East Lancashire is a region scattered with isolated towns and bleak moorland. A canal linking the busy town of Bury (population in 1841 - 25,000) with Manchester had been opened in 1796 . Principal products of the town were based on the wool and cotton industry. The Manchester, Bolton & Bury Canal Navigation & Railway was incorporated in 1831, to link the two towns with Manchester by Railway via the Liverpool & Manchester Railway but it never made it as far as Bury and it wasn't until 1844 that a new scheme to link Bury to Manchester by Railway was put forward. The Manchester, Bury & Rossendale Railway left the line to Bolton at Clifton and headed north through Bury and on to Rawtenstall.
Meanwhile in 1841, a 1.5 mile branch line off the Manchester & Leeds Railway at Castleton had arrived at Heywood, four miles to the east of Bury. This was built without Parliamentary sanction and it was 1848 before the railway was extended to Bury after such powers to purchase the land had been received. The line joined end on to a new line that had arrived from Bolton, the Liverpool & Bury Line, which opened that same year.
In 1879 a shorter, more direct line from Manchester was opened that joined the MBRR line to Bury at Radcliffe. The population of Bury grew until in 1901 it was 58,000 and whereas other East Lancashire towns have seen reductions in size as the cotton industry declined, Bury was to remain around that figure. The 1991 census putting it at 62,633.
In the 1960's the railways went into terminal decline that electrification could not stop and the line north to Rawtenstall was taken over by steam enthusuasts to form the East Lancashire Railway, based upon the original Bury station - Bolton Street. More recently, the 1879 line was taken over by the Manchester Metro Link modern tram system.
Bury F.C. formed in 1885 following a public meeting and moved straight into their present ground, Gigg Lane. After a few seasons playing local games, they became founder members of the Lancashire League. After some success in this League, in 1894 they moved up to the Football League, joining Division Two and soon became a powerful force in English Football quickly moving up to Division One and winning the F.A. Cup in both 1900 and 1903. Since then the club have not been able to repeat such success. In recent times, the club has suffered several bouts of financial problems and was put up for sale and then placed into administration. Only a huge campaign by the fans has saved the club although they now find themselves in the League's bottom division.
Under manager Graham Barrow, who was appointed at the start of this year, Bury are currently in mid-table position after a rather up and down season. A 1-5 defeat to Grimsby has been turned around to wins 3-0 against Rochdale and 4-0 against Kidderminster. Last tuesday saw the Shakers lose to near neighbours Stockport County 1-3, having two players and their manager sent off the field in the process. David Nugent is currently this season's top scorer for the Shakers with six goals in all competitions with Dwayne Mattis on four.
Mike Sheron spent a loan period at Gigg Lane, early in his career, when he still had hair and played in seven games and scored one goal. Of course David Flitcroft is currently with Bury, following his departure from Macc Town. So expect to see some crunching tackles and long range efforts from the Bolton born midfielder.
For all the stats see the FootyMAD analysis in the MAD Specials section on the left.