BURY, municipal county and parliamentary borough, Lanca shire, England, on the River Irwell, IoZm. N. by W. of Man chester, on the L.M.S. railway and the Manchester and Bolton canal. Pop. (1931) 56,186. Bury, of which the name is derived from the Anglo-Saxon burhg, birig or byrig (town, castle or for tified place), was the site of a Saxon station, and an old English castle stood in Castle Croft close to the town. It was a member of the Honour of Clitheroe and a fee of the royal manor of Tottington, which soon after the Conquest was held by the Lacvs. The church of St. Mary is an early foundation, mention of a church being made in Domesday. The present building dates from 1876. One half of the town is glebe belonging to the rectory.
Under a grant made by Edward IV. to Sir Thomas Pilkington, fairs are still held on March 5, May 3, and Sept. 18, and a market, formerly held under the same grant on Thursday, is now held on Saturday. The woollen trade was established here through the agency of Flemish immigrants in the reign of Edward III., and in Elizabeth's time this industry was of such importance that an aulneger was appointed to measure and stamp the woollen cloth. But although the woollen manufacture is still carried on, the cotton trade has been gradually superseding it since the early part of the i8th century. The family of the Kays, the inventors, be longed to this place, and Robert Peel's print-works were estab lished here in 177o. The cognate industries of calico printing, dyeing and bleaching are carried on, and there are iron foundries and machinery works. Kay's free grammar school was founded in 1726. An important business experiment established the well known Bury Co-operative Society in 1856.
Until 1846 the town was governed by three constables chosen annually at the court leet. A charter of incorporation was granted in 1876, and the county borough created in 1888. The corporation consists of a mayor, ten aldermen and 3o councillors. Bury, to gether with the urban district of Tottington, returns one member to Parliament. Area of borough 5,925 acres.