Bury [key], metropolitan borough, NE England, located in the Manchester metropolitan area on the Irwell River and linked by canal with Bolton and Manchester. A textile city since the time of Edward III, when wool weaving was introduced by the Flemings, Bury has factories for the spinning, weaving, and bleaching of cotton. Hats, paper, machines, and boilers are among its other manufactures. Robert Peel, the statesman, and John Kay, inventor of the “flying shuttle,” were born in Bury.
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