LITTLE BOLTON
The principal part of this township, containing the
northern half of Bolton-le-Moors, is bounded on the
south by the Croal, on the east by Tonge Brook, and
on the north by Astley Brook. The township projects north of the last-named brook, including part of
Astley Bridge. It has also three detached portions
intermingled with Sharpies; one of them adjoins
Smithills Park and contains the Thorns, another
stretching across from Halliwell on the west to Turton on the east includes the hamlets of Eagley and
Horrocks Fold; the third, to the north of this, has a
small hamlet called Hampsons. The area of the whole
is 1,779 acres. By various modern changes of boundaries this has been reduced to 728 acres, (fn. 1) of which the
population in 1901 was 45,333.
The town is of comparatively recent growth, the oldest
portion being that opposite the parish church on the
north bank of the Croal, and to the east of Bank Street
and its continuation, formerly called Manor Street, and
now Kay Street. This street turns west to join the
road to Blackburn, a northward continuation of Bridge
Street in Great Bolton, now one of the principal
thoroughfares of Little Bolton. From Bank Street,
another street—Barn Street and Folds Road—goes
north-east to Turner Bridge, where it crosses the Tonge.
From this point Waterloo Street proceeds north-west to
cross Blackburn Road, and is continued as Halliwell
Road. From Bridge Street, St. George's Road leads
west to Chorley Old Road, from which Chorley New
Road branches off. Marsden Street leads south from
St. George's Road into Great Bolton. These are the
main thoroughfares on which the northern half of the
town has been formed.
Gilnow lies on the south-west border. (fn. 2) Some districts are called from the rising ground on which they
are built, as Mill Hill in the east and School Hill
near the centre.
In this township are a small part of Bolton or Queen's
Park, Thomasson Park, with its museum, and a recreation ground beside the Tonge. The corporation has
gas-works near Folds Road.
The Lancashire and Yorkshire Company's line from
Bolton to Blackburn passes through the south-east
corner, and has a branch to Astley Bridge, with goods
stations. The electric tramways serve for passengers.
Although in 1666 there were seventy-one hearths
liable to the tax, only one house had as many as four
hearths. (fn. 3)
What has been said regarding the industries of Great
Bolton applies generally to this township. There are
large cotton mills, bleach works, engineering and
machine works, where all kinds of cotton-spinning
machinery are made.
Like Great Bolton this township was governed by
the officers appointed annually at the court leet; the
principal was called the borough reeve, in imitation of
the other township, for Little Bolton was never a
borough. On the incorporation of Bolton in 1838
the greater part of Little Bolton was included, and
the remainder has now come within the borough.
Under the first Improvement Act of 1792 a town hall
was built in Little Bolton in 1826; it is now used as
a branch of the free library. Another Improvement
Act was obtained in 1830. For Astley Bridge, including parts of Little Bolton and Sharples, a local board
was formed in 1864. (fn. 4)
Manor
Like Great Bolton LITTLE BOLTON
was part of the Marsey fee, being in 1212
held of Randle de Marsey by Roger de
Bolton as one plough-land, by the service of the
twelfth part of a knight's fee. (fn. 5) The Bolton family
continued to hold this manor—
which included Haulgh, part
of Tonge, and parts of Sharples—down to the 17th century. But little is known of
them. Roger de Bolton died
in 1421 holding the manor of
Little Bolton by the services
mentioned; Roger his son and
heir was twenty-four years of
age. (fn. 6) Another Roger Bolton
died in 1473 holding the manor, leaving as heir his son Robert, twenty-two years
of age. (fn. 7) William Bolton, the son and heir of Robert,
died 14 October 1554 in possession of the manor and
lands in Little Bolton, Great Bolton, and Tonge,
rendering the services above stated, and leaving his
son Robert, then twenty-three years of age, as his
heir. (fn. 8) Robert died six years later, leaving as heir his
son Robert, only eleven years old. (fn. 9) The younger
Robert died in 1579, and the heir, his son Richard,
was again a minor eight years of age. (fn. 10) Richard
Bolton in 1599 sold or mortgaged the manor and
all or most of his lands to Robert Bolton (fn. 11) of Acton
Grange near Frodsham, who died in 1604, (fn. 12) but he
recovered possession of at least a portion of the estate,
and in 1610 transferred the manor to Thomas Ireland
and Thomas Heaton. (fn. 13)
Bolton. Sable a falcon argent.
The former of these, Sir Thomas Ireland of Bewsey,
died possessed of the manor in 1625, (fn. 14) and a few years
later it was by his son Thomas
included in a settlement. (fn. 15) It
descended to Gilbert Ireland
of Hale, (fn. 16) and by him was sold
in 1670 to Thomas Marsden. (fn. 17) A later Thomas Marsden (fn. 18) by his will directed a
sale, and John Moss of Manchester, woollen draper, purchased it in 1716; (fn. 19) he was
succeeded by his son John
Moss, (fn. 20) and his grandson James
Moss, (fn. 21) who died without issue.
The manor then went to the
heir-at-law, John Gartside of Manchester, a cousin,
who died in 1817, having bequeathed this manor and
other estates to his nephew Thomas Tipping. (fn. 22) The
new lord was in 1846 succeeded by his son Gartside,
and in 1890 by the latter's son Mr. Henry Thomas
Gartside-Tipping of Quarr Wood, Isle of Wight.
Tipping. Argent a bull's head erased sable, armed or, on a chief of the second three pheons of the field.
Little Bolton Hall is a small rectangular building,
its external measurement being about 46 ft. 6 in. in
length by 30 ft. in width, with a slightly projecting
portion on the north side and a south-west wing
nearly 20 ft. square. Its situation is very striking.
In 1833 it was described as standing in an isolated
part on a woody bank above the River Tonge; (fn. 23) but
the house is no longer isolated, and the high bank
on which it stands above the curve of the river on
the east side is totally bare of foliage. But though
its surroundings are mean and ugly, and it is
overshadowed on the west by a high railway viaduct,
it is not hard even now to imagine the former beauty
of its position, and the defensive strength of its site.
The house is stated to have been originally of brick
and wood-and-plaster, (fn. 24) but was entirely rebuilt in
1862, when nearly all traces of the ancient building
were lost. The roof timbers and principals of the
great hall were, however, preserved, and the south
side of the house in which the hall is situated was
rebuilt in brick between the old timber framing and
frced externally with timber and plaster on a low
stone base. This timber facing, which is continued
round the end of the hall facing east, consists of uprights
and straight and diagonal fillings, with a single centre
crosspiece, the absence of horizontal lines adding to
the apparent height of the elevation. The design,
however, does not apparently follow that of the old
building, which was of a much plainer description,
the constructive timbers only showing with wide
plaster spaces between. The rest of the house has
been rebuilt in stone in the domestic Gothic style of
the middle of the last century, with square-headed
windows and tile-covered roofs.
Little Bolton Hall
If the former great hall occupied the full length of
the south side of the house, it must have been about
42 ft. long by 17 ft. wide, and the spacing of the roof
principals, if following out the original arrangement, seems to imply that it did so. The principals
are two in number, dividing the roof into three bays
of unequal length, the western of which is now divided
from the rest by walls, and forms a separate room
on each floor; a floor is also inserted in the eastern bay
of the hall, so that only the middle bay is now open
to the roof. The principals come down to the floor,
resting on stone bases, the timbers being quite plain
and roughly wrought, the height from floor to ridge
being about 25 ft. The purlins are strengthened by
wind braces, and the trusses have arched braces rising
to the underside of the collars, and king-posts above
the collars. The fire-places and windows date from
1862, but the tall window which occupies the full
height of the south side of the room probably replaces
an old one of similar type. The staircase is on the
north side, and preserves its Jacobean twisted balusters
and newels. A modern gallery across the east side of
the open bay of the hall gives access to the bedroom
above. The cutting up of the hall and the introduction of floors, together with the entire rebuilding,
has made the original disposition of the plan impossible to follow. The house was opened in May 1908
as a church house in connexion with the parish of
St. John.
Some other owners of land in the township occur;
as Humphrey Booth of Salford (fn. 25) and William Horrobine, (fn. 26) in the 17th century. In 1782 the lands of
John Gartside paid half the land tax; the other estates
were small. (fn. 27)
John Norris of Little Bolton, for some slight compliance with the Royalists, had to compound for his
estate with the Commonwealth authorities in 1646. (fn. 28)
For the Church of England All Saints', formerly
known as the Chapel in the Fields, was built in 1726,
and rebuilt in 1871; (fn. 29) St. George's, 1796; (fn. 30) St.
John's, 1849; (fn. 31) St. James's, 1871; (fn. 32) St. Matthew's,
1876; (fn. 33) St. Barnabas's; (fn. 34) and at Astley Bridge, St.
Paul's, 1848, rebuilt 1869; (fn. 35) All Souls', 1881. (fn. 36)
The patronage is in various hands. Some of the
churches have benefited by the diversion of the Bolton
Lectureship endowment.
The Wesleyan Methodists have churches in Bridge
Street, built in 1803, Park Street, 1863, and three
other places in the township, as well as one at Astley
Bridge, opened in 1868. The Primitive Methodists
have two; the New Connexion also have two: in
St. George's Road, (fn. 37) and at Brownlow Fold; the
United Free Church one, in Albert Place; (fn. 38) the
Independent Methodists two, and a mission hall. (fn. 39)
The Congregationalists have three churches; one of
them, in St. George's Road, claims to be the representative of the original chapel in Duke's Alley, Great
Bolton; it was opened in 1863. (fn. 40)
The Baptists have two churches, named Claremon
and Zion, and a third is at Astley Bridge. (fn. 41)
The Society of Friends, removing from Great Bolton, have had their place of meeting in Tipping Street
since 1820.
Among the other places of worship are a Catholic
Apostolic (Irvingite) church, (fn. 42) a New Jerusalem of the
Swedenborgians, (fn. 43) a Christian meeting-house, and
several mission halls. The Welsh Calvinistic Methodists have a church in Clarence Street. (fn. 44)
For Roman Catholic worship there is the church
of St. Mary, opened in 1847.