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Victoria Square
Register Office Details -
Mere Hall,
Mere Hall Street,
Bolton,
Lancashire
BL1 2QT.
Tel: 01204 331185
The name Bolton comes from Bolt and Tun. le-Moors is merely a description of the land which surrounds Bolton (moorland).
As with many early settlements, the river and valley was the main reason for settlers to choose Bolton. Agriculture was the chief occupation of the residents, the moors ideal grazing land, the fleece of the sheep weaved for it's local population. Although initially the textiles made were for local use, word spread about the quality, and at around 1100 A.D., government officials of Richard I were appointed to measure and mark the cloth. This reputation attracted Flemish weavers to settle in Bolton about 1337. They introduced spinning and weaving, and also clog making. It was still a cottage industry and the town gained a reputation for quality, with more textile workers drawn to the industry, producing wool garments.
Cotton was first produced in 1641 Velvets made from cotton were first made in around 1756 by Jeremiah Clarke, muslins and cotton quiltings in 1763 by Joseph Shaw. The industry was still cottage based, and development was slow but helped by the inventions of James Hargreaves' Spinning Jenny in 1768, and Richard Arkwright's (A barber from Bolton) Water Frame. A year later in 1769 James Watt patented the steam engine, used to drive machinery from coal dug locally. Mechanisation took a big leap forward with the invention of the spinning mule, by Bolton-born Samuel Crompton (1753 -1827) in 1779, permitting a much finer and stronger yarn to be made. A statue of Crompton was erected in Nelson Square in 1862. The first spinning mill was built in 1780.
The original water supply for Bolton came from wells 1792, but the growing population needed a bigger supply, and in 1824 the Belmont Reservoir was built.
Bolton Gas Company was formed on February 11th 1818, and Bolton's streets were first lit by gas lamp on May 1st 1819. This private company passed under the control of Bolton Corporation on June 30th 1872.
Churchgate was the site of the first markets, however in 1824, the market was too big for this area so moved to the Market Square, (today called Victoria Square). The market was transferred into the Market Hall in 1855, and the town hall was built on the site of the old market.
The railways brought many other industries to the area, including a major rail works at Horwich. One of the worlds first railways open was the Bolton and Manchester Railway, opened on May 29th 1828. Bolton to Leigh Railway, built by George and Robert Stevenson and opened on July 1st 1828, with one of Stephenson's own locomotives, called "The Witch". From Bolton, Britain's coal industry was supported by ancillary manufacturers, machine making and general engineering. The Bolton to Manchester passenger rail service opened April 1st 1875.
The Manchester, Bolton and Bury Canal was built between 1795 and 1810.
A paper industry brought prosperity to the town, Thomas Bonsor Crompton patented a method of continuously drying paper in 1820 which was a significant breakthrough for the industry.
On September 1st 1880 municipal transport started with horse drawn trams, but in 1899, the first electric tram service started. In 1928 there was 60 miles of tramways carrying 58 million passenger - journeys per year. By 1938 trams were giving way to electric trackless trolley buses, as well as petrol and oil buses.
By 1850, Bolton's industry comprised bleaching, calico printing, coal mining, heavy chemicals, heavy engineering, leather tanning, papermaking, rope making, textiles and many other smaller industries.
An estimate from 1838 stated that 8,621 were working in the cotton trade. In 1911, there were 15,000 men and 21,000 women employed in the textile industry. In the 1921 census, 33,000 were employed in textiles, 7000 in commercial and financial, 4600 in transport and communications, 4000 in coal mining and quarrying, 2200 in woodworking, 2000 in building trades, 900 in paperworks, 900 in agriculture, 800 in painting, 700 in leather working, and 500 in electrical industry. Of the number of mills, in the 1950's there were still 103 cotton mills, in 1966 there were 34, by 1979 just 8 remained.
Bolton-le-Moors was a settlement in a natural valley on the West Pennine Moors on the banks of the River Croal, and the Manor of Bolton is first recorded in 1067, as being owned by the Montgomery family.
However the earliest evidence for any settlement in Bolton goes back to the Bronze Age, with a Stone Circle in Egerton. Bolton was part of a large area owned by the Crown after the Norman invasion in 1066. The spoils of war left it a largely barren area, but a baron of William the Conqueror, Roger de Poictou, responsible for Liverpool and Lancaster Castles, was given the land (between the River Ribble and River Mersey to the west of Manchester. It was subsequently passed back to the Crown, then on to Ranulf de Bricasard, third Earl of Chester, and transferred to Roger de Maresy. Of the intervening families to whom this manor passed, most held position of the Earl of Derby.
Bolton was a centre of Puritanism, and in the Civil War of the 17th Century it was a Parliamentarian outpost, surrounded by Royalist areas. Prince Rupert's army of 10,000 men were joined by troops under the leadership of the Earl of Derby, and stormed the town on May 28th 1644 from Deane Moor. This was the third major assault against Bolton, of the 3000 local troops led by Colonel Rigby, 1500 were left dead, and 700 taken prisoner. It became known as the Bolton Massacre.
After Cromwell's Parliamentarian victory, the Earl of Derby, James Stanley was hunted down and captured in Cheshire. After a three day trial, he was taken to Bolton, spent his last hours at Ye Olde Man and Scythe public house, then beheaded in Churchgate on October 15th 1651.
Prior to 1838, the area was split into "Little Bolton" with 30 trustees and "Great Bolton", who's 40 trustees were known as "The Forty Thieves". The boundary between was defined by the course of the River Croal
On January 11th 1838 the Charter of Incorporation was drawn up by the councils of Little Bolton and Great Bolton, with the resolution "That the governing power in all communities ought to be vested in the public at large, and not in self elected bodies." A document dated October 11th 1838 was received by Mr Winder, the solicitor to the applicants on the 13th of October. The joint population was about 47000 at this time. The first election of councillors was on November 30th 1838, and Mr. Charles James Darbishire became the first Mayor.
In 1838 Queen Victoria granted Bolton Chartered Borough status on the 11th of October. Neighbouring districts were embraced at the turn of the century, enlarging the town.
There was considerable distress in Bolton at this time, due to the high cost of food brought about by the Corn Laws and other taxes, unemployment was severe. The Chartists, workless people who banded together to secure rights of government, rioted in the town on August 16th 1839 and the Parish Church was occupied causing considerable damage. They also went on to attack the Police Office at the former Little Bolton town hall where the mob leader was imprisoned after his arrest, using a lamp post as a battering ram forced entry to the building, and further damage stopped only when a troop of Grenadiers from the 96th Foot Regiment arrived to disperse the rioters. Conditions continued to deteriorate, and in 1842 Bolton was involved in the Plug Drawing Riots, bands of rioters pulling the plugs out of boilers causing costly and crippling damage to factory machinery. A public fast was declared on March 12th 1847 following the failure of the Irish potato harvest. In the summer of 1848 an outbreak of cholera ran until the spring of 1849.
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