Bolton Metropolitan Borough

Bolton - Like many of the other towns in Greater Manchester, Bolton has a strong association with the Industrial Revolution and all the attendant pros and cons that involves. Although a prosperous town with many successful smaller tradesmen and manufacturing premises, Bolton was, first and foremost, a cotton town whose population multiplied by a factor of 10 in the 19th century.

A small number of Saxon artefacts were found in Victorian times but little evidence of earlier settlement. Bolton, or Bolton-le-Moors to give it its full and original name, like many of the other Greater Manchester boroughs, became part of the holdings of Roger of Poitou after the Norman Conquest in 1066. It passed to the Earl of Derby in the early years of the 13th century. In the mid 13th century William de Ferrers was granted a charter, by Henry lll, allowing him to hold a market and fair. Only a couple of years later the town received another charter making it a free borough and market town. Today, Bolton's modern shopping centre and market can, perhaps, be said to reflect those early successes!

Strongly Parliamentarian in the Civil War of the mid 1600s, Bolton was besieged by Royalist forces on several occasions and, after falling to them in 1644, suffered a cruel massacre. After the war James, Earl of Derby, was executed for his part in the deed.

Bolton's prosperity has been largely dependant on the production of textiles and dates back to the Middle Ages, when Flemish refugees arrived with their spinning and weaving skills. The damp air on the western slopes of the Pennines proved perfect for the spinning of thread. These skills were utilised with the introduction of cotton and, in the early years of the 20th century the town had over 200 cotton mills and a couple of dozen bleaching and dying mills. By the end of the century, though, like everywhere else, the industry was declining at an alarming rate and many mills and factories were either demolished or being used for other purposes.

The town's success today depends on a diversity of industries and services. It is home to call centres, IT and high technology companies which operate alongside the more familiar industries in manufacturing, textiles, steel and paper etc. Bolton is determined to maintain its position as an important and popular retail and commercial centre. Warburton's first bread crumbs were baked in Bolton! The famous Reebok brand name was born in the town and is now emblazoned over Bolton Wanderers' modern Football Stadium.

The Arts aren't neglected and the Octagon Theatre and the Albert Halls cater for the theatre-goer. The Museum and Art Gallery host frequently changing exhibitions and events. Plans have been made to develop the location, on Le Mans Crescent, into a cultural centre.

The current borough was formed from the old county borough of Bolton, the municipal borough of Farnworth , the urban districts of Blackrod , Horwich , Kearsley , Little Lever , and Westhoughton , as well as the southern part of Turton urban district, specifically the villages of Bradshaw, Bromley Cross, Dunscar, Egerton and Harwood.