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Bury, Greater Manchester

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Bury, Greater Manchester

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

The town is part of the historic county of Lancashire but has been a part of the metropolitan county of Greater Manchester since 1974. Bury emerged in the Industrial Revolution as a mill town manufacturing textiles. The town is known for the open-air Bury Market and black pudding, the traditional local dish.

Sir Robert Peel was born in the town. Peel was a Prime Minister of the United Kingdom who founded the Metropolitan Police and the Conservative Party. There is a memorial and a monument for Peel, the former stands outside Bury Parish church and the latter overlooks the borough on Holcombe Hill. The town is 5 miles (8 km) east of Bolton, 6 miles (9.7 km) south-west of Rochdale and 8 miles (12.9 km) north-west of Manchester.

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 (German burg).

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 which was found north of what is now the town centre. 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 Bury Castle, a medieval manor house built in 1469 for Sir Thomas Pilkington. It sat in a good defensive position on high ground overlooking the Irwell Valley. The Pilkington family suffered badly in the Wars of the Roses when, despite geography, they supported the House of York. When Richard III was killed at the Battle of Bosworth in 1485, Thomas Pilkington was captured and later executed. The outcome of the battle was the Lancastrian Duke of Richmond being crowned Henry VII by Sir William Stanley. As a reward for the support of his family, Thomas Stanley was created Earl of Derby and, amongst other lands, the confiscated Pilkington estate in Bury was presented to him.

The ancestral home of the Earls of Derby is Knowsley Hall on the outskirts of Liverpool. The family maintains a connection with Bury in various ways—the Derby High School is named after them. When the school opened in 1959 the 18th Earl of Derby was patron and the school's badge is based on the Earl's coat of arms. The 15th and 16th earls were both supporters of Bury Grammar School, both financially and in terms of land, and one of the school houses is named Derby in their honour. The town is home to the Derby Hall and formerly also the Derby Hotel, opened in February 1850.

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

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