Bury, United Kingdom

The most imposing building in the late medieval town would have been Bury Castle. Originally built as a timber framed moated manor house in the late 14th century, it was later rebuilt in stone and fortified, following the granting of a licence to crenellate to Sir Thomas Pilkington in 1469. 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; 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.

Between 1801 and 1830, the population of the town more than doubled from 7,072 to 15,086. This was the time when the factories, mines and foundries, with their spinning machines and steam engines, began to dominate the landscape. In 1822, Bury Savings Bank was opened on Silver Street, which was established under government control and later became Trustee Savings Bank.

Probate evidence from the 17th century and the remains of 18th-century weavers' cottages in Elton, on the west side of Bury, indicate that domestic textile production was an important factor in the local economy at a time when Bury's textile industry was dominated by woollens, and based upon the domestic production of yarn and cloth, as well as water-powered fulling mills.

Development was swift in the late 18th and early 19th centuries. The establishment in 1773 by the family of Sir Robert Peel of Brooksbottom Mill in Summerseat, north of the town, as a calico printing works marked the beginning of the cotton industry in Bury. By the early 19th century, cotton was the predominant textile industry, with the rivers Roch and Irwell providing power for spinning mills and processing water for the finishing trades. Development was further promoted when the town was linked to the national canal network by the Manchester, Bolton & Bury Canal, fully opened in 1808. The canal was provided with water from Elton Reservoir, fed by aqueducts from a weir on the Irwell, north of what is now the Burrs Country Park. The Burrs is also the site of another mill developed by the Peel family, first founded in 1790. The remains are displayed for the public. There were seven cotton mills in Bury by 1818 and the population grew from 9,152 in 1801, to 20,710 in 1841, and then to 58,029 in 1901.

Following this, railways were opened, linking the town from Bury Bolton Street to Manchester, via Prestwich and Radcliffe, to Rawtenstall and to Accrington. From Knowsley Street, there were connections to the neighbouring mill towns of Bolton, Heywood and Rochdale. As well as the many cotton mills, other industries which thrived included paper-making, calico printing and some light engineering. The town expanded to incorporate the former townships of Elton, Walmersley and Heap, and rows of terraced houses encircled the town centre by the turn of the 19th century. Districts such as Freetown, Fishpool and Pimhole were transformed from farmers' fields to rows of terraces beside the factories and mills.

The houses were of the most limited kind, without basic facilities, sewers or proper streets. The result was the rapid spread of disease and high mortality rates in crowded areas. In 1838, out of 1,058 working class houses in Bury investigated by the Manchester Statistical Society, 733 had 3–4 people in each bed, 207 had 4–5, and 76 had 5–6. Social reformers locally and nationally were concerned about such issues, including Edwin Chadwick. One report that prepared the ground for the reform of public health matters, commissioned by the prime minister Sir Robert Peel, asked local doctors for information. King Street was highlighted: it had 10 houses, each with one bedroom, and a population of 69. The average life expectancy in Bury was 13.8 years. Towns like Bury were likened to 'camps' where newcomers sought work in mill, mine or forge. Many, often from Ireland, found shelter in lodging houses. Thirty-eight in Bury were surveyed: 73% had men and women sharing beds indiscriminately, 81% were filthy and the average was 5.5 persons to a bed.