Bury Unitarian Church

The former graveyard which stands alongside the church has been grassed over and landscaped and now provides a beautiful space in the busy town centre.

Bury has won the Britain in Bloom, Large Town, category award for the last eleven years and the planting in the church gardens is part of the flower displays around the area.

Opposite the church stands the Art Gallery, Museum and Library building which was opened in 1901. It was built to house the art collection of local Unitarian, Thomas Wrigley.

The collection of over two hundred paintings was donated to the town by his three children.

Thomas Wrigley was also instrumental in bringing the railway to Bury.

The East Lancashire Railway Company, opened in 1846, connected Bury through Manchester to the national network.

Today the East Lancashire Heritage Railway is still situated at the original site just behind the church. On many weekends during the year it is possible to take a trip, on a steam train, up the valley to Rawtenstall.

Beyond the Art Gallery and Library building is the Textile Hall which was where the cotton mill owners did business in the past and is today used by the council.

Next door stands St Marie’s Catholic Church which has an unusual lantern tower and is, along with the Parish Church of St Mary, part of a triangle of churches including the Unitarian church which define the area.

Opposite the church gardens, stands the Lancashire Fusiliers Museum which was opened in 2009. This new building is very sympathetic to its surroundings and is situated to the rear of a small garden at the centre of which is a war memorial designed by
Sir Edward Lutyens.

Silver Street, which runs along the front of the church, boasts terraces of Georgian houses which now serve as offices for solicitors and accountants.

Bank Street which runs to the side of the church gardens has as its reference the former Barclays Bank Building, late Victorian in date, on the corner.

Another Georgian terrace runs the length of Bank Street.

The buildings from the Georgian terraces to the 2009 Fusiliers Museum blend well together, the area feels spacious with, at its heart, places to sit and enjoy a green oasis of lawns and mature trees.

INTRODUCTORY BOOKLET:

A FAITH WORTH THINKING ABOUT

click here for a free download

Bury Unitarian Church
1 Bank Street
Bury
Lancashire
BL9 0DN

Tel: 0161 761 3785

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