GREAT BOLTON
Bothelton, 1212; Botelton, 1257; Boulton, 1288,
and common; Bolton, 1307, and common.
This township, (fn. 1) which contains the parish church
and about half the town of Bolton-le-Moors, has an
area of 825½ acres, (fn. 2) and is bounded on the north
and east by the River Croal, flowing east and southeast to join the Irwell. The surface is comparatively
level, though rising towards the south-west, except for
the clough or steep-banked valley through which
the Croal flows. The population, including that of
Haulgh, in 1901 was 53,506.
Formerly the south-western part of the township
was occupied by the moor, and the first habitations
sprang up along the course of the stream, the church
standing above it at the point where its course changed
from east to south. There were two noted wells, the
memory of which is preserved in Silverwell Street and
Spa Road. (fn. 3) From the church the road from Little
Bolton leads westward by Church Bank, Church Gate,
and Deansgate, from which the roads to Chorley and
Deane branched off. This main street is crossed,
about 200 yards from the church, by the road from
Manchester leading north by Bradshaw Gate and
Bank Street into Little Bolton. At their crossing was
the old market-place, (fn. 4) with its cross. From Deansgate Bridge Street leads northward across the Croal,
and in 1874–7 another high level road across was
formed, further west, and called Marsden Street. The
new market-place, 1824, more recently called Town
Hall Square and Victoria Square, is to the south of
Deansgate. (fn. 5) Here stands the new Town Hall, and
close at hand are the markets and other municipal buildings. From the west end of Deansgate, Moor Lane
leads south, and branches out west and south-west as
Deane Road and Derby Street. To the west of Moor
Lane are the districts called Bullfield, Gilnow, and
Pocket. From the junction of Moor Lane and Derby
Street, Weston Street and Great Moor Street lead
north-east to Bradshaw Gate, and Crook Street and
Trinity Street (fn. 6) eastward across the railway station to
the bridge over the Croal, leading into Haulgh. To
the south of Crook Street were the Lecturer's Closes,
now chiefly occupied by a goods station. Rosehill
lies to the south-east of the town, by the river.
Trinity Street Station of the Lancashire and Yorkshire Railway Company has been mentioned; it was
opened in 1871. From it runs south the line to
Manchester, with a branch to Bury through Rosehill; to the north and west the lines to Preston and
Liverpool, with a branch turning north-west by the
church to Blackburn. The London and North Western Company has a terminus in Great Moor Street;
from this its lines run south to Worsley and Manchester, with a westward branch to Kenyon. (fn. 7)
Apart from the municipal buildings and churches
the most noticeable are the Spinners Hall, theatre,
Conservative Club, and infirmary. Near the southern
boundary is a recreation ground; close by is the Pike.
Bolton Park, opened in 1866, though on the north
bank of the Croal, is mostly within Great Bolton;
there is a recreation ground on the opposite or south
bank. The infirmary adjoins the park. (fn. 8)
Digging sea coal at Bolton is named in 1374. (fn. 8a)
The woollen manufacture and other handicrafts
seem there to have found a home early. Leland,
about 1536, says:—'Bolton-upon-Moor market
standeth most by cottons and coarse yarn. Divers
villages in the moors about Bolton do make cottons
[woollens]. Neither the site nor ground about Bolton
is so good as it is about Bury. They burn at Bolton
some cannel, but more sea coal, of which the pits be
not far off. They burn turf also.' (fn. 9) A deputy
aulnager was ordered to be appointed at Bolton in
1566, (fn. 10) and the town appears to have prospered.
In religion, though some few of the neighbouring
gentry remained attached to the ancient faith, the
people of Bolton soon became Protestant and inclined
to the extreme party, so that in the 17th century the
town was regarded as the Geneva of Lancashire. (fn. 11)
During the Civil War, therefore, it naturally took
sides against the king, giving assistance to Sir John
Seaton, and suffered three different assaults from the
Royalists. The first took place on 16 February
1642–3, when Colonel Assheton and his force, to the
number of 500, were attacked by Lord Derby's forces
from Wigan, by way of Bradshaw Gate. The outworks were taken, but the protection of a mud wall
and chain sufficed for the defenders; though gallantly
attacked again and again for four hours, they succeeded
in driving off the Royalists, who returned to Wigan. (fn. 12)
A year later a second attack was made. On the
evening of 28 March 1644, Lord Derby, after summoning the town to surrender, made two assaults, but
his men were each time compelled to retire. Two
months later, 27 May, Prince Rupert and Lord
Derby, with an army of 10,000 men or more,
attacked the town, defended by Colonel Rigby, who
had withdrawn his troops from Lathom. The first
assault was repulsed with loss; but Lord Derby, eager
to avenge the long siege of Lathom, led a second attack
at the head of a body of picked men, while Prince
Rupert attacked the town from another side. The
defenders were outmatched and the town was taken,
Colonel Rigby flying into Yorkshire. The Royalists
were said to have used their advantage with great
cruelty, refusing quarter (fn. 13) and desolating the town.
It was on this account that the Earl of Derby's execution in 1651 was ordered to trke place at Bolton.
He was accordingly beheaded there on a scaffold
erected by the market cross. The people of the town
appear to have sympathized with him, and a tumult
had to be forcibly quelled by the soldiery. (fn. 14)
The Man and Scythe Inn, the house where the
earl is said to have rested a little before his execution, still stands on the south side of Church Gate,
near the old market-place: a low two-story building
with modern blue-slated roof, substantially the same
as when rebuilt in 1638, though in some degree
modernized and repaired. The date of rebuilding,
together with the initials A.W., occurs on a stone over
the old kitchen fireplace. Two relics of the earl are
preserved in the house—a triangular-seated chair on
which, according to a brass plate on the back, the
earl sat 'immediately prior to his execution,' and a
two-handled tankard out of which he is said to have
drunk, which also bears an inscription.
The cotton manufacture is said to have been introduced about 1650. Bolton soon revived, (fn. 15) and in
1673 was thus described:—'Seated on the River
Irwell, a fair, well-built town, with broad streets,
hath a market on Mondays, which is very good for
clothing and provisions; and it is a place of great
trade for fustians.' (fn. 16) Some Protestant artisans, driven
from France by Louis XIV, are said to have settled
in Bolton in 1685, to the advantage of its manufactures. (fn. 17) It was not directly affected by the Jacobite
risings of 1715 and 1745. The people were rude
and violent, (fn. 18) and the 'barbarous customs' of the
place were noticed at the beginning of last century. (fn. 19)
The improvement that had then taken place was
attributed to the rise of the Sunday school, for in a
place where even young children worked all the week
round, Sunday was the only day for teaching. These
schools began about 1770, that of the Wesleyans
being famous. There were numerous charitable institutions, the dispensary being established in 1814.
The Mechanics' Institution was founded in 1825.
By that time the outward aspect of the town had also
improved, the inclosure of the moor in 1792 enabling
a great advance to be made. Horse-racing (fn. 20) and cockfighting were among the amusements. In 1793 and
1794 companies of Marines and Infantry Volunteers
were raised in view of the national dangers. (fn. 21) The
later volunteer movement readily found a response in
the town, a company being formed in 1859—largely
multiplied since then. (fn. 22)
The trade of the town continued to make advances in
spite of occasional years of adversity. Dr. Aikin in
1795 wrote: 'This original seat of the cotton trade
is still the centre of the manufacture of ornamental or
fancy goods. It is only by emigrants from this place
that any branches of this trade have been transplanted
elsewhere; but the most ingenious part of the workmanship still remains rooted as it were to the soil,
and flourishes even amidst present discouragements so
far that the poor suffer less here than in any of the
surrounding districts. The muslin trade is that which
seems to answer best at present. Since the opposition
of the populace to the use of machines for shortening
labour has been quelled by convincing them of their
utility, spinning factories have been erected throughout all the surrounding country, especially where water
is plentiful. The streams near Bolton are too near
sources to furnish the water that large works require;
there are few, therefore, in the neighbourhood of the
larger kind, though several of the smaller. Much
water is also occupied by the bleachers, who have
extensive crofts here. . . . The want of water in
this district is made up by the ingenious invention of
the machines called mules, or Hall-in-the-Wood
wheels,' by Samuel Crompton. Sir Richard Arkwright, another great inventor, was for a time a
barber in Church Gate, and there devised his
improvements. (fn. 23)
In 1807 Bolton was described as 'noted for its
medicinal waters, and more so for its manufactures of
fustians and counterpanes, dimities and muslins. . . .
It stands amid dreary moors. . . . Market on Monday.' (fn. 24)
Cotton-spinning and the various branches of the
manufacture, together with bleaching works, have
continued to prosper. Bolton Exchange was opened
in 1829. The Bolton and Manchester Canal, for
which an Act was obtained in 1791, helped in the
development, as did the railways, already projected in
1825, and opened in 1828 and later years. At present, in addition to the many great cotton factories
there are in Great Bolton important iron and steel
works and machine factories, where boilers, steam
engines, &c., are made; also breweries, saw-mills,
leather works, and other industries.
The market is now open daily, but Monday remains one of the chief days for business. A number
of fairs are held; the old fair in July is kept up on
the last Wednesday in that month and the following
day; another is held on the second Wednesday and
Thursday in October; the dates of these were in
1824 31 July and 14 October, a cattle fair being
held on the preceding days.
Beyond the fragments of crosses in the church,
there are no remains of any great antiquity in the
town. The market cross was removed in 1786. The
pillory was last used in 1818. (fn. 25)
A printing press is said to have existed as early as
1761. (fn. 26) The first newspaper, the Bolion Herald, was
established in 1813. (fn. 27) At present there are two daily
evening papers, the Chronicle and Evening News; the
former, founded in 1870, has a larger Saturday issue,
and the latter (1887) also has one called the Journal and
Guardian. The Cricket and Football Field is printed at
Bolton, and there is a monthly paper, the British
Skeaf.
Prince Albert visited some local mills in 1851, and
King Edward VII, when Prince of Wales, opened the
new town hall in 1873.
A statue of Samuel Crompton stands in Nelson
Square, and one of Dr. Chadwick in Victoria
Square.
Among the minor events in the town's history may
be mentioned the activities of the Resurrection men
about 1829; (fn. 28) appearances of the plague in 1623,
cholera in 1832 and 1848–9, and typhus in 1847;
the Murphy No-Popery riots of 1868; the antiRepublican riot of 1871; and the municipal scandal
of 1875.
'Jannock,' a word of approval, is said to have been
the name of the oat bread which was at one time the
universal diet of the Bolton artisans.
Manor
Owing to the paucity of records it is
impossible to give a full account of the
descent of the manor of BOLTON. This
formed part of the fee of the Marsey family, (fn. 29) as is
shown by the descent of the
advowson of the church, and
so passed to Ranulf, Earl of
Chester, and his heirs the
Ferrers, Earls of Derby. (fn. 30) On
the forfeiture of the latter in
1266 Bolton escaped, having
been granted by Robert de
Ferrers to his brother William, (fn. 31) after whose death in
1287 it was found to be held
of Edmund, Earl of Lancaster,
by doing suit to Salford Wapentake court from three weeks
to three weeks and to the county court from six
weeks to six weeks. (fn. 32) In the time of Henry VIII
Bolton did suit to Penwortham. (fn. 33)
Ferrers, Earl of Derby. Vairy or and gules.
Shortly after 1287, but by what title is unknown,
the manor was held by Margaret, sister of Sir Robert
de Holland, and on her death divided among her four
daughters and heirs. (fn. 34) The
eldest, Alice, married Sir Robert de Shireburne, and the
fourth part assigned to her descended with the Shireburne
estates (fn. 35) till 1632, when it
was sold by Richard son of
Richard Shireburne and Elizabeth his wife, to Roger Lever, (fn. 36)
descending in this family till
the end of the 18th century. (fn. 37)
Shireburne. Argent a lion rampant vert.
The second daughter, Agnes, was twice married,
but appears to have had no children; and in 1336
as a widow, she settled her
share of the manor upon the
children of her sister Katherine. (fn. 38)
The third daughter, Joan,
married Sir Thomas de Arderne, and had issue; but the
fourth part, which should have
descended to the heirs of this
family, seems to have been recovered about 1360 by the
heir of the above-named William de Ferrers, (fn. 39) and descended in the line of Ferrers of Groby till the
attainder of Thomas, Marquess of Dorset, in 1483. (fn. 40)
It was in 14.84 given to the Stanleys, afterwards Earls
of Derby, and has since descended with the earldom. (fn. 41)
Ferrers of Groby. Gules seven mascles conjoined or.
The fourth daughter, Katherine, married Sir John
de Harrington of Farleton in Lonsdale, and had three
sons—Thomas, Robert, and Nicholas; (fn. 42) the inheritance, doubled by the gift of Agnes, descended with
the issue of Nicholas to Sir Thomas Harrington and
his son Sir John, both killed at the battle of Wakefield in 1460. (fn. 43) The moiety of the manor of Bolton
was secured for himself by Sir Edward Stanley, created
Lord Mounteagle, who married Anne, one of Sir John
Harrington's daughters; (fn. 44) and it descended through
his son by a second marriage to William, Lord Mounteagle, who in 1574 sold it to William Slinehead and
Ellis Ainsworth. (fn. 45)
The estate was then divided. Ralph Assheton of
Great Lever in 1588 died seised of a fourth part of
the manor, (fn. 46) and his descendant, Sir Ralph Assheton,
sold it in 1630 to John Bridgeman, Bishop of Chester, (fn. 47) with whose descendant, the Earl of Bradford, this
part of the manor still remains.
From Ellis Ainsworth the remaining fourth part
seems to have passed by the marriage of Jane Ainsworth to Ellis Hey of Monks Hall in Eccles, (fn. 48) and
their descendant, another Ellis Hey, in 1658 sold it
to Henry Houghton, (fn. 49) after which it cannot be clearly
traced. (fn. 50)
At the present time the Earl of Derby and the
Earl of Bradford are said to hold each a fourth part of
the manor; the holders of the remainder are not
known.
Stanley, Earl of Derby. Argent on a bend azure three harts' heads caboshed or.
Bridgeman, Earl of Bradford. Sable ten plates, on a chief argent a lion passant ermines.
Many of the surrounding landowners have held burgages and lands in Great Bolton from an early period, (fn. 51)
and the names of other owners occur in various pleadings and charters. (fn. 52) Among the more noteworthy of
these were a branch of the Norris family of Tonge. (fn. 53)
The returns of 'Papists' estates' in the time of
George I include the name of Cope Brooks of Bolton. (fn. 54)
There was a case of treasure trove in 1560. (fn. 55)
The distinction between the trades of tanners and
leather-dressers was insisted upon in 1445. (fn. 56)
Richard Rothwell, a Puritan exorcist of the beginning of the 17th century, is said to have been a native
of Bolton.
Borough
At the beginning of 1253 William
de Ferrers, Earl of Derby, then lord of
Bolton, by his charter made the town
a free borough, and granted the burgesses certain
liberties. Each burgess was to have an acre of land,
measured by the long perch of 24 ft., and to pay 12d.
a year. A reeve was to be chosen each year by the
burgesses from among themselves, and pleas were to
be heard in the local halmote or portmanmote. The
burgesses had rights of turbary, and might take timber
from the grove between the great lane and the land
of the church; they were to grind at the lord's mill
to the twentieth measure, but if they were kept waiting more than two days might take their corn elsewhere. All pleas belonging to the borough were to
be decided before the lord's bailiffs by view of the
burgesses. (fn. 58) The earl had in December 1251 procured the king's charter for a market at Bolton every
Monday, and a yearly fair on the eve, day, and
morrow of St. Margaret, 19–21 July, as well as for
free warren. (fn. 59)
The borough (fn. 60) did not develop into an independent community, but, like Manchester, was governed
by officers appointed at the manor courts. (fn. 61) The
growth of the town during the 18th century made a
change desirable. In 1792 an Act was passed for the
inclosure and allotment of Bolton Moor, for regulating the streets, securing a water supply, removing
nuisances, and licensing conveyances. (fn. 62) The Commissioners under the Act had thus considerable powers
of government; and a voluntary association for watching the town existed for some years. (fn. 63) In 1838 a
charter of incorporation was granted under the general
Act of 1835, the townships of Great and Little Bolton,
with some alteration of boundaries, becoming the
borough of Bolton. (fn. 64) A considerable party in the
district, preferring the older order, protested that the
charter was invalid, until the Boroughs Incorporation
Act of 1842 confirmed it. (fn. 65) The borough was at
first divided into six wards—Exchange, Bradford,
Derby, Church, East, and West—each with two
aldermen and six councillors. In 1839 magistrates
were appointed for the borough, and a court of
quarter sessions was granted. A number of improvement Acts have been passed; by that of 1847 the
waterworks, formed by a private company in 1818, (fn. 66)
were purchased, and have since been greatly enlarged;
the gasworks, also owned by a private company
formed in 1818–20, were acquired in 1872. (fn. 67) Electric
lighting works were opened in 1894. Under an Act
of 1850 the powers of the Great Bolton and Little
Bolton Trusts (fn. 68) were transferred to the corporation,
and the erection of a market was authorized; this was
opened in 1855, and enlarged in 1894; a fish market
was added in 1865, and a wholesale market in 1871. (fn. 69)
A free library was inaugurated in 1853, (fn. 70) and this has
constantly grown; a natural history museum building, the gift of Dr. S. T. Chadwick, was opened in
1884; the Mere Hall art museum was presented by
Mr. J. P. Thomasson in 1890, and Halli' th'Wood by
Mr. W. H. Lever in 1899. The baths were opened
in 1846, and have been enlarged since. Parks and
recreation grounds have been added, and a large part
of Rivington has recently been presented to the town
by Mr. W. H. Lever.
For a long time the council used the Little Bolton
Town Hall, built in 1826, for its meetings; but in
1873 the new Town Hall was opneed. (fn. 71) At the
same time the council was enlarged; in the preceding
year Daubhill had been taken into the borough as
Rumworth Ward, and in 1873 the wards were increased to eight, by constituting a portion of West
Ward into an independent one, called North Ward;
and the boundaries were rearranged. The two new
wards had an alderman and three councillors each. (fn. 72)
In 1877 the boundaries were again enlarged, part of
Halliwell being included as a ninth ward, with two
aldermen and six councillors. (fn. 73) Twelve years later
the town became a county borough under the Local
Government Act, and in 1898 a further extension of
boundaries took place, so that the municipal borough
now includes the old townships of Great and Little
Bolton, and Tonge with Haulgh, and those of Halliwell, Heaton, Lostock, Rumworth, part of Over
Hulton, Middle Hulton, Great Lever, Darcy Lever,
Breightmet, and Sharpies. The town is governed by
a mayor, twenty-four aldermen, and seventy-two
councillors; there are seventeen wards, of which
seven—Exchange, Bradford, Derby, Church, East,
West, and Halliwell—have each two aldermen and
six councillors; and the rest—North, Rumworth,
Astley Bridge, Tonge, Darcy-Lever-cum-Breightmet,
Great Lever, Hulton, Deane-cum-Lostock, Heaton,
and Smithills—have each an alderman and three
councillors. A grant of arms was obtained in 1890. (fn. 74)
A school board was formed in 1870. Electric tram
ways are worked by the corporation. (fn. 75) The cemeteries at Tonge and Heaton, opened in 1857 and
1879 respectively, are regulated by a burial board.
The Parliamentary borough was created by the
Reform Act of 1832; the electoral area included
Great Bolton, most of Little Bolton, and Haulgh, and
was extended in 1868 to include Astley Bridge and
Little Bolton Higher End. (fn. 76) It has always been
represented by two members.
The parish church has been described above.
There is a mission hall in connexion with it. The
other churches in this district are:—Holy Trinity,
Sweet Green, was erected in 1826 as a chapel of
ease, and made the head of a separate parish in
1841; the Bishop of Manchester is patron. (fn. 77) Emmanuel was built in 1838, and made parochial in
1841; the vicar of Bolton presents the incumbent. (fn. 78)
Christ Church was built in 1818 by the Methodists,
and called Ebenezer; it was transferred in 1841 to
the Church of England; the Crown and the Bishop
of Manchester present alternately. (fn. 79) St. Paul's, which
has a mission church, was built in 1865, and had a
district assigned to it the following year; it is in the
gift of five trustees. (fn. 80) St. Mark's was built in 1866,
and was consecrated in 1871; the Bolton Lectureship Trustees and another body of four trustees present alternately. (fn. 81) St. Bartholomew's, built in 1879,
had a district assigned to it in 1880; five trustees
have the patronage. (fn. 82) The Saviour's was built in
1882; in this case also the patronage is vested in five
trustees. (fn. 83) To St. Philip's, 1898, the Bishop of Manchester and the Bolton Lectureship Trustees present
alternately. (fn. 84) Three of these churches have benefited
by the Lectureship fund.
A small Methodist congregation was formed about
1742, but John Wesley, on his first visits in 1748 and
1749, met with a brutal reception. (fn. 85) Soon after this
there broke out the dispute between Wesley and
Whitefield as to Calvinism; the congregation divided,
and the few Wesleyans proper kept up a meeting, and
Wesley himself several times visited the town. The
chapel in Ridgeway Gates, Deansgate, opened in
1777, represents this first congregation. There are
now seven other Wesleyan churches in Great Bolton, (fn. 86)
and the Victoria Hall, Knowsley Street, built in 1900,
is the head quarters of the Bolton mission. The
Methodist New Connexion formed a congregation as
early as 1797; their first chapel, Ebenezer, built in
1818, has been mentioned above as Christ Church. (fn. 87)
They have now no building in Great Bolton. The
Primitive Methodists had a meeting-place in Newport
Street in 1822, used till 1865; they have continued
to increase, and have two chapels in the township. (fn. 88)
The United Free Methodists have two chapels,
Hanover Street dating from 1834. (fn. 89) The Independent Methodists also have two chapels. The Bible
Christians are represented.
Congregationalism in Bolton (fn. 90) traces its origin to
the above-mentioned dispute between Wesley and
Whitefield. The latter great preacher visited the
town in 1750, and the Calvinistic section of the
Methodists soon afterwards began separate meetings, a
chapel being built in Duke's Alley in 1754; it was
in use till recently. (fn. 91) Mawdsley Street, opened in
1808, originated in a secession from the other congregations; it was rebuilt in 1870. There are two
other churches of this denomination, (fn. 92) and a mission
hall.
Baptist preaching began in 1777; a little chapel in
King Street, on the bank of the Croal, was opened in
1793 and used for some years. A new start was
made in 1818, as a result of which Moor Lane Chapel
was opened in 1822; this was sold to the Primitive
Methodists in 1866, and the denomination has now
no place of worship in Great Bolton. (fn. 93)
The Moravians had preaching stations at Bolton
and Haulgh in the latter part of the 18th century. (fn. 94)
The Society of Friends assembled for a century—
from 1721 to 1820—in a meeting-house in Acresfield. (fn. 95)
The Presbyterian Church of England has St.
Andrew's, opened in 1846. (fn. 96)
In Bolton, as elsewhere, the original Nonconformist
chapel is now in the hands of Unitarians. Richard
Goodwin, the vicar ejected in 1662, licensed a house
in Deansgate in 1672, during the temporary 'indulgence,' and ministered there till his death in 1685. (fn. 97)
He was succeeded by John Lever and Robert Seddon,
also ejected ministers; the latter acquired a house in
Windy Bank, now Bank Street, and the new chapel
was opened in 1696, just after its founder's death.
Unitarian doctrine began to prevail about 1750; a
number of the members seceded, joining the Duke's
Alley congregation. (fn. 98) A second Unitarian chapel, for
secessionists, existed from 1821 to about 1840; and
in 1868 Commission Street Chapel was opened, (fn. 99) replaced later by one in Deane Road.
There are some unsectarian religious agencies, as
the Queen Street Mission and Gospel Union Mission.
The Salvation Army has a citadel. There is also a
Spiritual Church.
As might have been expected in so Puritan a town
Roman Catholicism disappeared, and 'a hundred years
ago a man dared scarcely proclaim himself a Roman
Catholic in Bolton, so bitter was the popular sentiment against the principles of his church.' (fn. 100) Mass
was once again said in the town about 1800 in an
obscure room in the Old Acres, near the site of
St. Patrick's, and after some years the church of
St. Peter and St. Paul was built on Bolton Moor, and
opened in 1803; it was rebuilt in 1897. Two
other churches were opened in 1861—St. Edmund's
and St. Patrick's. (fn. 101)
The original school, near the parish church, was
founded in 1524. (fn. 102) It was united about 1656 with
the foundation of Robert Lever in 1641, the present
grammar school being the representative of both. (fn. 103)
Dr. Lemprière, author of the Classical Dictionary, was
one of the masters. (fn. 104)