| BURY [LANCASHIRE] |
| Bury is a Parliamentary and a County Borough of the County Palatine of Lancaster.
It was created a parliamentary borough in 1832, received its Charter of Incorporation
on September 9th, 1876, and was made a County Borough in 1888. The town is situated 9
miles N. of Manchester by rail, 35 miles N.E. of Liverpool, and is 195 miles from London
The population of the municipality at the last census, 1921, was 56,403, and the population
of the Bury Poor Law Union 146,364. The borough has an area of 5,925 acres, and the rateable
values of the borough on March 31st, 1926, were as follows :-Rateable, £369,932; Assessable,
£354,838. A penny rate produces approximately £1,483. |
| The town is built on the banks of the rivers Irwell and Roch and has a mean elevation
of about 400 feet above the sea level, the lowest point being 223 feet at Blackford Bridge,
and the highest, 763 feet at Higher Sedger Hey, in the N.E. portion, not far from Walmersley
Golf Links and Birtle Edge. The altitude of the footpath in front of the Parish Church is 314
feet above sea level. The latitude of the Parish Church is 53° 35' 37" N. of the equator, and
its longitude 2° 17' 45"W. of Greenwich. The average annual rainfall in the town is 43 inches.
The Market Day is Saturday and the Early Closing Day Tuesday, at 1 p.m. |
| The town is on the main line of the old Lanc. and Yorks Railway (now L.M.S.) from
Wakefield to Liverpool; while another branch of the same railway, connecting the town with
Manchester, provides a splendid service of electric trains ,which run every 20 minutes.
Trains also run frequently to the towns of East Lancashire. |
| An excellent service of electric tramways links the town and district to Salford,
Manchester, Rochdale, Bolton, and all intervening towns; while motor-bus services from the
town centre to out-lying districts not served by trams, have this year (1926) been inaugurated. |
| The borough is represented in Parliament by Major Charles Ainsworth, Unionist, of
Holcombe, who defeated Sir George Toulmin, on December 14th, 1918, and who has been
victorious on three occasions since then. The number of voters on the lists for 1924-5
were :- Parliamentary, 32,982; Local Government, 27,294. |
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| The Parish Church, dedicated to St. Mary the Virgin, and occupying perhaps
the most commanding position in the town, is of very ancient origin, dating back to before the
Conquest. The present structure was erected in 1871 to 1876, but the steeple is much older, having
been erected in 1844. The church is considered one of the most beautiful in the diocese; it contains
a wonderfully fine reredos, and many really artistic stained windows, and the old regimental colours
of the XXth Foot and several Battalions of the Lancashire Fusiliers. The present Rector is the Rt.
Rev. the Lord Bishop of Hulme (John Charles Hill, D.D.). |
| Though the town is the centre of a densely populated manufacturing district,
it has many beautiful natural environs. Within very easy access are numerous delightful spots of
rural beauty such as Holcombe Hill and Moor, Redisher Woods, Top o' th' Hough (Grant's Tower), Turton
Jumbles, Prestwich Clough, Ringley Woods, Birtle Dene, Ashworth Valley, Simpson Clough, Heaton Park,
Norden, and Rooley Moor. In any of these retreats the weary and exhausted dweller of the town can
spend hours of pleasant recreation, afternoons of calm leisure, or evenings of delicious and dreamy
rest, "far from the madding crowd's ignoble strife." |
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