Horwich is a town and civil parish in the Metropolitan Borough of Bolton, in Greater Manchester, England. Historically in Lancashire, it is southeast of Chorley, northwest of Bolton and northwest of Manchester. It lies at the southern edge of the West Pennine Moors with the M61 motorway passing close to the south and west. According to the United Kingdom Census 2001, Horwich had a population of 19,312, increasing to 25,068 at the 2011 Census.