Bolton

 

or Bolton-le-Moors (bōl'tən-lə-mʊrz) , city (1991 pop. 143,960) and metropolitan district, NW England, located in the Manchester metropolitan area. Since the late 18th cent., when spinning factories were built and a canal (1791) was constructed to Manchester, Bolton has been a cotton-textile center. Prior to that time, wool weaving, which was stimulated by the immigration of Flemings in the 14th cent., was important. Besides the textile plants (sheets, quilts, towels, bedcovers, and dress materials), factories pack poultry and produce textile and other machinery, chemicals, leather goods, furniture, carpets, and paper. Samuel Crompton, inventor of the spinning mule (1779), was born nearby and is buried in Bolton. Richard Arkwright invented the “water frame” there c.1768.

Bolton
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, BL2, BL3, BL4, BL5, BL6, BL7
Dialling code	01204
Police	Greater Manchester
Fire	Greater Manchester
Ambulance	North West
UK Parliament	Bolton North East
	Bolton South East
	Bolton West
European Parliament	North West England
List of places: UK • England • Greater Manchester

Coordinates: 53°′″N 2°′″W / 53.5815, -2.4297

Bolton is a large town in Greater Manchester, in North West England.^[1] Situated close to the West Pennine Moors, 10 miles (16.1 km) northwest of the city of Manchester, it is the largest and most populous settlement within the Metropolitan Borough of Bolton, and has a total resident population of 139,403.^[2][3][4]

Historically part of Lancashire, Bolton rose to prominence during the 19th century as a mill town centred on textile manufacture and cotton spinning. At its zenith it was one of the largest and most productive centres of cotton manufacture in the world.

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. However, the exact origins are not totally clear from historical records.^[5][6] There have been three main hypotheses - one is that because of its location in the valleys of confluencing moorland rivers, it is derived from "Bowl Town"^{[citation needed]}- another suggesting it is a derivation from the Saxon words "bolt" and "tun", meaning "arrow" and "stockade" respectively.^[7] A final suggestion is from the words "boul" and "town", where boul means a monument or central feature, though the boul itself is unidentified. A further possibility is that "bol" derives from the Norse for farm and "ton" from the Norse for town.

Early history

Evidence of a Saxon settlement exists in the form of religious objects found when the present Victorian parish church was built.^[8]

The town was given a charter to hold a market in Churchgate in 1251 by King Henry III of England.^[9] 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.^[9]

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.^[9]

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.

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.^[10]

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.^[11][12][13]

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.^[14][15]

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.^[14][15]

The county borough was abolished in 1974 and became a constituent part of the Metropolitan Borough of Bolton in Greater Manchester.^[14][16]

Parliamentary history

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.^[17]

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.^[17]

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.^[17][18]

Geography

	North: Blackburn
West: Wigan	Bolton	East: Bury
	South: Salford

Demography

Township populations

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

Year [19][20][21]	1801	1811	1821	1831	1841	1851	1861	1871	1881	1891
Great Bolton	12,549	17,070	22,037	28,299	33,449	39,923	43,435	45,313	45,694	47,067
Little Bolton	4,867	7,099	9,258	12,896	15,707	19,888	24,942	35,013	41,937	44,307

County Borough population

These census population figures are for the former County Borough of Bolton.

Year [22]	1901	1911	1921	1931	1939*	1951	1961	1971
Population	168,215	180,851	178,683	177,250	163,823	167,167	160,789	154,223

* The 1939 population is estimated from the National Registration figures.^[23] The 1941 census didn't take place because of the Second World War.

Metropolitan Borough population

These census population figures are for the whole Metropolitan Borough of Bolton, which includes the unparished areas of Bolton (the former county borough), Farnworth, Kearsley, Little Lever and South Turton, plus the civil parishes of Blackrod, Horwich and Westhoughton.

Year [24][25]	1981	1991	2001
Population	260,229	262,880	261,037

According to the 2001 UK Census,^[25] of the 261,037 people living in Bolton Metropolitan Borough, the following ethnicities have been recorded:

• 89% White
• 6% Indian
• 2.5% Pakistani
• 2.4% other (with no one group exceeding 1%)

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 is a mecca for 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 town. Bolton is also the home of the family bakery, Warburton's, who began their business in 1876 on Blackburn Road in Bolton. As well as this Bolton is home to MBDA's main production facility in Horwich.

Bolton Council has launched a large-scale series of redevelopments of the town centre.^[26]

Transport

Given its proximity to Manchester, 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 M61 itself has 3 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 Picadilly 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 in 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.

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

The town also contains a host of primary and secondary schools such as Canon Slade School, Thornleigh Salesian College, Mount St Joseph School, St James's School and Turton High School Media Arts College (motto: Integrity and Honour), although some are in special measures. Bolton also has a community college which provides further education to many in the borough and has many sites throughout, as well as Bolton Sixth Form College, which comprises North and South campuses.

Harper Green School is also located in Bolton. Harper Green is home to the Alan Ball Sports Hall, as well as the Peter Kay Drama Complex. Peter Kay also filmed a music video at Harper Green with the Scottish band Texas.

The Bolton Teaching and Learning Centre serves schools as a central point for online materials.^[27]

The Bolton Steam Museum is located here and has several restored working steam engines.

Sports

Bolton has a Premiership football club called Bolton Wanderers F.C. who play their home games at the Reebok Stadium.

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

Bolton is also home to one of the North West's largest Field Hockey Clubs (Bolton Hockey Club)^{[citation needed]}

The oldest football club in Lancashire, was formed in a village on the moors above Bolton. Turton F.C. was formed in 1871 and said to introduce the association game to the county. There have been recent claims that their former 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.^[28]

Speedway racing, then known as Dirt Track racing, was staged at Raikes Park in the pioneer days – 1928 – but the venue was short lived.^{[citation needed]}

Culture and society

According to a survey of the British Association for the Advancement of Science Boltonians are the friendliest people in Britain.^[29][30]

Bolton is one of the more deprived boroughs in England according to the Indices of Deprivation 2000.^[31] 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.^{[citation needed]} 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.

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

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,^[32] named after the prince consort, Prince Albert, who opened the building on June 5 1873.

Visual arts are also represented in Bolton via Bolton Museum and Art Gallery which boasts a fine collection of both local and international art.^[33]

Le Mans Crescent, (currently home to the 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.

Media

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

Nightlife information is covered by The CaM Guide (The company originated from Bolton)^{[citation needed]}

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 Granada ITV television region, and North West BBC region, both served by the Winter Hill transmitter in Belmont, just to the north-west of the town.

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"^{[citation needed]}. 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 Bolton 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. Although not identified, much of the 1990s series Cops was filmed in Bolton.

Notable people

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. For a list of these people from Bolton and the outlying areas, see List of people from Bolton.

Twin towns

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

References

External links

• Bolton Council
• Bolton Evening News
• Boltonians Listing well over 500 Boltonians - born, bred or adopted
• Bolton Remembers The War An Oral History of Bolton during the Second World War
• Bolton Revisited Local history project created by Bolton residents, past and present
• bolton.org.uk Bolton History, Photos, Links & Trivia
• University of Bolton
• 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

Ceremonial county of Greater Manchester
Metropolitan districts	City of Manchester • City of Salford • Metropolitan Borough of Bolton • Metropolitan Borough of Bury • Metropolitan Borough of Oldham • Metropolitan Borough of Rochdale • Metropolitan Borough of Stockport • Metropolitan Borough of Tameside • Metropolitan Borough of Trafford • Metropolitan Borough of Wigan
Cities/Towns	Altrincham • Ashton-in-Makerfield • Ashton-under-Lyne • Atherton • Bolton • Bury • Cadishead • Chadderton • Cheadle Hulme • Cheadle • Denton • Droylsden • Dukinfield • Eccles • Failsworth • Farnworth • Golborne • Heywood • Hindley • Horwich • Hyde • Ince-in-Makerfield • Irlam • Kearsley • Leigh • Little Lever • Littleborough • Manchester • Middleton • Milnrow • Mossley • Oldham • Prestwich • Radcliffe • Ramsbottom • Rochdale • Royton • Sale • Salford • Shaw and Crompton • Stalybridge • Stockport • Stretford • Swinton • Tyldesley • Walkden • Westhoughton • Whitefield • Wigan • Worsley See also: List of civil parishes in Greater Manchester
Rivers	Beal • Bollin • Croal • Dean Brook • Douglas • Etherow • Goyt • Irk • Irwell • Medlock • Mersey • Roch • Spodden • Tame • Tonge
Topics	Demography • Geography • Parliamentary constituencies • Places

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