Besses o' th' Barn () is a suburb in the

Metropolitan Borough of Bury The Metropolitan Borough of Bury is a metropolitan borough of Greater Manchester in North West England, just north of Manchester, to the east of Bolton and west of Rochdale. The borough is centred around the town of Bury, Greater Manchester, Bu ...

Greater Manchester Greater Manchester is a metropolitan county and combined authority, combined authority area in North West England, with a population of 2.8 million; comprising ten metropolitan boroughs: City of Manchester, Manchester, City of Salford, Salford ...

, England. The population at the 2011 Census was 10,664. It lies between

Radcliffe Radcliffe or Radcliff may refer to: Places * Radcliffe Line, a border between India and Pakistan United Kingdom * Radcliffe, Greater Manchester ** Radcliffe Tower, the remains of a medieval manor house in the town ** Radcliffe tram stop * ...

and

Prestwich Prestwich ( ) is a town in the Metropolitan Borough of Bury, Greater Manchester, England, north of Manchester city centre, north of Salford and south of Bury. Historically part of Lancashire, Prestwich was the seat of the ancient parish o ...

Besses o' th' Barn tram stop Besses o' th' Barn is a tram stop in the suburban area of Besses o' th' Barn, Greater Manchester, England. It is on the Bury Line of Greater Manchester's light rail Metrolink system. History Although the line was built in 1879 by the Lancashi ...

is on the electrified line from

Manchester Victoria Manchester Victoria station in Manchester, England is a combined mainline railway station and Metrolink tram stop. Situated to the north of the city centre on Hunts Bank, close to Manchester Cathedral, it adjoins Manchester Arena which was ...

to Bury. The station closed for eight months for conversion to Metrolink use, re-opening on 6 April 1992. A three-layer bridge enables Bury Old Road to run under the

Manchester Metrolink Manchester Metrolink (branded locally simply as Metrolink) is a tram/ light rail system in Greater Manchester, England. The network has 99 stops along of standard-gauge route, making it the most extensive light rail system in the United Kin ...

line by the Metrolink station and over the

M60 motorway The M60 motorway, Manchester Ring Motorway or Manchester Outer Ring Road is an orbital motorway in North West England. Built over a 40-year period, it passes through most of Greater Manchester's metropolitan boroughs except for Wigan and Bol ...

near Junction 17.

McDonald's McDonald's Corporation is an American Multinational corporation, multinational fast food chain store, chain, founded in 1940 as a restaurant operated by Richard and Maurice McDonald, in San Bernardino, California, United States. They rechri ...

Aldi Aldi (stylised as ALDI) is the common company brand name of two German multinational family-owned discount supermarket chains operating over 10,000 stores in 20 countries. The chain was founded by brothers Karl and Theo Albrecht in 1946, when t ...

and the Co-op have stores on the retail park where Bury New Road and Bury Old Road cross, while Besses United Reformed Church, designed by

Alfred Waterhouse Alfred Waterhouse (19 July 1830 – 22 August 1905) was an English architect, particularly associated with the Victorian Gothic Revival architecture, although he designed using other architectural styles as well. He is perhaps best known f ...

, stands nearby. The area is the home of

Besses o' th' Barn Band Besses o' th' Barn Band is an English brass band that has been in existence in the Besses o' th' Barn area of Whitefield, Greater Manchester since at least 1818. A junior section, Besses Boys' Band, was established in 1943. Origins Besses o' t ...

, a brass band formed in 1818. Notable people who lived in the area include

John Horsefield John Horsefield (18 July 1792 – 6 March 1854) was an English handloom weaver and amateur botanist after whom the daffodil ''Narcissus'' 'Horsfieldii' is named. Horsefield had little formal schooling, and acquired most of his botanical ...

, Thomas Thorp and John Warburton. The area was also at one time the location of Whitefield Brewery.

References

External links

BBC Domesday Reloaded: Besses o' th' Barn
including an explanation of the possible origin of the area's name Geography of the Metropolitan Borough of Bury Areas of Greater Manchester {{GreaterManchester-geo-stub