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Bury in Lancaster County England History and GeographyBURY, a parish comprising the market town of Bury, the chapelries of Heap, Higher Tottington, and Lower Tottington, and the townships of Elton and Walmersley, in the hundred of SALFORD, and the townships of Coupe-Lench with Newhalltrey and Hall-Carr, Henheads, and Musbury, in the higher division of the hundred of BLACKBURN, county palatine of LANCASTER, and containing 34,581 inhabitants, of which number, 10,583 are in the town of Bury, 48½ miles (S.E. by S.) from Lancaster, 9 (N.N.W.) from Manchester, and 195½ (N.N.W.) from London. Some antiquaries suppose this to have been a Roman station; it was certainly a Saxon town, as its name obviously implies, the Saxon word Byri signifying a fortified place. Leland notices the remains of a castle near the church, the site of which, still called Castle Croft, was near the ancient bed of the river Irwell. This castle, one of the twelve baronial castles in the county, was entirely demolished about the year 1644, by the parliamentary troops, who, after having laid siege to the town, and thrown up an intrenchment at a place called Castle Steads, in the adjoining township of Walmersley, battered down the small remains that were then existing; fragments of the building are still occasionally discovered, in digging the ground, near its site. In 1787, nearly three hundred persons having assembled in a barn, to witness the performance of some itinerant players, the gable end gave way, and the whole building fell, and buried the audience in its ruins. The town is situated on a gentle acclivity rising from the eastern bank of the river Irwell, over which is a stone bridge, and is skirted on the east by the river Roche, which falls into the Irwell about two miles and a half to the south. It is indifferently paved, well lighted with gas, and amply supplied with water by pumps: the houses, generally old and dilapidated, are rapidly giving place to modern structures; and among the more recent improvements may be noticed a spacious square of well built houses at the northern extremity of the town. There are a public subscription library, a news-room, a botanical institution, and a mechanics' library; and a medical library, together with a splendid billiard-room, has been recently established by John Woodcock, Esq. The woollen trade was introduced in the reign of Edward III., and increased so as to constitute the staple trade of the town in the reign of Elizabeth, who stationed one of her Aulnagers here to stamp the cloths it is still carried on to a considerable extent, and furnishes employment to nearly four thousand persons; the principal articles manufactured are baize, flannel, coating, blankets, &c. The cotton manufacture, improved by the various ingenious inventions of Mr. John Kay and his sons, is also carried on; and printing establishments on an extensive scale owe their introduction to Sir Robert Peel, Bart., whose works, together with the houses of the workmen, extend for a considerable distance along the banks of the river: there are also large bleaching grounds in the neighbourhood. Coal abounds within the parish. A branch of the Manchester and Bolton canal, constructed under an act of parliament in 1791, affords a facility of communication with every part of the kingdom. The market is on Saturday: fairs are, March 8th, May 3rd, and September 18th. Bury is within the jurisdiction of the county magistrates, who hold a meeting every Saturday. Courts leet are held in April and October, and at Whitsuntide, at which last three constables are appointed for the town, subordinate to whom is a deputy constable, who holds his office for life: the jurisdiction extends over the whole parish. A court baron is also held every third week, for the recovery of debts under 40s. At a place called Castle Hill, not far hence, the court for the royal manor of Tottington was anciently held; it exercised jurisdiction in capital crimes, a neighbouring eminence, called Gallows Hill, having been the place of execution. The living is a rectory, in the archdeaconry and diocese of Chester, rated in the king's books at £29. 11. 5½., and in the patronage of the Earl of Derby. The church, dedicated to St. Mary, was taken down, with the exception of the tower, which is surmounted by a low spire, and rebuilt in 1776. St. John's chapel, a neat edifice, was erected in 1770: the living is a perpetual curacy, endowed with £600 private benefaction, £400 royal bounty, and £1500 parliamentary grant, and in the patronage of the Rector, who also presents to the other chapels in the parish. There are two meeting-houses for Independents, and one cach for Primitive, Wesleyan, and New Connexion of Methodists, and Presbyterians, besides a Roman Catholic chapel. The free grammar school was founded in 1726, by the Rev. Roger Kay, prebendary in Salisbury Cathedral, who endowed it with estates now producing yearly £442. 0. 9., of which the master receives £200, and the usher £100, per annum: it has two exhibitions, of £25 per annum each, to be continued for six years during residence at either of the universities. The same foundation includes also the instruction of ten girls, for teaching whom a mistress is allowed £7 per annum: a premium is also given with such of the scholars as are apprenticed to a trade. The management is vested in thirteen trustees, seven of whom, including the rector of Bury, the warden of Manchester, and the rector of Prestwich, must be beneficed clergymen residing within ten miles of the town, and the other six, laymen of the church of England, and possessing property within the parish. The premises, comprising two school-rooms and dwellings for the masters, are handsomely built. A charity school, for the instruction of eighty boys and thirty girls, was founded and endowed in 1748, by the Hon. and Rev. John Stanley, formerly rector: in 1815, the income having been much augmented by annual subscription, it was enlarged into a National school, and a spacious building erected, at an expense of £1000, raised by subscription; the lower apartment is for the instruction of boys, and the upper for that of girls: about sixty of the boys and forty of the girls, on an average, are clothed, in pursuance of the will of the founder. A savings bank was established in 1822, and a dispensary in 1829; there is also a lying-in charity. The Right Honourable Robert Peel, M. P., Secretary of State for the Home Department, was born at Chamber-Hall, a mansion in this parish, the present residence of the family of Hardman. From Lewis's Topographical Dictionary of England 1831, courtesy of Databases 4 Sale |
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