bank Observatory in Cheshire. The Jodrells continued to call their lands Yeardsley Whaley for centuries and, when the first local government board was formed in 1863 and the area became an urban district, the town adopted its popular name of Whaley Bridge; the town has been called so ever since. Parish records from the 1820s refer to Horridge rather than Horwich.

The River Goyt formed the historical boundary between Derbyshire and Cheshire. The Derbyshire side was part of the Forest of High Peak, while the Cheshire side was part of the Forest of Macclesfield.

Until the late 19th century, the population of the area grew slowly. For example, in the diocesan census in 1563, Taxal is recorded as having 26 households and, by the mid-18th century, Taxal and Yeardsley together only reached 55 households. In 1791, land at Whaley Bridge was advertised for sale; the owner believed that its waterpower would be useful in the textile industry, but the two townships remained very small and only had a population of 853 between them by 1841. Up to this time, agriculture and coalmining had been the main occupations.

The town expanded greatly in the Industrial Revolution and the population almost trebled to 2,322. Although there had been coal mines from earlier times, cotton mills had become the dominant industry by 1871. Coal mining took place in the area from its very early days because of a large geographical fault which traverses the Whaley Bridge basin from east to west; this results in the coal outcropping in various places. Documentary evidence of 1587 indicates a well-established coal industry in the Towneshepp of Weley, known today as Whaley Bridge. Today, there is less intensive agriculture labour and no coal mining in the area.

Whaley Bridge continues to expand as new housing is built, but retains the character of a small town. As the self-styled Gateway to the Goyt, it attracts tourists, mainly walkers, but has not become dominated by the tourist industry, unlike some other local towns and villages. The Peak District Boundary Walk runs through the village.

The town has been twinned with Tymbark, Poland, since June 1994.