Bury Poor Law Union, Lancashire

History
Bury's workhouse, also known as the Redvales workhouse, was erected in 1775 to the south of the town on the Manchester Road. Up until 1810, it was managed by the town's oveerseers, then a separate manager was appointed. In 1826, the Vestry expressed the opinion that the "workhouse in its present state is not sufficiently large to afford an opportunity of employing the inmates in useful labour nor such conveniences as are essential for the health of such an establishment." A new wing was then added at the eastern end of the building.

Township workhouses also operated on Blackburn Street at Radcliffe, on Bury Old Road to the west of Heywood, on Pot Green at Tottington Lower End, and at Elton. There was also the Pilkington worhouse on Moss Lane Whitefield which had a school.

The Bury Poor Law Union was formed on 8th February 1837. Initially, the Bury Union continued to use the old township workhouses at Bury, Radcliffe, Pilkington and Heywood. However, in 1850, Lord Derby, refused to renew leases for the Bury, Heap and Pilkington workhouses which stood on his land, saying that the Guardians had "already spent as much money as would have built a union workhouse by paying extra salaries and not having a labour test."

In 1851, the Poor Law Board proposed the building of a joint workhouse for Bury and the adjacent Union of Rochdale which was in a similar position. In 1852, the Bury Guardians borrowed £6,000 and advertised for plans for a workhouse to accommodate 400 inmates, with a separate 60-bed hospital. Work on the new buildings finally commenced in 1855 when a further £8,000 was borrowed. The workhouse opened on January 21st 1857, and a year later the total expenditure for the scheme had swollen to £20,481.

The new workhouse was erected at Jericho, almost two miles to the east of Bury.

The Union comprised the following parishes:

Ainsworth, Lancashire, Ashworth, Lancashire , Bircle, Lancashire , Bury St Mary, Lancashire , Bury St John, Lancashire , Bury St Paul, Lancashire , Edenfield, Lancashire , Elton, Lancashire, Heywood, Lancashire , Heywood St James, Lancashire , Holcombe, Lancashire Radcliffe, Lancashire , Radcliffe St Thomas, Lancashire , Ramsbottom, Lancashire , Shuttleworth, Lancashire , Tottington, Lancashire, Walmersley, Lancashire

Records
Overseer and vestry accounts, Bury, Lancashire, England, 1692-1832 Filmed by the Genealogical Society of Utah, 1948

Bury Museum + Archives, Moss Street, Bury BL9 0DR. Very limited holdings include: Guardians' minutes (1840-1930)

Manchester Archive Available at the Greater Manchester County Record Office

Admission and discharge registers (1864-7, 1871-81, 1885-6, 1897-1900, 1906-7); Creed Registers (1869-1934); Registers of burials at workhouse cemetery (1858-1946).

Web Sites
http://www.workhouses.org.uk/index.html?Bury/Bury.shtml for images, maps and history