Crumbs from the Table

Bury is a market and former mill town in the historic county of Lancashire. It now comes under "Greater Manchester" and is situated to the north west of the metropolis, about 30 minutes drive by car from the city centre.  Bury's origins go back to before 1066. The name, originally Bury, Buri, or Byri, is a Saxon name meaning “a stronghold.”  Bury Castle manor house was built in 1469 by Sir Thomas Pilkington; its ruins near the parish church are a minor tourist feature.   Up until the 1700s, the town was served by a single parish church. The first non-conformist Christian place of worship was established in the town in 1719: what was the Presbyterian church on Silver Street (now a Unitarian Chapel). A second Church of England place of worship, St. John's church, was established in 1770. (The town is now served by about 30 Christian churches, 8 mosques, and a synagogue.)  The industrial revolution took hold in Bury from 1773 with calico printing works set up by th...

In 1830, at the time of Belgian independence, the city of Brussels was confined to the historic "pentagon", circumscribed by the old city ramparts which were dismantled between 1812 and 1840, and replaced by wide Parisian-style boulevards. (See also History of Brussels - part 1 )  In 1853, the city expanded beyond the "pentagon" to include Schaerbeek, Etterbeek (part), and Saint-Josse-ten-Noode - what became the Leopold Quarter, and the Quarter of the Squares. In 1864, the city expanded southwards to encompass what became Avenue Louise and Bois de la Cambre. In 1907, the "Jardin du Roi" and "Abbaye de la Cambre" were added (see map below).  King Leopold II, who reigned 1865 to 1909, oversaw the transformation of Brussels into a major European city with a population of 600 thousand in 1900.    In 1871, the river Senne was covered, and later diverted. To the east of the historic centre, the Parc du Cinquaintenaire (1880) straddled the eastern edge ...

The earliest settlement of what is now Brussels goes back to the year 580 and the island (Saint-Géry island) between two branches of the river Senne which ran through Brussels, on which Gaugericus (Géry), Christian bishop of Cambrai, built a chapel (Saint-Géry Chapel), which remained the oldest place of worship in the city until the building was demolished in the 1790s. (See also  History of Brussels - part 2 ) Brussels is mentioned in the historical record again in 695.  In the year 979, Lambert the Duke of Louvain, fortified the settlement on Saint-Géry Island - this is the traditional date of the founding of Brussels. What is now the Cathedral of Saints Michael and Gudula dates back to a parish church in 1047. In the 1100s, the Dukes of Brabant transformed the fortress on Saint-Géry Island into a inhabitable castle. The city was enclosed by the first city walls ( première enceinte - see shaded region on map to the right) in the 1200s. Brussels had developed into a subs...