Townships: Bury

A History of the County of Lancaster: Volume 5. Originally published by Victoria County History, London, 1911.

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'Townships: Bury', in A History of the County of Lancaster: Volume 5, ed. William Farrer, J Brownbill( London, 1911), British History Online https://prod.british-history.ac.uk/vch/lancs/vol5/pp128-133 [accessed 25 November 2024].

'Townships: Bury', in A History of the County of Lancaster: Volume 5. Edited by William Farrer, J Brownbill( London, 1911), British History Online, accessed November 25, 2024, https://prod.british-history.ac.uk/vch/lancs/vol5/pp128-133.

"Townships: Bury". A History of the County of Lancaster: Volume 5. Ed. William Farrer, J Brownbill(London, 1911), , British History Online. Web. 25 November 2024. https://prod.british-history.ac.uk/vch/lancs/vol5/pp128-133.

In this section

BURY

Biri, 1194; Buri, 1212; Bury, 1227, and usual; Byry, 1292; Bery, 1323.

The township of Bury lies principally in the narrow tongue of land between the Irwell and the Roch, stretching north for over 4 miles from the confluence of these streams. The surface is generally level, but rises on the north-east border to a height of 600 ft. The area is 2,329½ acres. (fn. 1) The population of the township in 1901 was 44,032 and of the borough 58,029.

The town of Bury occupies the centre of the township. The church is situated above what was the old course of the Irwell, the ground falling rapidly to the north of the Bolton and Rochdale road leading past the church. Just at the south-west corner of the church this road is joined by that from Manchester, and the open space or Wylde (fn. 2) at that point is still known as the Market-place. The statue of Sir Robert Peel, erected in 1852, stands here; and to the west was formerly the fortified manor-house of the Pilkingtons. The road leading west to Bolton descends to cross the Irwell at Bury Bridge; the district to the south of it is called Tentersfield. Going east from the church it passes through Freetown and Pits o' th' Moor, to the north-east of the last-named being Woodgate Hill. One branch of this road takes a more southerly course, crossing the Roch at Heap Bridge and leading to Heywood; to the south of it lies Pimhole. Another branch runs almost due north, passing Chesham and its park on the right, and going through Little Wood Cross and Limefield to Walmersley and Haslingden. The Manchester road goes southerly from the church, passing through Buckley Wells, Fishpool, and Redvales, to Blackford Bridge over the Roch.

The Lancashire and Yorkshire Company's railway from Manchester to Accrington passes north through the township, with a station (Bolton Street) near the church. A line to Tottington branches off from this. The same company's line from Bolton to Rochdale crosses the other at right angles, with a station (Knowsley Street) to the south of the former. (fn. 3) Electric tramcars run along the main thoroughfares in all directions.

Bury has long been a seat of the woollen manufacture; Bury blankets are known everywhere. Leland, about 1535, speaks of 'yarn sometime made about Bury, a market town on Irwell'; (fn. 4) a deputy aulnager was appointed in 1564 to stamp woollen cloth. (fn. 5) Defoe, writing about 1730, observed that at Bury 'the manufacture of cotton . . . was ended, and the woollen manufacture of coarse sorts, called half-thicks and kerseys, begun; which employs this and all the villages about it.' (fn. 6) There are also extensive cotton mills, iron and brass foundries, paper mills, and bleach works. Bury is also noted for simnel cakes, and the fourth Sunday in Lent is kept as a festival; (fn. 7) parkin, a corruption of Tharcake, was made at the beginning of November. (fn. 8)

The old festivals were those of the Royal Oak, Robin Hood, and 'Maying Night.' (fn. 9) Football games were played at certain seasons. (fn. 10) Otter-hunting was one of the sports of the district. (fn. 11)

Fairs are held on 5 March, 3 May, and 18 September. The wakes begin on the Saturday after August Bank Holiday.

The dungeon, (fn. 12) pillory, (fn. 13) and town cross (fn. 14) have disappeared. The ghosts or 'boggarts' have also gone. (fn. 15)

The printing press was introduced in 1789. (fn. 16) The first newspaper was the Bury Mercury, issued in 1831. (fn. 17) There are now four—the Times (begun in 1855) and the Guardian (1857), published twice a week, and the Visitor and the Advertiser, each once. (fn. 18)

There is a theatre. (fn. 19)

A halfpenny token was issued in 1667. (fn. 20)

In Bury town there were 114 hearths liable to the tax; John Greenhalgh's rectory had ten hearths, John Brook's house eight, Richard Tootell's seven, those of John Eckersall and John Redferne six each. In Bury Upper End were fifty-two hearths. (fn. 21)

Various changes in the boundaries have taken place in recent years, (fn. 22) and the present township or civil parish of Bury contains not only the ancient hamlet or township, but parts of Elton, Walmersley-withShuttleworth, and Heap. (fn. 23)

Manors

The manor of BURY was held of the lord of Tottington as one knight's fee. (fn. 24) The tenant bore the local surname, and in 1193–4 Adam de Bury offered 5 marks for having the king's good will after the rebellion of John, Count of Mortain. (fn. 25) Under Roger de Montbegon Adam de Bury, son of Ailward de Bury by his wife Alice de Montbegon, (fn. 26) in 1212 held the fee of one knight 'of ancient tenure'; (fn. 27) the formation of this holding may therefore date from the early part of the 12th century. In 1302 Henry de Bury held the fee of the Earl of Lincoln. (fn. 28) In 1313 he made a settlement of the manor, (fn. 29) and two years later was killed in some of the disturbances raised by Adam Banastre. (fn. 30)

His son Henry died without issue, on which his daughter Alice, wife of Roger de Pilkington, and her son Roger succeeded in establishing their right to the manor, although her mother Margery, daughter of Richard de Radcliffe, had endeavoured to secure it or a portion of the estate for her younger son Henry. (fn. 31)

Pilkington. Argent a cross patonce voided gules.

Stanley, Earl of Derby. Argent on a bend azure three harts' heads cabossed or.

The Pilkingtons remained in possession till 1485, (fn. 32) when all the manors and lands of Sir Thomas Pilkington were forfeited for his adherence to Richard III, the new king granting them to the Earl of Derby in 1489. (fn. 33) The manor of Bury then de scended regularly to the fifteenth earl, (fn. 34) who in 1872 sold his rights, the advowson excepted, to the Improvement Commissioners, who have been succeeded by the present corporation. He remained the principal landowner, as his successor, the present earl, still is.

The principal incidents of the tenure by the Pilkingtons were the grant of a weekly market and two fairs about 1440, (fn. 35) and the licence in 1465 to fortify the manor-house of Bury, afterwards known as the Castle. (fn. 36)

At the beginning of last century three courts leet were held annually for the manor of Bury—in April, at Whitsuntide, and in October; a court baron was held every three weeks for the recovery of debts under 40s. (fn. 37)

A family bearing the local surname long continued to have lands within the parish; (fn. 38) they may have been descended from the former lords of the manor. The bridge appears to have given a surname to a resident family. (fn. 39) CHESHAM, sometimes called a manor, was once owned by the Holts of Stubley. (fn. 40)

A family named Allen formerly lived at Redvales. (fn. 41) Haslum also occurs. (fn. 42) The Hulmes of Davyhulme had property in Bury. (fn. 43)

A petition for the delimitation of the bounds of Bury and Middleton was addressed to the Chancellor of the Duchy about 1520. (fn. 44)

The custom of the county as to the distribution of the goods of intestates led to disputes in the latter part of the same century. (fn. 45) There were also disputes as to the mills. (fn. 46)

Borough

The township was formerly governed by the constables appointed at the manor court at Whitsuntide. (fn. 47) In 1846, however, the inhabitants obtained an Improvement Act, under which the government was entrusted to twenty-seven commissioners elected by the ratepayers; (fn. 48) and after thirty years a royal charter was granted incorporating a borough. (fn. 49) The council consists of a mayor, ten aldermen, and thirty councillors. The area, more exten sive than the old township, (fn. 50) is divided into five wards— Church, Redvales, East, Moorside, and Elton, each electing six councillors. Bury became a parliamentary borough on the passing of the Reform Act of 1832; it returns one member. (fn. 51) The municipal and parliamentary boroughs are conterminous. Bury became a county borough in 1888. A coat of arms was granted in 1877.

Borough of Bury. Quarterly argent and azure a cross double parted., fretted and counterchanged between, in the first quarter an anvil sable, in the second a fleece or, in the third two shuttles crossed saltirewise of the fourth, and in the fourth quarter a papyrus plant proper.

Gas (fn. 52) and water (fn. 53) were formerly supplied by private companies, but are now under public control. The corporation have established electric lighting works and work the electric tramways. The market, formerly held in the open square by the church, was in 1841 transferred to an inclosure erected by the Earl of Derby, who received the tolls; it was roofed with glass in 1867, (fn. 54) and, with the market rights, became the property of the town in 1872. The present market was built in 1901. The Town Hall was erected by the Earl of Derby in 1850. The Improvement Commissioners and Corporation have provided baths, recreation grounds, art gallery, (fn. 55) library, and technical schools, (fn. 56) fire brigade, abattoirs, a cemetery, opened in 1866–9, (fn. 57) and an infectious diseases hospital. The Bury Hospital and Dispensary are due to private benevolence. (fn. 58)

The Athenæum, began in 1836 as a mechanics' institution, was built in 1850; it has a library, reading and other rooms, and a large hall for meetings. (fn. 59)

Bury County Court district was formed in 1847. (fn. 60)

The parish church was adequate for the established worship until 1770, when St. John's was built on glebe land called Listerfield; a district was assigned to it in 1860. (fn. 61) St. Paul's, built in 1841, had a district assigned two years later. (fn. 62) Holy Trinity, opened in 1863, had also to wait two years for a legal district. (fn. 63) St. Thomas's was built by Thomas Openshaw, a local benefactor, in 1866, (fn. 64) St. Peter's, Redvales, in 1872, (fn. 65) and St. Mark's, Freetown, in 1883. (fn. 66) The rector of Bury holds the patronage of all these churches except St. Paul's, which is in the gift of five trustees.
John Wesley visited Bury seven times, the first in 1774, the last in 1778. The Wesleyan Methodists have two churches, the Primitive Methodists one, and the United Methodist Church six, of which Brunswick, the principal, was opened in 1837 and rebuilt in 1862. (fn. 67)

The Baptists have three churches. (fn. 68)

The Congregationalists began services about 1790, the first chapel, now known as New Road Chapel, being opened in 1793; it was rebuilt in 1884–5. A second, Bethel, was started by a secession from the former in 1804, due probably to a desire for more liberal doctrine; the chapel was built in 1807, and enlarged in 1882. A second secession led to the building of Castlecroft Church in 1837–40. The chapel at Blackford Bridge originated with services in 1869; a school chapel was opened in 1875, and on this being destroyed by fire, the present building was erected in 1888. (fn. 69)

There are also a Welsh Calvinistic Methodist church and a Free Christian church; this last originated in a change of the views of the Rev. Franklin Howorth, the Unitarian minister. (fn. 70) The Salvation Army has a barracks.

In Bury, as in many other places, the earliest chapel opened by Protestant Nonconformists is now held by Unitarians. Silver Street Chapel was erected in 1719, (fn. 71) and the teaching became Arian or Unitarian about 1790, this no doubt leading to the first Congregational meeting above recorded. The old chapel was replaced by another in Silver Street in 1837, and this again having been injured by the construction of the railway, by the present one in Bank Street in 1852. (fn. 72) The Unitarians have also a cemetery and mortuary chapel at Hole Bottom.

The followers of Joanna Southcote had a meetingroom in Bury in 1829. (fn. 73) The Swedenborgians opened a New Jerusalem chapel in 1860, but it has been abandoned.

The Roman Catholic church of Our Blessed Lady was built in 1842, (fn. 74) and St. Joseph's in 1871.

Footnotes

  • 1. 3,828 acres, including 104 of inland water. This is the area of the borough.
  • 2. B. T. Barton, Bury, 40.
  • 3. The Liverpool and Bury line was opened in 1848.
  • 4. Itin. vii, 49; he also remarks that Bury had 'but a poor market.' Camden, on the other hand, calls it a market town 'not less considerable than Rochdale'; Brit. (ed. 1695), 745.
  • 5. 8 Eliz. cap. 12; Bury is one of the five towns named. For a Bury ulnage case in 1547–9 see Duchy Plead. (Rec. Soc. Lancs, and Ches.), iii, 6–10.
  • 6. Tour through Great Britain (ed. 1738), iii, 182.
  • 7. Barton, Bury, 23.
  • 8. Ibid, 109.
  • 9. Ibid. 10–13.
  • 10. Ibid. 41; Christmas, Shrovetide, and Good Friday each had special matches, the final games being played in Easter week.
  • 11. Ibid. 45.
  • 12. Ibid. 42. The old court house stood near the cross; ibid. 44.
  • 13. Ibid. 43; it was used for the last time about 1800.
  • 14. Ibid. 43, 300. It stood near the centre of the market-place, and was taken down in 1818.
  • 15. Ibid. 13, 34; one of them was like a white rabbit.
  • 16. Ibid. 7; Local Gleanings, Lancs. and Ches. i, 71, gives 'in or before 1798.'
  • 17. Manch A. Guardian N. and Q. no. 490.
  • 18. In 1867 they were the Times, Guardian, and Broadsheet.
  • 19. An early theatrical performance in a barn in Moss Lane in 1787 ended in the collapse of the building and death or injury to many of the spectators; Barton, Bury, 18–23; see also 32.
  • 20. Lancs. and Ches. Antiq. Soc. v, 75; it was issued by Samuel Waring, otherwise notable as a prosperous Nonconformist; ibid., and Ormerod, Parentalia.
  • 21. Subs. R. bdle. 250, no. 9, Lanc.; for 1666.
  • 22. By the Bury Improvement Acts, 1872 and 1885. The bounds are described in the Bury Times Business Directory.
  • 23. The county borough includes Bury and parts of Elton, Tottington Lower End, Walmersley - with - Shuttleworth, Birtle-with-Bamford, Heap, Pilsworth, Pilkington, and Radcliffe. It was made a single civil parish or township in 1894 by Local Gov. Bd. Order 31671.
  • 24. Lancs. Inq. and Extents (Rec. Soc. Lancs. and Ches.), i, 59, 60, 145. After the Montbegons sold Tottington to the Lacys, Bury was held of the Earl of Lincoln, as in 1242, when it was part of the dower of the countess (ibid. 153); and afterwards of the Earls and Dukes of Lancaster. Sake fee of 8s. and castleward 10s. were payable for Bury; Extent of 17 Edw. II; Sheriff's Compotus of 22 Edw. III.
  • 25. Farrer, Lancs. Pipe R. 77. A little later Henry de Bury is named; ibid. 355. It was probably another Henry de Bury who about 1240 attested a surrender of part of Rochdale rectory; Whalley Coucber (Chet. Soc.), i, 143.
  • 26. In 1244–5 Adam de Bury laid claim to the Montbegon inheritance on the strength of this descent; the jury did not allow it, so that Alice may have been illegitimate; Assize R. 482, m. 17. Alice, wife of Eward (or Ailward) de Bury, received from her father, Adam de Montbegon, land in Tottington; Lancs. Inq. and Extents, i, 61.
  • 27. Ibid. 60. Robert de Bury and Adam de Bury attested an Eccles Charter about 1205; Whalley Coucher (Chet. Soc), i, 57. It is impossible to say how many Adams there were. Adam de Bury secured an acknowledgement of his right to a moiety of Shuttleworth in 1227; Final Conc. (Rec. Soc. Lancs. and Ches.), i, 49. He was one of the twelve knights engaged in the perambulation of the forest in 1228; Lancs. Pipe R. 420. A little later he confirmed land in Marland to Stanlaw Abbey; Whalley Coucher, ii, 593. He held the knight's fee in 1242; Inq. and Extents, i, 153. Four years later he recovered a small strip of land, probably on the boundary, against Geoffrey de Radcliffe; Assize R. 404, m. 3. An Adam, son of Adam de Bury, appears in 1246 at Bradley, near Chipping, but he may be of another family; Final Conc. i, 102. The king in 1250 ordered the sheriff not to place Adam de Bury on juries so long as he continued to be coroner; Close R. 64, m. 1. In 1251 Adam was one of the knights attesting the grant of Ordsall to David de Hulton; Gregson, Fragments (ed. Harland), 347. The rights of Adam's mill were in 1256 acknowledged by two of the tenants, who agreed to grind corn growing on the lands they held of him to the twentieth measure; but should Adam allow his mill to fall into decay then they were to be at liberty to grind elsewhere, without giving any multure to him; Final Conc. i, 120. Two years before this Adam had claimed suit of mill against various tenants; Curia Regis R. 154, m. 16, 17. An Alexander de Bury made a grant of Gollinroyd about 1260; Ormerod, Parentalia, 43. Adam de Bury was plaintiff and defendant in suits of 1277 and 1278; Assize R. 1235, m. 13; R. 1238, m. 31, 32; R. 1239, m. 37, 39. He was again plaintiff in 1281; Pat. 9 Edw. I, m. 14 d. Sir Adam de Bury and Adam his son attested a Barton charter before or about that time; De Trafford Deeds, no. 192. In 1287 Anabel, widow of Adam de Bury, claimed a third part of the manor of Bury and advowson of the church, against Henry de Lacy; De Banco R. 67, m. 56.
  • 28. Inq. and Extents, i, 313. Already in 1300 he had been charged by Alexander son of Henry del Hurst with unjust distraint on cattle and corn at the Rhodes in Bury, but in reply urged that Alexander was his villein; De Banco R. 131, m. 11. He occurs as plaintiff in 1306 and 1309; De Banco R. 161, m. 437 d.; R. 179, m. 206 d. In 1311 Sir Henry de Bury held the manor of Bury by the service of one knight and suit to the court of Tottington from three weeks to three weeks; De Lacy Inq. (Chet. Soc), 19.
  • 29. Final Conc. ii, 13; Geoffrey son of Robert de Bury acted as deforciant. The advowson of the church was included with the manor; after the death of Henry de Bury they were to remain to Margery daughter of Richard de Radcliffe for life; after her decease to Henry son of Henry de Bury and his issue, and in default successively to Alice, Agnes, and Isabel, daughters of the elder Henry; finally to Adam son of Matthew de Bury and his heirs. This fine was frequently cited in the subsequent disputes as to the manor. Henry son of Adam de Bury was plaintiff in 1313; De Banco R. 198, m. 36 d.
  • 30. At an inquiry in 1323 it was stated that Sir Adam Banastre and others made their confederacy on the Wednesday before St. Wilfrid's Day, 1315, and a few days *** later sent Nicholas de Singleton and others to capture Adam de Radcliffe and his brothers. Adam was seized at the parsonage house at Radcliffe, and his captors then went to Sir Henry de Bury's house to find the brothers, who, however, were not there. Henry de Bury was thereupon taken, and John de Croston, Stephen Scallard, and others slew him, and stole his horse and other goods and chattels, for which death they were hanged; Sir William de Bradshagh and many others of the confederates were outlawed ; Coram Rege R. 254, m. 52. From these particulars it would seem that the confederacy was made on 9 Oct. and the murder was done on or about the 12th. On the following Wednesday (16 Oct.) the king ordered Robert de Lathom and others to inquire into it (Cal. Pat. 1313–17, p. 419), and another record of the trial states that John de Walton, Stephen Shaw, and Adam son of Adam de Freckleton were the guilty ones, while a large number of others were with them, and Adam Banastre, Henry de Lea, and William de Bradshagh knowingly received them after the felony was committed; Coram Rege R. 299, Rex m. 20. This record gives 16 Oct. as the date of the death, and a number of particulars are given as to the fate of the guilty persons.
  • 31. By the fine above referred to Margery de Radcliffe (as she was usually called) had the manor for her life. In 1318 and 1319 certain lands were settled by fine, the remainders being the same as in the earlier one; Final Conc. ii, 29, 34. No mention is made of younger sons of Sir Henry. In the latter year Margery was plaintiff in a suit respecting Bury mill; De Banco R, 299, m, 66 d. In a feodary of a little later date it is stated that Margery de Radcliffe and Henry her son held 3 plough-lands and 6 oxgangs in Bury for a knight's fee; Duchy of Lanc. Knights' Fees, bdle. 1, no. 11. Margery daughter of Richard de Radcliffe appeared against William de Rawstorn and Adam son of Robert de Middleton to enforce them to do suit at her mill; De Banco R. 229, m. 66 d. In 1322 she charged Robert de Walkden with having come with other malefactors and disturbers of the peace—probably in connexion with the rising of Earl Thomas —and taken from her manor of Bury sixty cows, twenty-nine oxen, two horses, ten heifers, &c.; and Robert was committed to prison; Coram Rege R. 254, m. 69 d. Margery was living in 1334; Coram Rege R. 298, Rex m. 1 d.; she was also living in 1336 as appears by a later case cited. She presented to the rectory in 1319, 1323, and 1331; and Henry son of Sir Henry tie Bury in 1335, as will be seen by the list of rectors. This presentation is almost the only recorded act of the younger Henry. In 1348 Alice, then widow of Roger de Pilkington, appears to have been in undisputed possession; De Banco R. 354, m. 3 d. In Oct. 1351 Henry son of Margery de Radcliffe made his claim to the manor of Bury, except twenty-one messuages, 300 acres of land, 300 acres of meadow, 300 acres of wood, and 2s. rent. The defendants were Alice and Roger, widow and son of Roger de Pilkington, and a number of others holding lands within the manor. The fine of 1313 was adduced; Henry de Bury, Margery, and the younger Henry were all dead ; but Margery had alienated the manor to Henry, the plaintiff; Henry had also secured a release from one Adam de Bury, described as the true heir of Henry the elder ; Duchy of Lanc. Assize R. 1, m. 7. Henry son of Margery de Radcliffe also claimed forty messuages, 600 acres of land, *****&, in Bury, Tottington, and Middleton; ibid. m. 7 d. Similar statements as to the succession were made in reply to a claim to messuages and houses in Bury put forward at the same time by John de Radcliffe, the defendants being Alice and Roger de Pilkington and John son of William de Bury; ibid. m. 2 d. In this case the jury found that Henry son of Sir Henry died before Margery; and that Adam, the true heir, was a younger son of Sir Henry. The name of the plaintiff Henry's father is not given in these suits, but he is called Henry de Bury, and may have been, like Adam, a son of Sir Henry born after the fine of 1313; see Dep. Keeper's Rep. xxxii, App. 348. A further claim made by Henry son of Margery in 1353 was defeated, the jury again finding that Henry son of Henry de Bury died before Margery, and that the plaintiff was not in rerum natura in 1313; Assize R. 435, m. 21 d. In the following year Henry son of Margery did not prosecute a claim he made against John de Radcliffe the elder; Duchy of Lanc. Assize R. 3, m. 1. John de Radcliffe was more successful in 1355 against the Pilkingtons, it being found that the lands he claimed were his free tenement, and that Alice de Pilkington had wrongly entered into possession; ibid. R. 4, m. 27 d. About the same time Henry son of Margery was also successful in a claim to certain lands, it being found that these were in Tottington and not in Bury; ibid. m. 28 d. It is here stated that the quitclaim by Adam, the son and true heir of Sir Henry de Bury, was dated in 1336. The dispute still continued in the following year; ibid. R. 5, m. 19 d., 20 d. See Lancs. Inq. p.m. (Chet. Soc), ii, 175.
  • 32. a In spite of the claims put forward Roger de Pilkington appears to have retained possession, contributing to the aid of 1346–55 as lord of Bury; Feud. Aids, iii, 87. He probably made a settlement of the manor in 1350, a fine of £100 being recorded in that year for an 'alienation'; Accts. (Exch. Q.R.), bdle. 108, m. 34. From a suit of July 1354, it appears that lands in the Rhodes which William the Baxter of Stockport had granted to Margery de Radcliffe descended to Roger de Pilkington, who obtained a quitclaim from Almarica, William's widow; Duchy of Lanc. Assize R. 3,m. 3d. In 1368 Sir Roger de Pilkington again made a formal statement of his title ; De Banco R. 431, m. 351. An account of the family is given under Pilkington in Prestwich. In 1421 it was found that Sir John de Pilkington had held a moiety of the manor and the advowson of the church in conjunction with Margery his wife, and also a fourth part of the manor by grant of his father, while he had given the other fourth part to his son Sir John de Pilkington and Margaret his wife; the whole manor was held of the king as of his duchy of Lancaster; Lancs. Inq. p.m. (Chet. Soc. ii, 179). A number of the Pilkington charters of the period 1420–50 are copied in Raines MSS. (Chet. Lib.), xxxviii, fol. 1–17. In 1431 Sir John Pilkington was in possession; Feud. Aids, iii, 96. So also in 1445–6, the relief being stated as 100s.; Duchy of Lanc. Knights' Fees, bdle. 2, no. 20. In 1443 Sir John Pilkington complained that the bailiff of Salfordshire had unjustly distrained his cattle at Redvales (Redyuals). The bailiff asserted that Bury was held of the king by knight's service, to wit, by homage, fealty, and scutage, and by the service of doing suit at the king's wapentake of Salford every three weeks, by the rent of 10s. called castle ward, and by the rent of 8s.; and the castle ward rent being in arrear for four years, he had taken four oxen. Sir John denied that this rent was due from him; Pal. of Lanc. Plea R. 5, m. 16b. In 1483 it was returned that Sir Thomas Pilkington paid 8s. yearly for Bury and 10s. for ward of Lancaster Castle; Duchy of Lanc. Misc. 130.
  • 33. Pat. 4 Hen. VII, 23 Feb. In the inquisition after the death of Thomas, the second earl, in 1521, it was found that he had held the manor of Bury and tenements there of the king, as of his duchy of Lancaster by the service of one knight's fee and by the rent of 8s.; it was worth £30 clear per annum. Sir Henry Halsall was appointed steward of Bury and Pilkington in 1509, with an annuity of £10; Duchy of Lanc. Inq. p.m. v, no. 68. At that time (1519–20) there were four constables of Bury, appearing at the court of Tottington. The bailiff of the latter manor complained that he had not been allowed to distrain within the lordship of Bury for several amercements, and that stray sheep seized within Tottington had been driven off by servants of the Earl of Derby. The earl had liberty of waif and stray within Bury, and after the sheep **** had been recovered by his servants proclamation was, as usual, made in the market of Bury, and they were delivered to their owners; Duchy Plead. (Rec. Soc. Lancs. and Ches.), i, 84–8. The earl was said to hold the manor of Bury, 'to be one of the four judgers' at every court held within the lordship of Tottington; Duchy of Lanc. Dep. xii, G 1a. The manors of Bury and Pilkington with the advowson of Bury were among the dower lands of Charlotte, Countess of Derby, in 1652, and she was allowed to compound for them. The 'old rents ' of Bury in 1640 amounted to £163 8s. 9d., and the tolls of fairs and markets to £10; Royalist Comp. Papers (Rec. Soc. Lancs, and Ches.), ii, 182, 184.
  • 34. The manor of Pilkington, the advowson of Bury, &c., were included in a settlement by William, Earl of Derby, in 1677; Pal. of Lanc. Feet of F. bdle. 199, m. 55. The advowson of Bury and other properties were in the hands of John, Earl of Anglesey, and Henrietta Maria his wife in 1708; ibid. bdle. 260, m. 53. The manors of Bury and Pilkington, with the advowson of Bury, were included in a general arrangement in 1715; ibid. bdle. 276, m. 71. The manors of Bury and Pilkington and the 'perpetual advowson, presentation, donation, and the free disposition of the church of Bury' were likewise included in a recovery of the estates of Edward, Earl of Derby, the first of the Bickerstaffe line, in 1747; Pal. of Lanc. Plea R. 567, m. 3. There were similar recoveries in 1776 and 1797; ibid. R. 623, m. 1a; Assize R. 10, Aug. Assizes, 37 Geo. III.
  • 35. Henry VI about 1440 granted to Sir John Pilkington a weekly market on Friday and two fairs of three days each at the feasts of St. George and the Nativity of Our Lady; Raines MSS. (Chet. Lib.), xxxviii, fol. 1. Edward IV seems to have confirmed or varied this grant to Thomas Pilkington; Lancs, and Ches. Rec. (Rec. Soc. Lancs, and Ches.), ii, 299. In the 17th and 18th centuries Thursday was the market day. Thomas Chetham of Nuthurst complained that having been appointed (Pin 1521) bailiffof the manors of Bury and Pilkington for eighteen years during the minority of the heir, he had exercised his office till 22 April, 'on which day yearly time out of mind hath been a fair within the said manor of Bury'; but John Greenhalgh and about six score 'misruled and riotous persons,' provided with bills, gleaves, batts, staves, swords, and bucklers, assaulted at the toll booth, commanded him 'not to be so hardy nor further to intermeddle in the said office of bailiwick,' and made a solemn cry in the fair that all should obey only the orders of John Greenhalgh, as deputy bailiff of Sir Richard Tempest; Clowes D. In 1826 the Thursday market had long been obsolete, but custom had established one on Saturday. Fairs were held on 5 March, 3 May, and 18 September; Baines, Lancs. Dir. i, 581.
  • 36. Dep. Keeper's Rep. xxxvii, App. 179; licence to Thomas Pilkington to build, fortify, and castellate a mansion within his manor of Bury. It appears to have fallen into decay very quickly, as Leland about 1535 speaks of it as a ruin; Itin. vii, 49. It 'stood in Castle croft, close to the town, on the banks of the old course of the Irwell'; Baines, Dir. i, 576. The 'old course' is represented by the boundary of the township of Elton. There is a plan in Aikin's Country Round Manchester, 269; and a description of remains found in 1864 in Trans. Hist. Soc. xx, 17–20; and see Lancs, and Ches. Antiq. Soc. xxii, 152. Some of the stones, showing the masons' marks, have been built into the walls of the volunteer drill hall.
  • 37. Baines, Dir. i, 580.
  • 38. Alan son of William de Bury is named in 1357; Duchy of Lanc. Assize R. 6, m. 1 d. James Bury, who died about 1515, had various messuages and lands in Bury, Middleton, and Tottington, held of the king as of his duchy of Lancaster by the sixth part of a knight's fee; Ralph, the son and heir, aged forty in 1521, had been an idiot from his birth, and his uncle Rawlin, brother of James, was the next heir; Duchy of Lanc. Inq. p.m. v, no. 34. Ralph died in 1539, and was succeeded by his cousin Gilbert, son of Rawlin; ibid, viii, no. 24. There is nothing to show in what part of the manor (or parish) of Bury their lands were situated.
  • 39. Henry de Bury in 1309 claimed 4 acres of land and half an acre of meadow against Robert del Bridge; De Banco R. 179, m. 206 d.; and three years afterwards the defendant called upon John son and heir of John de Heaton to warrant him; ibid. R. 195, m. 219 d. It was found that John, the heir, was a minor, and the case was adjourned till he should be of age; ibid. R. 198, m. 36 d. Geoffrey del Bridge in 1313–14 claimed common of pasture in Bury against Henry de Bury, Hugh son of Thomas de Longworth, and others; but it was shown that Geoffrey had no land except an approvement from the waste, to which common of pasture did not pertain; Assize R. 424, m. 1.
  • 40. Geoffrey son of John del Holt in 1345 purchased a messuage and lands from Henry de Broxop (Broksoppe) and Margery his wife; Final Conc, ii, 121. Robert del Holt of 'Chesum' is named in 1428–9; ibid, iii, 125. In the inquisition (1555) after the death of Robert Holt of Stubley, his lands in Bury are stated to have been held of the Crown by knight's service; Duchy of Lanc. Inq. p.m. x, no. 48. Robert Holt, his nephew and heir, who died two years later, settled a part of his land in Chesham and Bury on his wife Cecily for her life; ibid, x, no. 7. The succeeding Robert Holt, who died 1561, held his lands in Bury of the Earl of Derby in socage by a rent of 4s. 4d. for all services; ibid, xi, no. 15. John Holt of Stubley, who died in 1622, held the 'manors' of Naden and Chesham; Lancs. Inq. p.m. (Rec. Soc. Lancs, and Ches.), iii, 336. Chesham for over a century descended with Naden (and Stubley); Pal. of Lanc. Feet of F. bdle. 63, no. 177; 198, m. 92. In 1708 the manor of Chesham, with lands, houses, water-mill, horse-mill, dovecote, &c., in Chesham, Bury, Tottington, Elton, Middleton, &c., were the subject of a settlement by James Holt, Dorothy [Grantham] his wife, Vincent Grantham, and Edward Jodrell the elder; ibid. bdle. 261, m. 84.
  • 41. Captain John Allen was summoned by the heralds in 1664; Dugdale, Visit. p. v. There is a pedigree in Raines' MSS. (Chet. Lib.), xxxi, fol. 84, 85, from which it appears that John Allen had a son Richard, whose daughter Elizabeth married William Dawson of Manchester, and was the mother of James Dawson, executed for participation in the rebellion of 1745. Captain Allen's daughter Dorothy was mother of John Byrom of Kersal.
  • 42. Isabel wife of John de Wakefield in 1313–14 claimed Haslum against Henry de Bury and Richard Spacald; Assize R. 424, m. 1. Robert Nevill, son and heir of Sir Thomas,by William Bradford his guardian, complained in 1429 that Sir John Pilkington had disseised him of three messuages, 200 acres of land, &c., in Bury and Haslum, held of Sir John in socage, by the service of 1d. a year, and grinding his corn without multure at the mill of Bury. Sir John replied that the tenure was knight's service, and that Robert, being a minor, was his ward. The jury, however, found for the plaintiff; Pal. of Lane. Plea R. 2, m. 21. Adam de Haslum occurs in 1256; Final Conc. i, 120. The surname continued to be common in the district. Haslam Brow lies to the south of Bury; Haalem Hey is in Elton.
  • 43. Final Conc, iii, 102; Duchy of Lanc. Inq. p.m. xviii, no. 9. The land was called Quistondene, and was perhaps in Walmersley; there are deeds about it (1276 and 1427) in Court of Wards, Deeds and Evidences, box 153, no. 1, 7.
  • 44. Duchy Plead. (Rec. Soc. Lancs, and Ches.), ii, 239.
  • 45. Lawrence Grime of Shropshire alleged that children of intestate parents in Lancashire ought to have the clear estate divided equally among them, except an heir had been declared or some promotion or advancement had been made to some of the children during the parents' lives. The custom was denied by Oliver Grimes; Duchy of Lanc. Plead, civ, G, 8; cvii, G, 4.
  • 46. Ducatus Lanc. (Rec. Com.), iii, 325; Lancs, and Cbes. Rec. ii, 267. These disputes appear to have been renewed in the latter part of the 17th century; Raines MSS. xxxi, fol. 342–4. The will of James Greenhalgh (1524), lessee of Bury Mill, is printed in Piccope, Wills (Chet. Soc), ii, 203.
  • 47. Baines, Lancs, (ed. 1836), ii, 673.
  • 48. 9 & 10 Vict. cap. 293. The Local Government Act of 1858 was adopted between 1864 and 1870; Lond. Gaz. 16 Aug. 1864; 20 Nov. 1866; 8 July 1870. Other Improvement Acts were passed in 1872 (increasing the number of commissioners to thirty, and giving further powers) and 1882; 35 & 36 Vict. cap. 146; 45 & 46 Vict. cap. 170.
  • 49. Dated 9 Sept. 1876.
  • 50. See a former note.
  • 51. The members have almost invariably been Liberals; Pink and Beaven, Parl. Repre. of Lancs. 327–30. In the early part of last century there was a great variety of political parties—Painites, Jacobins, Rumpers, Republicans, Carlilites, and Chartists; Barton, Bury, 7. The story of the earlier elections is told in the same work, 165–91.
  • 52. Gas was made as early as 1818; Barton, Bury, 101. The gasworks, first erected by a private company formed in 1828, were purchased by the Improvement Commissioners in 1857. The streets had been lighted with gas from 1836.
  • 53. The Bury and Radcliffe Waterworks Company, formed in 1838, supplied water, but its works were acquired by the Improvement Commissioners, and passed to the corporation. The Bury and District Joint Water Board, formed in 1900, now owns the works, which have numerous reservoirs.
  • 54. Baines, Lancs, (ed. 1868), i, 522. A Market Act was passed in 1834.
  • 55. It contains the Wrigley collection of pictures, &c.
  • 56. Opened in 1894.
  • 57. The Commissioners became the burial board in 1864 (Lond. Gaz. 14 June).
  • 58. The first dispensary is said to have been due to Rector John Stanley; the present institution was founded in 1829. The hospital was built in 1882, and enlarged in 1893.
  • 59. Baines, Lancs, (ed. 1868), i, 522; Barton, Bury, 127.
  • 60. Lond. Gaz. 10 Mar. 1847.
  • 61. Ibid. 25 Jan. 1860. The original provisions as to the pews are given in Barton, Bury, 150, 152.
  • 62. For endowment see Lond. Gaz. 28 July 1863. The site was given by Lord Derby; Barton, Bury, 153, 154.
  • 63. Lond. Gaz. 6 Feb. 1866; endowments, ibid, 11 May 1866, and 30 July 1869. The schools were erected about 1849, and service was held in them from 1861; Barton, Bury, 154.
  • 64. For district see Lond. Gaz. 21 May 1867; Barton, Bury, 155.
  • 65. For district see Lond. Gaz. 11 Feb. 1873; Barton, Bury, 156.
  • 66. The Sunday school began in a room in Hudcar Mill in 1826; in 1850 a school building was erected and service was held in it; Barton, Bury, 156, 157.
  • 67. The Wesleyan Methodist chapel in Union Street was built in 1815–17; it has a burial-ground. The New Connexion had a chapel in Bury Lane in 1813; the Primitive Methodists opened a preachingroom in 1824; Baines, Lanes. Dir. i, 577. The present Primitive Methodist chapel was opened in 1866. For particulars as to the United Methodist Free Church see Barton, Bury, 159.
  • 68. That in Tenterden Street dates from 1845; that at Chesham from 1881.
  • 69. Full details are given in Nightingale, Lancs. Nonconf. iii, 185–210.
  • 70. Lancs. Noncon. iii, 182, 183; he became a Trinitarian.
  • 71. The expenses of the building are given in Raines MSS. (Chet. Lib.), xxxi, fol. 436.
  • 72. Nightingale, op. cit. iii, 178–84.
  • 73. J. Butterworth, Bury (reprint, 1902), 11.
  • 74. There was, however, a chapel about 1829; ibid. 'In 1821 there were not more than five Catholic families in the town, when mass was said once a month in the upper room of a wool warehouse. In 1834 the first resident priest was appointed'; Kelly, Engl. Cath. Mission, 111.
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