Bury (Lancashire) Walks: A Short Gothic Church Tour

My hometown of Bury in Lancashire is often described as a 'shithole'.  Moreover, like many parts of the Western world, Bury is most definitely afflicted by its 'fair share' of imbecilic, politically-'correct' social engineering.  Thus, when I occasionally go back to Bury, I have to find other interesting things to do besides just drinking Real Ale.

So how do I transcend the assumed aesthetic shortcomings of Bury?  Well, I like to go on both long and short walks which don't have to be in the countryside to be interesting.  For example, I'll now describe a short tour of Gothic (Anglican) churches in Bury that I did recently.

First, from Bell Lane/Rochdale Old Road, I cut onto Parsonage Street to see the old St. Paul's parsonage/vicarage and church below:

The church is now a block of flats while the parsonage/vicarage might be anything, possibly a secluded residential home, but the important thing for me is that these two impressive buildings are still standing in some shape or form:

After St. Paul's, I veered a touch to the left and headed down towards Rochdale Road  to see St. Thomas' church which I was also relieved to see still standing (I'm not Anglican, but I find these churches pleasing to the eye):

Yes, for me, these church buildings have an aesthetic function, and their beautuful shapes and forms help me to feel somewhat uplifted.  However, when I lived in Bury many years ago, I was completely desensitised to their beauty, and simply didn't notice them.

From St. Thomas', I then switched right and downwards towards Holy Trinity church in the 'Heywood Street' district of town: 

Holy Trinity is an old disused Anglo-Catholic church, where me and my wife were very kindly shown round once when the church was in use.  My wife is Polish and like many 'continental Europeans', she was curious about the official religion of England.

After Holy Trinity, I carried on immediately downwards for a mile or so to get to Gigg Lane, then walked through Bury Cemetery.  After walking past row after row of graves, I got to the Manchester Road end of the cemetery, and had a quick look at the church there:

The picture above is too dark, but at least it kind of expresses the mysterious, sombre atmosphere you encounter in a cemetery.  Also, managed to put my zoom to reasonable use here:

Love the head figures and gargoyles in the bottom centre of the picture.

As I was about to leave Bury Cemetery, I couldn't help but look back into what was now the increasing darkness of what I'd just passed through.  Also got a shot of the interesting building (the cemetery record office, perhaps) at the side of the exit:

Finally, after Bury Cemetery, I turned right for a few hundred yards, and found my 'Jewel in the Crown':  St. Peter's church:

Yes, for me, this is an incredibly beautiful building, lying next to Manchester Road, and yet, hidden, sunk a little away from it all.  Also managed to put the zoom to reasonable use here:

After admiring the church's beauty, I slowly waved it goodbye:

Overall, this was an incredibly pleasant short walk which gave me some good exercise and plenty of dark Gothic imagery to savour.  Yes, whether transcendence only exists in the imagination, or really does exist in a beyond, it's worth seeking, as the meaning of life should not be reduced to such baseline things as gender or racial issues.