Bury Town Hall is a municipal building in Knowsley Street, Bury,

Greater Manchester Greater Manchester is a ceremonial county in North West England. It borders Lancashire to the north, Derbyshire and West Yorkshire to the east, Cheshire to the south, and Merseyside to the west. Its largest settlement is the city of Manchester. ...

, England. The town hall, which is the headquarters of

Metropolitan Borough of Bury The Metropolitan Borough of Bury is a metropolitan borough of Greater Manchester in England. It is north of Manchester, to the east of Bolton and west of Rochdale. The borough is centred around the town of Bury, Greater Manchester, Bury but also ...

, is a locally listed building.

History

Until the mid-20th century, Derby Hall on Market Street accommodated the local council offices, but was no longer fit for purpose. The new building was designed, following an architectural competition, by Reginald Edmonds in the Neo-Georgian style in the 1930s. Construction was delayed by the

Second World War World War II or the Second World War (1 September 1939 – 2 September 1945) was a World war, global conflict between two coalitions: the Allies of World War II, Allies and the Axis powers. World War II by country, Nearly all of the wo ...

and it was only officially opened by

Queen Elizabeth II Elizabeth II (Elizabeth Alexandra Mary; 21 April 19268 September 2022) was Queen of the United Kingdom and other Commonwealth realms from 6 February 1952 until Death and state funeral of Elizabeth II, her death in 2022. ...

on 22 October 1954. The design incorporated an assembly hall which became known as the Elizabethan Suite. The Whitehead Clock Tower, a memorial to

Walter Whitehead Walter Whitehead, , (12 October 1840 – 19 August 1913) was a surgeon at various hospitals in Manchester, England, and held the chair of Clinical Surgery at the Victoria University of Manchester. He was president of the British Medica ...

, a local surgeon, dedicated in June 1914 and

George Frampton Sir George James Frampton, (18 June 1860 – 21 May 1928) was a British sculptor. He was a leading member of the New Sculpture movement in his early career when he created sculptures with elements of Art Nouveau and Symbolism, often combinin ...

's 'cheering fusilier', a tribute to those soldiers who had died in the

Second Boer War The Second Boer War (, , 11 October 189931 May 1902), also known as the Boer War, Transvaal War, Anglo–Boer War, or South African War, was a conflict fought between the British Empire and the two Boer republics (the South African Republic and ...

, erected in 1920, are both structures which predate the current town hall and stand in Whitehead Garden to the south of the building. The garden itself was a gift from Sidney and Katherine Whitehead of Stormer Hill in Bury to commemorate the lives of seven people who were killed in Chapel Street by a

V-1 flying bomb The V-1 flying bomb ( "Vengeance Weapon 1") was an early cruise missile. Its official Reich Aviation Ministry () name was Fieseler Fi 103 and its suggestive name was (hellhound). It was also known to the Allies as the buzz bomb or doodlebug a ...

on 24 December 1944 during the Second World War. The town hall was the headquarters of the

County Borough of Bury Bury was a local government district centred on Bury, Greater Manchester, Bury in the northwest of England from 1846 to 1974. Under the Bury Improvement Act 1846 a board of twenty-seven improvement commissioners was formed for Bury. The Improve ...

until 1974 when it became the headquarters of the enlarged

. A three-dimensional relief of the enlarged borough's coat of arms, designed by Diana Childs, was installed in the council chamber in the mid-1970s. The

Prince of Wales Prince of Wales (, ; ) is a title traditionally given to the male heir apparent to the History of the English monarchy, English, and later, the British throne. The title originated with the Welsh rulers of Kingdom of Gwynedd, Gwynedd who, from ...

visited the town hall for a lunch meeting with the civic dignitaries on 14 December 1977. In July 1992

chose the town hall as her destination on her inaugural journey on the

Manchester Metrolink Manchester Metrolink is a tram/light rail system in Greater Manchester, England. The network has List of Manchester Metrolink tram stops, 99 stops along of standard-gauge route, making it the Transport in the United Kingdom#Trams and light ra ...

; she had lunch in the building on her arrival. The building had to be closed for weddings and other public events in July 2020 after part of the ceiling on the second floor collapsed.

References

{{Buildings and structures in Bury Government buildings completed in 1954 City and town halls in Greater Manchester Buildings and structures in Bury, Greater Manchester