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

Greater Manchester Greater Manchester is a metropolitan county and combined authority area in North West England, with a population of 2.8 million; comprising ten metropolitan boroughs: Manchester, Salford, Bolton, Bury, Oldham, Rochdale, Stockport, Tam ...

, 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 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 but also includes othe ...

, 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, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great powers—forming two opposi ...

and it was only officially opened by Queen Elizabeth II 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 Medic ...

, 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 ( af, Tweede Vryheidsoorlog, , 11 October 189931 May 1902), also known as the Boer War, the Anglo–Boer War, or the South African War, was a conflict fought between the British Empire and the two Boer Republics (the South ...

, 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 (german: Vergeltungswaffe 1 "Vengeance Weapon 1") was an early cruise missile. Its official Ministry of Aviation (Nazi Germany), Reich Aviation Ministry () designation was Fi 103. It was also known to the Allies as the buz ...

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 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 Improvement Commissioners Distric ...

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 ( cy, Tywysog Cymru, ; la, Princeps Cambriae/Walliae) is a title traditionally given to the heir apparent to the English and later British throne. Prior to the conquest by Edward I in the 13th century, it was used by the rulers ...

visited the town hall for a lunch meeting with the civic dignitaries on 14 December 1977. In July 1992 the Queen chose the town hall as her destination on her inaugural journey on 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 Ki ...

: 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