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 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 ...

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 population at the 2011 Census was 10,664. It lies between Radcliffe and

Prestwich Prestwich ( ) is a town in the Metropolitan Borough of Bury, Greater Manchester, England, north of Manchester, north of Salford and south of Bury. Within the boundaries of the historic county of Lancashire, Prestwich was the seat of the ...

. Besses o' th' Barn tram stop 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 c ...

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 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 ...

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 all of Greater Manchester's metropolitan boroughs except for Wigan and Bolt ...

near Junction 17.

McDonald's McDonald's Corporation, doing business as McDonald's, is an American Multinational corporation, multinational fast food chain store, chain. As of 2024, it is the second largest by number of locations in the world, behind only the Chinese ch ...

and

Aldi Aldi (German pronunciation: ), stylised as ALDI, is the common company brand name of two German multinational family-owned discount supermarket chains operating over 12,000 stores in 18 countries. The chain was founded by brothers Karl and ...

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 Gothic Revival architecture, although he designed using other architectural styles as well. He is perhaps best known for his designs ...

, stands nearby. Near the

and

used to stand a Co-op but it was knocked down in 2019 to make way for the larger

. The area is the home of

Besses o' th' Barn Band Besses o' th' Barn Band is an English Brass band (British style), 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 ...

, a

brass band A brass band is a musical ensemble generally consisting primarily of brass instruments, most often with a percussion section. Ensembles that include brass and woodwind instruments can in certain traditions also be termed brass bands (particularl ...

formed in 1818. Notable people who lived in the area include John Horsefield,

Thomas Thorp Thomas Thorpe (1569–1635) was an English publisher. Thomas Thorpe or Thorp may also refer to: * Thomas Thorpe (fl. 1404), MP for Rutland (UK Parliament constituency) * Thomas Thorpe (speaker) (died 1461), Speaker of the House of Commons in Engl ...

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