Bury was formed around the ancient market place but there is evidence of activity dating back to the period of Roman occupation.

Bury Museum has a Roman urn containing a number of small bronze coins dated for AD 253–282 and found north of what is now the town centre.

The modern Watling Street, which serves the Seddons Farm estate on the west side of town, follows the approximate line of the Roman road.

The most imposing building in the early town would have been Bury Castle,[5][6] a medieval manor house built in 1469 for Sir Thomas Pilkington.

As a reward for the support of his family, Thomas Stanley was created Earl of Derby and, amongst other lands, the confiscated Pilkington estate in Bury was presented to him.

This was the time when the factories, mines and foundries, with their spinning machines and steam engines, began to dominate the landscape.

Probate evidence from the 17th century and the remains of 18th-century weavers' cottages in Elton, on the west side of Bury, indicate that domestic textile production was an important factor in the local economy at a time when Bury's textile industry was dominated by woollens, and based upon the domestic production of yarn and cloth, as well as water-powered fulling mills.

The establishment in 1773 by the family of Sir Robert Peel of Brooksbottom Mill in Summerseat, north of the town, as a calico printing works marked the beginning of the cotton industry in Bury.

By the early 19th century, cotton was the predominant textile industry, with the Rivers Roch and Irwell providing power for spinning mills and processing water for the finishing trades.

The canal was provided with water from Elton Reservoir, fed by aqueducts from a weir on the Irwell, north of what is now the Burrs Country Park.

From the Knowsley Street railway station there were connections to the neighbouring mill towns of Bolton, Heywood and Rochdale.

Districts such as Freetown, Fishpool and Pimhole were transformed from farmers' fields to rows of terraces beside the factories and mills.

One report that prepared the ground for the reform of public health matters, commissioned by the then Prime Minister, Sir Robert Peel, asked local doctors for information.

According to writer Geoffrey Moorhouse, no history of Bury is complete without reference to its role as the regimental town of the Lancashire Fusiliers.

[16] The post-war period saw a major decline in the cotton industry and, as with many neighbouring towns, Bury's skyline was soon very different, with countless factory chimneys being pulled down and the associated mills closing their doors permanently.

The old shopping area around Princess Street and Union Square was demolished in the late 1960s, and a concrete precinct was built to replace it.

On 23 November 1981, an F0/T1 tornado formed over Whitefield and subsequently moved through Bury town centre and surrounding areas.

A decision by Marks and Spencer to vacate its store in the Mill Gate Shopping Centre and move into a new larger one on The Rock emphasised a change of clientele in the town.

Large-scale housing development has taken place around Unsworth, Redvales, Sunny Bank, Brandlesholme, Limefield, Chesham and Elton.

The old railway line to Manchester Victoria closed in 1990 and was replaced by the light rapid transit system Metrolink in 1992.

[19] Bury[21] is located on the edge of the western Pennines in North West England, in the northern part of the Greater Manchester Urban Area.

Flowing from north to south, the river divides the town into two parts on the east and west sides of the valley, respectively.

[33] George Frampton's 'cheering fusilier', a tribute to those who died in the Boer War, stands in Whitehead Garden near the town hall.

Designed by William Venn Gough in 1908, it holds a number of sculpted bronze plaques by John Cassidy.

Bury Interchange opened in March 1980 close to the site of the former Knowsley Street station (which was demolished in the early 1970s).

[38] The bus station is connected to the Bury Interchange Metrolink tram stop, to provide a vast complex of inter-modal transport.

Bury gained worldwide publicity in August 2019 when the club were expelled from the Football League due to unpaid debts and poor ownership.

[42] The Met has hosted famous comedy acts such as Peter Kay, Jason Manford, Steve Coogan and Eddie Izzard in their days before fame.

The Bury Transport Museum, part of the East Lancashire Railway, holds a collection of vintage vehicles and interactive displays.

For the past two years, this battle has largely been dominated by the DJ team BABs, a brother and sister partnership from the local village of Edenfield.