Bury, Greater Manchester

Bury (/ˈbɛri/, /ˈbʊri/) is a market town on the River Irwell in the Metropolitan Borough of Bury, Greater Manchester, England.^[1] which had a population of 81,101 in 2021 while the wider borough had a population of 193,846.^[2]

The town is within the

The name Bury (also earlier known as Buri and Byri) comes from an Old English word, meaning castle, stronghold or fort, an early form of modern English borough^[3] (German burg).

Early history

Bury was formed around the ancient market place but there is evidence of activity dating back to the period of Roman occupation. Bury Museum has a Roman urn containing a number of small bronze coins dated for AD 253–282 and found north of what is now the town centre.^[4] Under Agricola the road-building programme included a route from the fort at Manchester (Mamucium) to the fort at Ribchester (Bremetennacum) which ran through Radcliffe and Affetside. The modern Watling Street, which serves the Seddons Farm estate on the west side of town, follows the approximate line of the Roman road.

The most imposing building in the early town would have been

The castle remains were buried beneath the streets outside the Castle Armoury until properly excavated for the first time in the 1970s.^[6]

Between 1801 and 1830, the population of the town more than doubled from 7,072 to 15,086. This was the time when the factories, mines and foundries, with their spinning machines and steam engines, began to dominate the landscape. In 1822 Bury Savings Bank^[8] opened on Silver Street established under government control and later became TSB.

Industrial Revolution

Probate evidence from the 17th century and the remains of 18th-century weavers' cottages in Elton, on the west side of Bury, indicate that domestic textile production was an important factor in the local economy at a time when Bury's textile industry was dominated by woollens, and based upon the domestic production of yarn and cloth, as well as water-powered fulling mills.^[9][10]

Development was swift in the late 18th and early 19th centuries. The establishment in 1773 by the family of Sir

The houses were of the most limited kind, without basic facilities, sewers or proper streets. The result was the rapid spread of disease and high mortality rates in crowded areas. In 1838, out of 1,058 working class houses in Bury investigated by the Manchester Statistical Society, 733 had 3–4 people in each bed, 207 had 4–5, and 76 had 5–6.^[11] Social reformers locally and nationally were concerned about such issues, including Edwin Chadwick. One report that prepared the ground for the reform of public health matters, commissioned by the then Prime Minister, Sir Robert Peel, asked local doctors for information. King Street, Bury, was highlighted: it had 10 houses, each with one bedroom, and a population of 69. The average age of death in Bury was 13.8 years. Towns like Bury were likened to 'camps'^[12] where newcomers sought work in mill, mine or forge. Many, often from Ireland, found shelter in lodging houses. Thirty-eight in Bury were surveyed.^[13] Seventy-three per cent had men and women sharing beds indiscriminately, 81% were filthy and the average was 5.5 persons to a bed.

Although Bury had few of the classic late-19th-century spinning mills that were such a feature of other Lancashire towns, a group known as Peel Mills are still in use at Castlecroft Road. Immediately north of the town centre, their name is another reminder of the link with the Peel family.

Lancashire Fusiliers

According to writer Geoffrey Moorhouse, no history of Bury is complete without reference to its role as the regimental town of the Lancashire Fusiliers.^[14]

In 1688,

Chartists saw themselves fighting against political corruption and for democracy in an industrial society, but attracted support beyond the radical political groups for economic reasons, such as opposing wage cuts and unemployment.[16]

Recent history

The post-war period saw a major decline in the cotton industry and, as with many neighbouring towns, Bury's skyline was soon very different, with countless factory chimneys being pulled down and the associated mills closing their doors permanently. The old shopping area around Princess Street and Union Square was demolished in the late 1960s, and a concrete precinct was built to replace it. This development was replaced by the Mill Gate Shopping Centre in 1995.

On 23 November 1981, an F0/T1 tornado formed over Whitefield and subsequently moved through Bury town centre and surrounding areas.^[17]

In 2010 a £350m shopping development opened up around the Rock. The main street is populated mainly by independent shops and food outlets. At the top end of the street is a shopping area with a multi-screen cinema, bowling alley, and department stores including

The town centre is famous for its traditional market, with its "world famous" black pudding stalls. Bury Market was also once famous for its tripe, although this has declined in recent decades. The Bury Black Pudding Company, owned by the Chadwick family,^[18] provides black pudding to retailers such as Harrods, and to major supermarkets, and the market is a destination for people from all over Greater Manchester and beyond. The last 30 years have seen the town develop into an important commuter town for neighbouring Manchester. Large-scale housing development has taken place around Unsworth, Redvales, Sunny Bank, Brandlesholme, Limefield, Chesham and Elton. The old railway line to Manchester Victoria closed in 1990 and was replaced by the light rapid transit system Metrolink in 1992. The town was also linked to the motorway network with the opening of the M66, accessed from the east side of the town, in 1978.

Governance

The town was initially a parish, then a select vestry with a "board of guardians for the poor". Improvement commissioners were added before the borough charter was granted in 1876. In 1889, the town's status was raised to that of a county borough of Lancashire.

The coat of arms was granted in 1877 and its symbols represent local industry. In the quarters are representations of the anvil (for forging), the golden fleece (the wool industry), a pair of crossed shuttles (the cotton industry) and a papyrus plant (the paper industry). Above them are a closed visor capped by a mayfly and two red roses. The Latin motto "Vincit Omnia Industria" translates as "work conquers all".

With the passage of the Local Government Act 1972, Bury merged with the neighbouring municipal boroughs of Radcliffe and Prestwich, together with the urban districts of Whitefield, Tottington and Ramsbottom in 1974 to become the Metropolitan Borough of Bury. The borough is part of the metropolitan county of Greater Manchester.

On 3 July 2008, a referendum was held in the borough to decide whether it should be ruled by a directly elected mayor. The proposal was rejected by the voters.^[19]

Geography

Bury

At the 2001 census the town of Bury had a total population of 77,211, whereas the wider Metropolitan Borough had a population of 183,200.[22]^[23]

Landmarks

• Edwin Henry Landseer, John Constable and Peter De Wint. The building, by Woodhouse and Willoughby in 1899, was described by Pevsner as "probably the best building in Bury."^[25]
• Scheduled Ancient Monument; the foundations have been excavated and have been open to the public since 2000.^[5][6]
• Bury Parish Church, on the Market Place in the centre of the town, is a Grade I listed building.^[26][27]
• Bury's 'World-Famous' Market has been in operation for nearly 600 years; the original licence for a market was granted in 1444. In 2006, of 1,150 markets in the UK, Bury Market was voted the best 'British Market of the Year' by the National Association of British Market Authorities. The market was also selected as BBC Radio 4's Food and Farming Awards Market of the Year in 2008. It receives over 1,000 coachloads of visitors every year.^[28]
• Castlesteads is an ancient promontory fort and scheduled monument.
• Peel Tower, Harcles Hill,^[29] above Holcombe village, Ramsbottom. The tower was built in remembrance of Sir Robert Peel, Prime Minister of the United Kingdom and founder of the Metropolitan Police, who was born in Bury and was responsible for the repeal of the Corn Laws in 1846. Hundreds of people climb to the tower each year on Good Friday
  . Historically this gathering had a principally religious purpose, since the hill was said to be strikingly similar to the hill that Jesus climbed (Calvary) before his crucifixion on Good Friday.

• Whitehead Clock Tower stands in Whitehead Garden, separated from the Town Hall by a railway cutting. It was erected in 1913 as a memorial to Walter Whitehead, a surgeon of international repute who was born in the town.
• East Lancashire Railway, a heritage railway which runs from the town to Heywood, Ramsbottom and Rawtenstall. Based at Bury Bolton Street railway station.^[30]
• The Fusilier Museum, a regimental museum of the Lancashire Fusiliers on Moss Street in Bury.^[31]
• Manchester Road, Silver Street and environs contain many examples of Late Georgian brick terrace and York stone housing.^[25]

Bury is home to several fine sculptures and pieces of public art. Edward Hodges Baily's 1851 statue of Sir Robert Peel stands in the centre of town,^[32] while Lutyens' Lancashire Fusiliers War Memorial can be found outside the Fusilier Museum.^[33] George Frampton's 'cheering fusilier', a tribute to those who died in the Boer War, stands in Whitehead Garden near the town hall.^[34] The Kay Monument, a solid pavilion with a stone dome capped with a bronze Fame, commemorates John Kay,^[35] the inventor of the flying shuttle which revolutionised the weaving industry. Designed by William Venn Gough in 1908, it holds a number of sculpted bronze plaques by John Cassidy.^[36] Contemporary works include Ron Silliman's text piece From Northern Soul (Bury Neon) at Bury Interchange.^[37]

Transport

Bury is connected to other settlements via bus services, Metrolink and the heritage railway.

Between 1903 and 1949, the Bury Corporation Tramways network served the town.

Bury Bolton Street railway station, first opened in 1846 and substantially rebuilt in the 1880s and again in the 1950s, is now home to the East Lancashire Railway, a heritage railway which serves Heywood, Ramsbottom and Rawtenstall but does not provide a regular commuter service. The station is the original railway station of Bury and was a mainline station until 1980, although after December 1966 passenger services were reduced to a commuter service to Manchester only (formerly there were services to Ramsbottom, Rawtenstall and Bacup to the north of Bury also from Bolton Street station).

Bury was served by two major railway stations between 1848 and 1970, when

Currently, most buses are run by the Bee Network (Which replaced those run by Diamond North West), Go North West, and Rosso, (with some buses run by Vision Bus) connecting with destinations within Greater Manchester, Rossendale, Blackburn and Burnley. It is planned that all buses from Bury running within Greater Manchester will be incorporated into the Bee Network by March 2024.^[38] The bus station is connected to the Bury Interchange Metrolink tram stop, to provide a vast complex of inter-modal transport. There is also a free car park at the rear of the complex and a cycle hub for parking bikes during the day. The station is located in the centre of Bury, close to Bury Market, the Millgate Shopping Centre, the Rock and the main square.

Manchester Metrolink operates trams to Altrincham and Picadilly from Bury. There is generally a service every 6 minutes from Bury to Manchester city centre, with every other tram continuing to Altrincham.

Education

Colleges

• Bury College, formed from a merger of Bury Technical College, Peel Sixth Form College and Stand Sixth Form College
• Bury Grammar School has existed since 1570.^[39]
• Bury Grammar School (Girls), formerly Bury Girls' High School, opened in 1884.^[40]
• Holy Cross College, formerly Bury Convent Grammar School (In 2008, Holy Cross College was named the second best college in the country in relation to students' academic performance.^[41])

High schools located in the town include

• Broad Oak High School
• Bury Church of England High School
• Bury Grammar School (Independent)
• Bury Grammar School (Girls) (Independent)
• Derby High School
• Elton High School
• St Gabriel's RC High School
• Tottington High School
• Woodhey High School

Sport

Bury F.C. is the town's local football club. Bury play in the North West Counties Premier Division, the ninth tier of English football. Bury gained worldwide publicity in August 2019 when the club were expelled from the Football League due to unpaid debts and poor ownership.

The

Bury Art Museum is home to a fine collection of Victorian and 20th-century art, including works by Turner, Constable and Landseer.

The Fusilier Museum, home to the collection of the Lancashire Fusiliers, commemorates over three hundred years of the regiment's history. The museum occupies the former School of Arts and Crafts on Broad Street.

The Bury Transport Museum, part of the East Lancashire Railway, holds a collection of vintage vehicles and interactive displays. It is housed in the restored and Grade II-listed 1848 Castlecroft Goods Shed.

Music

The 2008

Bury hosts several music festivals yearly, including the Glaston-Bury Festival on the August bank holiday weekend, and Head for the Hills Festival (previously known as Ramsbottom Festival) closing the festival season in mid-September. While Glaston-Bury hosts mainly local/upcoming bands, Head for the Hills hosts a wider range of talent, including bands such as Soul II Soul, The Proclaimers and Maxïmo Park. The festival also has a popular silent disco, where DJs battle for the larger audience. For the past two years, this battle has largely been dominated by the DJ team BABs, a brother and sister partnership from the local village of Edenfield.

Food

Bury is known for its black puddings^[45] so much so, that it is not uncommon to see it marketed as "Bury Black Pudding" on a menu. Bury simnel cake is a variant of the cake originating in Bury. The town was also notable for tripe, though there is little demand for this in modern times.

Media

Television

Local news and television programmes are provided by BBC North West and ITV Granada. Television signals are received from the Winter Hill TV transmitter. ^[46]

Radio

Bury is served by the local radio stations:^[47]

• BBC Radio Manchester
• Heart North West
• Smooth North West
• Greatest Hits Radio Bolton & Bury
• XS Manchester
• Capital Manchester and Lancashire
• Rochdale Valley, a community-based radio station which broadcast from its studios in Rochdale.^[48]

Newspapers

The Bury Times is the local newspaper including regional newspapers Manchester Evening News and North West Enquirer.^[49]

Notable people

This section needs additional citations for verification. Please help improve this article by adding citations to reliable sources in this section. Unsourced material may be challenged and removed. Find sources: "Bury, Greater Manchester" – news · newspapers · books · scholar · JSTOR (December 2017) (Learn how and when to remove this template message)

• Manchester Murals by Ford Madox Brown which decorate the Great Hall of Manchester Town Hall
  and depict the history of the city. The piece shows Kay being smuggled to safety as rioters, who feared their jobs were in danger, sought to destroy looms whose invention he had made possible. This was a key moment in the struggle between labour and new technology. He eventually fled to France and died in poverty.
• James Wood, mathematician, Dean of Ely and Master of St John's College, Cambridge, was born at Holcombe, Bury, in 1760. A pupil at Bury Grammar School, he won an exhibition to St John's College and was a college tutor from 1789 to 1814. During this time he published The Principles of Mathematics and Natural Philosophy. He was appointed Dean of Ely in 1820. He served as Master of St John's from 1815 and left his library to the college upon his death in 1839.^[52]
• Sir
  Peel Tower, now exists to his memory. As this is situated nearly 1,000 feet above sea level, it is easily recognisable for miles around. The tower itself was not built for Sir Robert, but to provide work for local workers and was later dedicated to him. A statue of Peel
  stands in Market Place, outside the Robert Peel public house. The statue of Sir Robert has his waistcoat fastening the wrong way round.
• Professor Sir John Charnley, born the son of a Bury pharmacist in 1911. He wrote The Closed Treatment of Common Fractures, first published in 1950, which became a standard text for the subject. His subsequent achievement in developing hip replacement surgery, in 1962, is acknowledged as a ground breaking development that changed the approach to orthopaedic surgery. He established a centre for hip surgery at Wrightington Hospital, near Wigan where he worked. He was knighted for his work in 1977.^[54] The John Charnley Research Institute at Wrightington Hospital near Wigan, was named in his honour.
• Wm Morrison Supermarkets Plc^[55]
• Cherie Blair, barrister and wife of former Prime Minister Tony Blair.

Sport

• Cyrus Ainsworth, cricketer
• Charlton Athletic footballer and coach at Exeter City F.C.
• Andy Goram, Scottish international footballer
• James Guy, Olympic gold medal swimmer in the 2020 Summer Olympics in Tokyo
• Barrie Kelly, sprinter who competed in the 1968 Summer Olympics in Mexico City, and the 1966 and 1970 Commonwealth Games in Jamaica and Edinburgh, respectively
• Rico Lewis, footballer for Manchester City^[56]
• Gary Neville, former Manchester United F.C. captain
• Phil Neville, former Manchester United F.C. and Everton F.C. player and captain, and younger brother of Gary Neville
• Tracey Neville, netball international and sister of Gary and Phil Neville
• Scott Quigg, the current British super-bantamweight boxing champion and WBA Interim World Champion
• Barcelona Olympics in 1992, and the Fastnet Race
  .
• Callum Styles, footballer for Millwall and Hungary international
• Newcastle United and England
  international
• Adam Yates, professional cyclist and twin brother of Simon Yates
• Simon Yates, professional cyclist and twin brother of Adam Yates.

Writers

• Richmal Crompton, author, was born on Manchester Road, Bury; a blue plaque marks the house. Her father, Rev. Edward John Sewell Lamburn, taught Classics at Bury Grammar School.^[57]
• Thomas Thompson, writer (1880–1951), author and broadcaster, born in Bury and lived there for his whole life.

Actors

• Gemma Atkinson, actress and model
• Antony Cotton, actor and television host best known as Sean Tully in Coronation Street
• Helen Flanagan, actress best known as Rosie Webster in Coronation Street
• Steve Halliwell, actor best known as Zak Dingle in Emmerdale
• Ralf Little, actor, best known for playing Antony Royle in The Royle Family and Johnny Keogh in Two Pints of Lager and a Packet of Crisps
• Matt Littler, an actor best known as Max Cunningham in Hollyoaks, was a pupil of Elton High School.
• Jamie Lomas, actor best known as Warren Fox in Hollyoaks. He is the brother of Charley Webb.
• Jennie McAlpine, an actress best known as Fiz in Coronation Street, was a pupil of St Gabriel's Roman Catholic High School, Bury.
• Christian McKay, actor. He studied piano as a youth and had performed the Rachmaninoff Piano Concerto No. 3 in concert at the age of 21. He played Orson Welles in the film Me and Orson Welles.
• Nigel Pilkington, actor, writer and voice actor
• Lisa Riley, actress and television presenter best known as Mandy Dingle in Emmerdale
• Hear'say
  . Shaw became the star of West End shows as well as a singer, actress and television presenter.
• Charley Webb, actress best known for playing Debbie Dingle in Emmerdale. She is the sister of Jamie Lomas.
• Layton Williams, known for playing the role of Stephen Carmichael in the television series Bad Education and his work in the West End theatre.
• Victoria Wood, comedian, composer and actor. Although from nearby Prestwich, Bury has the honour of hosting a statue of the celebrated comedian and writer, which stands opposite Bury's central library.^[58]

Music

• Guy Garvey, the lead singer of alternative rock band Elbow
• John Howard, singer-songwriter
• Christian Savill, guitarist with Slowdive
• Peter Skellern, singer-songwriter and pianist
• Ian Wallace, rock drummer with King Crimson, Don Henley, Bob Dylan and others, attended Bury Grammar School.
• David Whittaker, video game composer

Members of Parliament

• Sir David Trippier (born 1945), former Member of Parliament (MP) for Rossendale and Darwen. Educated at Bury Grammar School
• Derby High School
• David Chaytor (born 1949), former MP for Bury North was born in Bury. Educated at Bury Grammar School^[59]
• School Captain of Bury Grammar School. Prior to losing his seat to David Chaytor in 1997 he represented his hometown as MP for Bury North
  from 1983.

The Metropolitan Borough of Bury has five twin towns, in China, France, Germany and the United States.[60]^[61][62] Two of these were originally twinned with a place within the Metropolitan Borough prior to its creation in 1974.

	Country		Place		County / District / Region / State	Originally twinned with	Date	Notes
	China		Datong		Shanxi	Metropolitan Borough of Bury	2003
	France		Angoulême		Poitou-Charentes	County Borough of Bury	1959	After which the 'Angoulême Retail Park' and the road 'Angouleme Way' are named.
	France		Tulle		Limousin	Municipal Borough of Prestwich	1969
	Germany		Schorndorf		Baden-Württemberg	Metropolitan Borough of Bury	1994
	United States		Woodbury		New Jersey	Metropolitan Borough of Bury	2000

See also

• Listed buildings in Bury
• Healthcare in Greater Manchester
• Bury power station

References

Sources

• Town Population figure
• Bury Savings Bank

Further reading

• William Farrer & John Brownbill, ed. (1911). "Townships: Bury". A History of the County of Lancaster: Volume 5.
  ISBN 0-7129-1055-7
  .
• Lord, John (1903). Bygone Bury. Rochdale: James Clegg, Aldine Press.
• barton, B. T. (1874). A History of the Borough of Bury and Neighbourhood in the County of Lancaster. Manchester: North of England Cooperative Printing Society.

External links

Wikimedia Commons has media related to Bury, Greater Manchester.

Wikivoyage has a travel guide for Bury.

• Bury Metropolitan Borough Council
• Bury Districts
• Bury and District Local History Society
• Bury Archives Online Archived 7 February 2022 at the Wayback Machine