Bolton

Bolton
Bolton Town Hall
Bolton shown within Greater Manchester
Population	139,403 (2001 Census)
OS grid reference	SD715095
Metropolitan borough	Bolton
Metropolitan county	Greater Manchester
Region	North West
Constituent country	England
Sovereign state	United Kingdom
Post town	BOLTON
Postcode district	BL1-BL7
Dialling code	01204
Police	Greater Manchester
Fire	Greater Manchester
Ambulance	North West
European Parliament	North West England
UK Parliament	Bolton North East
	Bolton South East
	Bolton West
List of places: UK • England • Greater Manchester

Bolton (pronunciation) is a large town in Greater Manchester, in the North West region of England.^[1] Situated close to the West Pennine Moors, 10 miles (16 km) north west of the city of Manchester, it is the largest and most populous settlement of the Metropolitan Borough of Bolton, and has a population of 139,403,a decline from previous years, as the populace migrate from the old town boundaries to the more palatial wider borough, the borough population now being 262,500.^[2][3][4]

Historically a part of Lancashire, Bolton originated as a small settlement in the moorland known as Bolton le Moors. During the English Civil War the town was a Parliamentarian outpost in a staunchly Royalist region. In 1644 Bolton was stormed by 3,000 Royalist troops led by Prince Rupert of the Rhine. This attack, which later came to be known as the Bolton Massacre, resulted in 1,600 residents being killed and 700 taken prisoner.

Noted as a former mill town, textiles have been produced in Bolton since Flemish weavers settled in the area during the 15th century, developing a wool and cotton weaving tradition. The urbanisation and development of Bolton largely coincided with the introduction of textile manufacture during the Industrial Revolution. It was a boomtown of the 19th century and, at its zenith in 1929, 216 cotton mills and 26 bleaching and dying works, made it one of the largest and most productive centres of cotton spinning in the world. After World War I the British cotton industry declined sharply and by the 1980s cotton manufacture had virtually ceased in Bolton.

Bolton is today noted for its Premier League football team Bolton Wanderers F.C. who play from the Reebok Stadium, with Reebok, the sportswear company, being based in the town.

History

Toponymy

The town's name, (in full, Bolton-le-Moors) has been recorded over the years with many derivations of spelling including Bothelton, Boulton and Bolton-super-Moras. The name Bolton comes from the Old English word "Bothel", meaning a dwelling, and "tun", meaning an enclosure^[5].

The current Arms of Bolton Metropolitan Borough are a pun on the word Bolton, as they depict an arrow (a "bolt") passing through a crown (a "tun")^[6]. The town's motto of Supera Moras means "overcome difficulites", and is a pun on the full name of Bolton-le-Moors, as it also means "on the moors".

Early history

Evidence of a Saxon settlement exists in the form of religious objects found when the present Victorian parish church was built.^[7]

The town was given a charter to hold a market in Churchgate in 1251 by King Henry III of England.^[8] It was then made into a market town and borough by a charter from the Earl of Derby, William de Ferrers, on January 14, 1253.^[8]

English Civil War

During the English Civil War, Bolton supported Parliament and the Puritan cause, unlike most of the rest of Lancashire. The town was twice attacked unsuccessfully until the third assault on May 28, 1644. Prince Rupert's army along with troops under the Earl of Derby, attacked the town. There were 1,500 dead, and 700 taken prisoner. It became known as the Bolton Massacre.^[8]

Textile manufacture

The town's position on the west of the Pennines provides a damp climate. It is this feature which probably led to Flemish weavers, fleeing the Huguenot persecutions in the 17th century, to eventually settle here, as moisture-laden air allows for the spinning of cotton with little breakage. The cotton industry was to provide the catalyst for the town's expansion between the 14th and 19th centuries. Large, steam-powered textile mills eventually dominated the town's skyline, providing the major employment and defining the rhythm of the working week, so much so that an annual shut-down for maintenance in late June became the Bolton holidays. There were also some large iron foundries in the town as well as other engineering works, many connected with the cotton industry. The Manchester Bolton & Bury Canal connected the town to Bury and Manchester.

Bolton was Worktown in the Mass-Observation project which has left us with many photographs taken around the town by Humphrey Spender as part of that project.^[9]

Governance

Civic history

Until the early 19th century, Great Bolton and Little Bolton were two of the eighteen townships of the ecclesiastical parish of Bolton le Moors. These two townships were separated by the River Croal, with Little Bolton on the north side of the river and Great Bolton on the south side.^[10][11][12]

In 1838, Great Bolton, most of Little Bolton and the Haulgh area from Tonge with Haulgh township were incorporated under the Municipal Corporations Act 1835 as a municipal borough, making it the second to be created in England, after Devonport. Further additions were made to the borough, with part of Rumworth in 1872, and part of Halliwell in 1877.^[13][14]

In 1889, Bolton was granted County Borough status and became entirely self-governing and independent from Lancashire County Council jurisdiction. In 1898, it was extended further by adding the civil parishes of Breightmet, Darcy Lever, Great Lever, the rest of Halliwell, Heaton, Lostock, Middle Hulton, the rest of Rumworth (which had been renamed Deane in 1894), Smithills, and Tonge, plus Astley Bridge Urban District, and part of Over Hulton civil parish.^[13][14]

The County Borough of Bolton was abolished in 1974 and became a constituent part of the Metropolitan Borough of Bolton in Greater Manchester.^[13][15]

Parliamentary representation

Under the Reform Act of 1832, a Parliamentary Borough was established for the town. The Bolton constituency had two Members of Parliament who both represented the whole borough.^[16]

The Parliamentary Borough continued until 1950 when it was abolished and replaced with two parliamentary constituencies, Bolton East and Bolton West, each with one M.P.^[16]

In 1983, Bolton East was abolished and two new constituencies were created, Bolton North East (which covers a large part of the former Bolton East), and Bolton South East (which covers most of the former Farnworth constituency). Also in 1983, there were major boundary changes to Bolton West, which took over most of the former Westhoughton constituency.^[16][17]

Geography

The largest hill is winter hill and the longest river is the river bollen.

Landmarks

Bolton Parish Church

Bolton Parish Church

Main article: Church of St Peter, Churchgate

The Parish Church, dedicated to St Peter, is a fine example of the gothic revival style. Built between 1866 and 1871 of Longridge stone to designs by Paley, the church is 67 ft (20.4 m) in width, 156 ft (47.5 m) in length, and 82 ft (25.0 m) in height. The tower is 180 ft (54.9 m) high with 13 bells.^[18]

The first known church on the same site was built in Anglo-Saxon times. It was rebuilt in Norman times and again in the early 1400s. Little is known of the first two churches, but the third building was a solid, squat building with a sturdy square tower at the west end. It was modified over the years until it fell into disrepair and demolished in 1866. Fragments of stone and other artefacts from these first three buildings are displayed in the museum corner of the present church.^[18]

Today, the present parish of Bolton-le-Moors only covers a small area in the town centre,^[19] but until the 19th century it covered a much larger area and was divided into eighteen chapelries and townships.^[20][21]

The neighbouring ancient parish of Deane once covered a large area to the west and south of Bolton,^[22] and the township of Great Lever had been part of the ancient parish of Middleton.^[21]

Bolton Town Hall

Bolton Town Hall

Situated in the town centre, the Town Hall is an imposing neoclassical building. It was designed by William Hill who later designed the Portsmouth Guildhall. Opened on 5 June 1873 by Albert Edward, Prince of Wales (later as Edward VII), it was built on the site of an old Pot Market which had previously been known as Market Square. In the 1930s, the building was extended, by Bradshaw Gass & Hope, with additional office space which almost doubled in size.^[23][24][25]

Incorporated within the Town Hall are the Albert Halls. The original Albert Hall was destroyed by a massive fire on 14 November 1981. It took three and half years for the complete internal reconstruction work to be finished. Reopened in 1985, the new Albert Halls now comprises two separate halls and several function rooms.^[26]

Demography

Township populations

These census population figures are for the former townships of Great Bolton and Little Bolton.

Bolton population

Economy

In recent times, the town has swapped much of its heavy industry for service-based activities including a large number of data processing and call centres and also hi-tech electronics and IT companies. It attracts shoppers from all over the north of England and further afield, not only to the Victorian splendour of the town centre but to newly developed Middlebrook retail park, home to Bolton Wanderers, the Bolton Arena, leisure facilities, shops, pubs, restaurants and sundry other businesses. The town retains a variety of more traditional industries, employing people in, amongst other things, aerospace, paper-manufacturing, packaging, textiles, transportation, steel foundries and building materials. The area of Horwich around Middlebrook has been designated by Bolton Council as the `Bolton Economic Development Zone', and is currently seeing much building work, predominantly office space for law firms and business headquarters.

Tourism plays an important part in the local economy, with visitor attractions such as Hall i' th' Wood (the home of inventor Samuel Crompton), Smithills Country Park and Smithills Hall, Rivington, Last Drop Village, Barrow Bridge mill village, Bolton Steam Museum and the civic museums in the town centre. Residents and visitors alike can make use of the facilities at Leverhulme, Moss Bank and Queen's parks.

Bolton is the birthplace of the Reebok brand. The company's European headquarters are located in the Reebok Stadium. Bolton is also the home of the family bakery, Warburtons, who began their business in 1876 on Blackburn Road in Bolton.

Bolton has also has a strong presence in the Aerospace industry through the production of military missiles and systems. This centred round the British Aerospace (BAe) factory in Lostock which formerly had the largest machine shop in Europe. BAe also had factories in Farnworth, Wingates and in the Spa Lane area of Bolton. The Lostock factory has been reduced drastically over the last couple of decades with the bulk of the buildings being sold off. A workforce of around 300 people continue to work there under the BAE Systems subsidiary MBDA. Current missile systems produced there include; ASRAAM, Rapier and Storm Shadow which are in service with the RAF and various forces around the globe.

Bolton town centre over the next 10 years will under go a series of major improvements including Church Wharf by Ask developments and bluemantle it will cost 226 million, Merchants Quarter which includes the local developer Charles Topham group it will cost 200 million, Bolton Innovation Zone(BIZ) which is a large 300 million development it has the University of Bolton at its core, this development will include various develpers. There is also the central street development which is a retail lead development which will cost 100 million by Wilson Bowden Developments Limited there is also many smaller operations. The developments listed above are likely to attract 20,000 new jobs.

Transport

Bolton is well served in terms of both the local road network and national routes.
The A6, a major north–south trunk road, passes through Hunger Hill and Westhoughton.
The A666 (sometimes referred to as `The Devil's Highway' because of the numeric designation) is a 4-lane dual carriageway which acts as a spur from the large M61/M60 motorway interchange, carrying traffic to and from the town centre. The A666 continues North, up through Astley Bridge, Egerton and on into Darwen and Blackburn, Lancashire. The M61 itself has three dedicated junctions serving the borough.

Bolton is served by the National Express coach network.

Bolton is located on the Manchester loop of the West Coast Mainline and as such is served by Virgin West Coast trains passing through Manchester Piccadilly station. There are regular commuter services between most of the local stations and Manchester. The Bolton metropolitan area is served by the following railway stations:

• Bolton Trinity Street - a town-centre transport interchange
• Bromley Cross
• Hall i' th' Wood
• Blackrod
• Horwich Parkway (for the Reebok Stadium - Bolton Wanderers FC)
• Lostock
• Westhoughton
• Moses Gate
• Farnworth
• Kearsley

Education

Bolton is home to a leading independent day school, Bolton School, whose Boys' Division originated around 1516. It was endowed by Robert Lever in 1641 and again by William Hesketh Lever (later Lord Leverhulme) in 1898, allowing it to be rebuilt alongside a new Girls' Division on its current site in Chorley New Road. The town can also boast Lord's Independent School, established by Mr Lord, a local eccentric, in 1906.^[33]

Bolton also has its own modern university, the University of Bolton. Formerly Bolton Institute of Higher Education, it gained university status in 2005 and has seen much building work and growth since.

The town's secondary schools include Westhoughton High School, Canon Slade School, Withins School, Sharples School, Thornleigh Salesian College, Turton High School Media Arts College^[34] and Smithills School, which boasts a world champion brass band. Bolton also has a community college which provides further education to many in the borough and has many sites throughout,^[35] as well as Bolton Sixth Form College, which comprises North and South campuses.

The Bolton Teaching and Learning Centre serves schools as a central point for online materials.^[36]

Sports

Bolton is home to the Premier League football club, Bolton Wanderers F.C.. Formerly playing at Burnden Park they now play at the Reebok Stadium.

Indoor facilities for sports training and major racket sports tournaments are provided courtesy of the newly built Bolton Arena, which was used for some of the events in the 2002 Commonwealth Games.

Bolton is also home to one of North West England's largest Field Hockey Clubs, Bolton Hockey Club.^[37]

The oldest football club in Lancashire, Turton F.C., was formed in a village on the moors above Bolton in 1871 and is said to have introduce the Association game to the county.^[38] There have been recent claims that their original ground, which is still in use, is the oldest surviving football ground in the world. It is claimed matches were played there since the 1830s.^[39]

There are two local cricket leagues in Bolton, the Bolton Cricket League^[40] and the Bolton Cricket Association^[41].

Speedway racing, then known as Dirt Track Racing, was staged at Raikes Park in the pioneer days – 1928 – when the venue was short lived.^[42]

Bolton also has a rugby union club, Bolton R.U.F.C.^[43]

Bolton Blaze is a baseball club that was started in 2003, playing their home games at The Ball Park at Stapleton Avenue. In addition to the adult team, there is a junior team, Bolton Bears. Bolton Baseball dates back to 1938 with a team called Bolton Scarlets.^[44]

Culture and society

According to a survey of the British Association for the Advancement of Science Boltonians are the friendliest people in Britain.^[45][46] Bolton is one of the more deprived boroughs in England according to the Indices of Deprivation 2000.^[47] It is the 28th most deprived in England in terms of numbers of people who are income deprived. A third of the borough's population lives in seven wards which are amongst the 10% most deprived in England. Despite this, Bolton is currently experiencing much attention and is experiencing an influx of people, leading to property prices increasing faster than most other parts of the UK. The borough already contains traditional and also increasingly affluent areas including Heaton, Horwich, Harwood and Smithills.

On 13 February 2003, Bolton was granted Fairtrade Town status.^[48]

Bolton's oldest public house is Ye Olde Man and Scythe, dating from 1251 – one of the oldest remaining public houses in England.^[49]

Arts

Bolton has a theatre called The Octagon along with many small, independent groups such as Bolton Little Theatre, Farnworth Little Theatre and the Phoenix Theatre Company. Inside the town hall there is also a large theatre and conference complex called The Albert Halls,^[26] named after the Prince Consort, Prince Albert whose early death in 1861 at the comparatively young age of only 42 would eventually lead to many buildings and monuments throughout Great Britain and her vast empire being named in his memory. The Halls opened on 5 June 1873.

Visual arts are also represented in Bolton via Bolton Museum and Art Gallery which has a fine collection of both local and international art.^[50]

Bolton Civic Centre in 1994, Le Mans Crescent.

Le Mans Crescent, (currently home to the central library, museum, art gallery, aquarium, police station, magistrates' court and town hall) is to be at the centre of a new Cultural Quarter. This area will no longer house the police station and magistrates' court; instead the library and museum are to be extended into these sections of the building, along with other new cultural projects. These works are to take place during a large-scale expansion and improvement project, which is set to more than double the size of the current town centre and improve its appearance, infrastructure and amenities.

Library

Bolton Central Library was one of the early public libraries established after the Public Libraries Act 1850, opening on 12 October 1853 in the Exchange Building on Market Square (present day Victoria Square). The library moved to its present site in Le Mans Crescent on 4 July 1938.^[51]

Media

The town's local daily newspaper is The Bolton News, formerly known as the Bolton Evening News. There are weekly free papers, such as the Bolton Journal and Bolton Council's free monthly newspaper, Bolton Scene.

The town falls under the BBC North West and the ITV Granada television regions, which are served by the Winter Hill transmitter near Belmont, just to the north-west of the town.

Local radio is provided by Tower FM, a station which broadcasts across Bolton and Bury.

Cultural references

The industrial village of Barrow Bridge became Millbank in Benjamin Disraeli's novel Coningsby.

Bolton is referenced in the famous Monty Python's Flying Circus Dead Parrot sketch, in which it is the location of the shopkeeper's brother's pet shop. The shopkeeper's brother (played by Michael Palin), incorrectly describes the town as Ipswich. On being challenged by Mr Praline (played by John Cleese), Palin's character defends himself, claiming (wrongly) that Ipswich is a palindrome of Bolton. Cleese's character retorts, "It's not a palindrome. The palindrome of Bolton would be Notlob. It don't work." As a consequence, Bolton is sometimes humorously nicknamed, "Notlob". Bolton is also referred to in Monty Python's "Blackmail" sketch, in which the host of the gameshow "Blackmail" (played by Michael Palin) announces that if a Miss Betty Teal from Lancashire sends the show 15 pounds, he will refrain from revealing her lover in Bolton.

Spring and Port Wine by Mayo playwright, Bill Naughton was filmed and set in Bolton. The Family Way based on Naughton's play All in Good Time was also filmed and set in Bolton.

More famously Peter Kay is from Bolton and much of his comedy TV series That Peter Kay Thing and Phoenix Nights are set in the town. The latter was filmed at St Gregorys Social Club in Farnworth, and an episode of the former was set at Bolton West services on the M61.

Many Bolton buildings have also stood in for other towns and cities. Bolton Town Hall stood in for an East European bank in the 1980s film Sleepers and Le Mans Crescent has featured as an upmarket London street in the Jeremy Brett version of Sherlock Holmes.

Notable people

Main article: List of people from Bolton

Bolton has produced its fair share of actors, comedians, musicians, sports personalities, engineers, inventors, politicians, authors and other notable people. They have all made a mark in different periods of time, whether at local, national or international level.

Twin towns

• Le Mans, France, since 1967
• Paderborn, Germany, since 1975

References

External links

• www.bolton.gov.uk, Bolton Council.
• www.boltonians.org.uk, Listing well over 600 Boltonians - born, bred or adopted.
• www.boltonswar.org.uk, An Oral History of Bolton during the Second World War.
• www.bolton.org.uk, Bolton History, Photos, Links & Trivia.
• www.boltonmuseums.org.uk, Bolton Museum & Archive Service - Collections include an original spinning mule made by inventor Samuel Crompton, works by Bolton born artist Thomas Moran and one of Britains oldest public Aquaria.
• Bolton at the Open Directory Project