​Heritage Open Days 2020 – The Lockdown Year!

Heritage Open Days encourage venues to open their doors and allow people to visit areas that would normally be out of bounds – but this year, due to Covid-19, things are very different.

However, there are still loads of things to do in Bury next week which are not affected by lockdown – we’ve chosen a few to set you on your way…..

Bury Art Museum

Bury Art Museum have put together Creative Trail Maps for visitors to collect over the Heritage Open Days. Inside there will be nuggets of information, illustrations and space to make doodles and drawings. The Art Museum is open Thursdays, Fridays and Saturdays from noon to 4pm. People are asked to bring their own pencils and pens.

Snippets and Stories, Mortar and Mosaics: look and learn about the architecture and building history of Bury Art Museum.

Silver Street Around and About; Spirit of a Place, explore the history and urban riches in one small stretch of the Bury area.

The Irwell Sculpture Trail – Burrs Park: discovering sculptures.

https://buryartmuseum.co.uk/

Tottington Dungeon

Take a walk along Harwood Road and you will stumble across the Tottington Dungeon. A Victorian town lock-up built in 1835 and last used in 1884. The dungeon was next to the original Dungeon Inn (which is now located further up the road) and was thought to be used to incarcerate unruly drunks, and holds up to six people.

https://lancashirepast.com/2018/03/25/tottington-dungeon-bury/

Peel Tower

Sturdy shoes and a good constitution needed for a walk up to the tower. Located in a prominent position on Harcles Hill, better known as Holcombe Hill. Built in 1852, this well-known Bury landmark was erected in tribute to one of Bury’s most famous sons, Sir Robert Peel, founder of the police force and Prime Minister 1841-1846. Public subscription provided the £1,000 needed to build the tower. On a clear day the views are quite amazing. Well worth the effort to get to the top.

https://gmwalking.co.uk/walking-routes/peel-tower-holcombe-moor-and-ramsbottom/

Grants Tower

Up on the hills overlooking Ramsbottom you will come across Grants Tower. It stands at Top o’ th’ Hoof which is said to be the spot where the Grant family first looked down on the Irwell Valley in 1783 when they arrived from Scotland. After setting up a family firm they finally accrued enough money to build the tower. The opening day was a fair-like atmosphere with employees given the day off.

https://lancashirepast.com/2018/05/13/grants-tower-ramsbottom.bury/

Radcliffe Tower

Located next to Close Park, the Tower was built by the ‘de Radclyffe’ family in 1358. It was built to help defend the manorial home from attack, it was three stories high with massively thick walls. It would have been connected to a Medieval Great Hall.

https://lancashirepast.com/2016/12/01/radcliffe-tower-radcliffe-near-bury/

Auke de Vries Sculpture at Burrs Country Park

Take a walk through Bury’s beautiful country park at Burrs and you will be following part of the Irwell Sculpture Trail. The most recent sculpture is by Auke de Vries, one of Europe’s leading sculptors. It towers over the park and is a good starting point to explore this section of the Irwell Sculpture Trail.

www.irwellsculpturetrail.co.uk

The Fusilier Museum, Bury

Experience a virtual tour of The Fusilier Museum, Bury.

The Fusilier Museum is home to the collections of the XX Lancashire Fusiliers and the Royal Regiment of Fusiliers. Together they record more than 300 years of history and heritage of the people who served and continue to serve in the regiments.

The museum is made up of two main galleries – The Lancashire Fusiliers (LF) and The Royal Regiment of Fusiliers (RRF). The LF gallery tells the story of the 20th Regiment of Foot and the Lancashire Fusiliers from 1688 to 1968, when they then became part of The Royal Regiment of Fusiliers. The RRF gallery continues the story for the regiment right up to the present day with a closer look at more recent conflicts in Northern Ireland, Bosnia and Afghanistan.

The online tour is FREE and is available on the museum’s website - https://www.fusiliermuseum.com/explore/virtual-museum

St Mary’s Parish Church, Prestwich

A wonderful place of peace, nature and history. Worth taking a visit, it has one of the largest churchyards in the country, around the size of three championship sports grounds. It’s still a working burial ground with gravestones dating back to 1641: find out more by visiting their website and taking a virtual tour around sections of the church: http://Www.stmarysprestwichheritage.org

ENDS

Press release issued: 11 September 2020.