Prestwich
Prestwich is a Town and community to the North of Manchester, part of the Metropolitan Borough of Bury.
Historially the earliest references to Prestwich date back to 1194. Over the years several smaller communities have been linked together by housebuilding, some of their names survive today like Rainsough and Sedgley. The heart of Prestwich is still know as “The Village”. Simister retains its vilage identity and is the closest village to Manchester City Centre.
For many years many different communities and faiths have lived side by side in Prestwich. Britains largest Jewish community outside of London is in Prestwich, Higher Broughton and Whitefield, and the area also has strong Christian and Muslim communities. It is known that there was a rector of Prestwich as early as 1200 and the Parish Church of St Mary’s dates back to before 1500.
Prestwich is lucky to be surrounded by parkland. Immediately to the east is Manchester’s Heaton Park; early in the 20th century Prestwich bought the Clough to be a parkland for local people; and to the west we have the extensive open land of Phillips Park and Drinkwater Park down to the Irwell Valley. We have excellent transport links with the Metrolink to Bury and Manchester our proximity to the M60, M62 and M66 motorways.
In 1848 Lancashire County Council established one of its three “Lunatic Asylums” in Prestwich - still here in the more appropriate name of Prestwich Hosital, and in 1861 the railway arrived linking the area to Manchester and Bury with stations at Heaton Park and Prestwich - and later Bowker Vale.
Prestwich was made an Urban District Council in 1894, and a Borough in 1939. This means that it had its own elected Council. Latterly the Town Hall was on Scholes Lane (its now a set of apartments). In 1974 Prestwich became a part of the Metropolitan Borough of Bury. In the late 1990s a Prestwich Area Board was established by Bury Council, more recenlty this has become the Prestwich Local Area Partnership.
If you’re interested in local history these sites have some useful starting points.
- Prestwich’s Wikipedia Site
- Genuki’s family hisotry site
- Bleasedale’s historial links page.
Our area is part of the Metropolitan Borough of Bury. This is one of ten boroughs that make up Greater Manchester. The borough was created in 1972 when local councils were reorganised and six towns (Bury, Ramsbottom, Tottington, Radcliffe, Whitefield and Prestwich) came together to form one Metropolitan Borough.
More information about Bury is available from the Bury Council website and this has links to other local services, organisations and groups. Clickhere for Bury’s Wikepedia (online encyclopedia) page. News and information can be found on from local papers and websites: e.g. Bury Times or AskBury.
Prestwich Local Area Partnership
Many of the organisations who work within Prestwich have come together to form the Prestwich Area Partnership. This brings together your local Councillors, key partners like the local police, NHS, schools and council staff, together with reps from community, residents and young people’s groups.
More information about the work of Prestwich Area Partnership can be found here. Carran O’Grady is a Bury Councils staff member who works full-time on the Partnership, based at the Library. Her email isC.O’Grady@bury.gov.uk Any member of public can come along to a meeting of Prestwich Area Partnership - the dates are publicised in the local press.
More informaiton / Get Involved
Prestwich has a wide range of community organisations and groups. This includes sports, faith based, young people’s, arts and campaigning organisations. Bury Council’s website has a special page where you can search a directory of community organisations and groups. There is also a calendar listing of “what’s on” in Prestwich.
Our local newspapers - the Prestwich and Whitefield Guide and thePrestwich Advertiser have up to date news about the area.