A HISTORY OF LANCASHIRE 



part of the same century. 44 There were also disputes 

 as to the mills. 45 



The township was formerly governed 

 BOROUGH by the constables appointed at the 

 manor court at Whitsuntide. 46 In 

 1846, however, the inhabitants obtained an Improve- 

 ment Act, under which the 

 ^* /ff\ government was entrusted to 

 | ^/yiU twenty-seven commissioners 

 elected by the ratepayers ; 47 

 and after thirty years a royal 

 charter was granted incorpo- 

 rating a borough. 48 The 

 council consists of a mayor, ten 

 aldermen, and thirty council- 

 lors. The area, more exten 

 sive than the old township, 4 " 

 is divided into five wards 

 Church, Redvales, East, Moor- 

 side, and Elton, each electing 

 six councillors. Bury became 

 a parliamentary borough on 

 the passing of the Reform Act 

 of 1 8 3 2 ; it returns one mem- 

 ber. 50 The municipal and 

 parliamentary boroughs are conterminous. Bury 

 became a county borough in 1888. A coat of arms 

 was granted in 1877. 



Gas 51 and water" 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 i867, 53 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 



BOROUGH OF BURY. 

 Quarterly argent and azure 

 a cross double parted, fret- 

 ted and counter changed be- 

 tween, in the fir it quarter 

 an anvil sable, in the second 

 a fleece or, in the third t-wo 

 shuttles crossed saltirewise 

 of the fourth, and in the 

 fourth quarter a papyrus 

 plant proper. 



provided baths, recreation grounds, art gallery, 54 

 library, and technical schools, 55 fire brigade, 

 abattoirs, a cemetery, opened in i866-9, 56 and an 

 infectious diseases hospital. The Bury Hospital and 

 Dispensary are due to private benevolence. 57 



The Athenaeum, began in 1836 as a mechanics' in- 

 stitution, was built in 1850 ; it has a library, reading 

 and other rooms, and a large hall for meetings. 58 



Bury County Court district was formed in 1 847- 89 



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 i86o. 60 St. Paul's, built in 1841, had a 

 district assigned two years later. 61 Holy Trinity, 

 opened in 1863, had also to wait two years for a 

 legal district. 6 * St. Thomas's was built by Thomas 

 Openshaw, a local benefactor, in i866, M St. Peter's, 

 Redvales, in 1872," and St. Mark's, Freetown, in 

 l883- 65 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 

 1 7 74, 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 I862. 66 



The Baptists have three churches. 67 



The Congregationalists began services about 1 790, 

 the first chapel, now known as New Road Chapel, 

 being opened in 1793 ; it was rebuilt in 18845. 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 1 807, 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 i888. 63 



There are also a Welsh Calvinistic Methodist 



44 Lawrence Grime of Shropshire al- 

 leged 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 promo- 

 tion or advancement had been made to 

 some of the children during the parents' 

 lives. The custom was denied by Oliver 

 Grimes ; Duchy of Lane. Plead, civ, G, 

 8 ; cvii, G, 4. 



4& Ducatus Lane. (Rec. Com.), iii, 325 ; 

 Lanes, and Cbes. Rec. ii, 267. These dis- 

 putes appear to have been renewed in the 

 latter part of the I7th 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. 



46 Baines, Lanes, (ed. 1836), ii, 673. 



4 ? 9 & 10 Viet. cap. 293. The Local 

 Government Act of 1858 was adopted 

 Between 1864 and 1870; Land. Gaz. 

 *6 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 Viet. cap. 

 146 ; 45 & 46 Viet. cap. 170. 



^ 8 Dated 9 Sept. 1876. 



* 9 See a former note. 



50 The members have almost invariably 

 1>een Liberals ; Pink and Beaven, Par/. 

 Rep re. of Lanes. 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. 



61 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 Improve- 

 ment Commissioners in 1857. The 

 streets had been lighted with gas from 

 1836. 



5a The Bury and Radcliffe Waterworks 

 Company, formed in 1838, supplied water, 

 but its works were acquired by the Im- 

 provement Commissioners, and passed to 

 the corporation. The Bury and District 

 Joint Water Board, formed in 1900, now 

 owns the works, which have numerous 

 reservoirs. 



58 Baines, Lanes, (ed. 1868), i, 522. A 

 Market Act was passed in 1834. 



54 It contains the Wrigley collection of 

 pictures, &c. 



55 Opened in 1894. 



56 The Commissioners became the 

 burial board in 1864 (Lond. Gaz. 14 June). 



57 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 en- 

 larged in 1893. 



58 Baines, Lanes, (ed. 1868), i, 522; 

 Barton, Bury, 127. 



132 



89 Lond. Gaz. 10 Mar. 1847. 



60 Ibid. 25 Jan. 1860. The original 

 provisions as to the pews are given in 

 Barton, Bury, 150, 152. 



61 For endowment see Lond. Gaz. 

 28 July 1863. The site was given by 

 Lord Derby; Barton, Bury, 153, 154. 



M Lond. Gaz. 6 Feb. 1866; endow- 

 ments, ibid, ii May 1866, and 30 July 

 1869. The schools were erected about 

 1 849, and service was held in them from 

 1 86 1 ; Barton, Bury, 154. 



63 For district see Lond. Gaz. 21 May 

 1867 ; Barton, Bury, 155. 



64 For district see Lond. Gaz. 1 1 Feb. 

 1873 ; Barton, Bury, 156. 



65 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. 



66 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 preaching- 

 room 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. 



*7 That in Tenterden Street dates from 

 1845 ; that at Chesham from 1881. 



68 Full details are given in Nightingale, 

 Lanes. Nonconf. iii, 185-210. 



