Bury Union Workhouse

In 1851, the Poor Law Board proposed the building of a joint workhouse for Bury and the adjacent Union of Rochdale which was in a similar position. In 1852, the Bury Guardians borrowed £6,000 and advertised for plans for a workhouse to accommodate 400 inmates, with a separate 60-bed hospital. In the competition for a new workhouse, seven sets of plans were submitted from six architects. Short-listed were the schemes from Holmes of Bury and Oates of York, Holmes plan being eventually accepted by 12 votes to 7. Throughout, the Guardians appear to have been difficult in the extreme. Contracts were not advertised until February 1854 and on receipt the Guardians decided to defer the decision to proceed, due to the high price of building materials. Disputes between the Guardians and Holmes continued throughout construction.

Work on the new buildings finally commenced in 1855 when a further £8,000 was borrowed. The workhouse opened on January 21st 1857, and a year later the total expenditure for the scheme had swollen to £20,481. The new workhouse was erected at Jericho, almost two miles to the east of Bury, and a height of 461 feet above sea level. The main building (now demolished) was an asymmetrical T-shape with its entrance at the east. The irregular H-shaped building at the east was probably the original workhouse infirmary.

Over the next twenty years, various additions were made including accommodation for infants in 1862, and for the insane in 1868. In 1876, a new 32-bed infectious hospital was built at the west of the site. It comprised four ward-blocks connected by a wide, open covered way, and was designed in conjunction with the Local Government Board. A contemporary report described the new wards as 'excellent in themselves and greatly in advance of anything hitherto attempted'. Additional buildings erected at the same time included a  nurses' home and mortuary.

Reference    Manchester Guardian 20 November 1852 page 9 - competition
Reference    Manchester Guardian 13 August 1853 page 9 - problems with the quality of bricks
Reference    Manchester Guardian 11 February 1854 page 11 - contracts excavation and masonry
Reference    Manchester Guardian 29 July 1854 page 11 – contracts
Reference    Manchester Guardian 24 May 1854 page 6 - decision deferred
Reference    Manchester Guardian 18 October 1855 page 4 - dispute Holmes and Guardians
Reference    Manchester Guardian 24 April 1856 page 4 - dispute Holmes and Guardians
Reference    Manchester Guardian 5 June 1856 page 4 - dispute Holmes and Guardians
Reference    Manchester Guardian Friday 23 January 1857 Page 4 - opening