A HISTORY OF LANCASHIRE 



Apart from the municipal buildings and churches 

 the most noticeable are the Spinners Hall, theatre, 

 Conservative Club, and infirmary. Near the southern 

 boundary is a recreation ground ; close by is the Pike. 

 Bolton Park, opened in 1866, though on the north 

 bank of the Croal, is mostly within Great Bolton ; 

 there is a recreation ground on the opposite or south 

 bank. The infirmary adjoins the park. 8 



Digging sea coal at Bolton is named in i^j^.. 83 

 The woollen manufacture and other handicrafts 

 seem there to have found a home early. Leland, 

 about 1536, says: ' Bolton-upon-Moor market 

 standeth most by cottons and coarse yarn. Divers 

 villages in the moors about Bolton do make cottons 

 [woollens]. Neither the site nor ground about Bolton 

 is so good as it is about Bury. They burn at Bolton 

 some cannel, but more sea coal, of which the pits be 

 not far off. They burn turf also." A deputy 

 aulnager was ordered to be appointed at Bolton in 

 I566, 10 and the town appears to have prospered. 



In religion, though some few of the neighbouring 

 gentry remained attached to the ancient faith, the 

 people of Bolton soon became Protestant and inclined 

 to the extreme party, so that in the I yth century the 

 town was regarded as the Geneva of Lancashire. 11 

 During the Civil War, therefore, it naturally took 

 sides against the king, giving assistance to Sir John 

 Seaton, and suffered three different assaults from the 

 Royalists. The first took place on 16 February 

 16423, when Colonel Assheton and his force, to the 

 number of 500, were attacked by Lord Derby's forces 

 from Wigan, by way of Bradshaw Gate. The out- 

 works were taken, but the protection of a mud wall 

 and chain sufficed for the defenders ; though gallantly 

 attacked again and again for four hours, they succeeded 

 in driving off the Royalists, who returned to Wigan. 11 

 A year later a second attack was made. On the 

 evening of 28 March 1644, Lord Derby, after sum- 

 moning the town to surrender, made two assaults, but 

 his men were each time compelled to retire. Two 

 months later, 27 May, Prince Rupert and Lord 

 Derby, with an army of 10,000 men or more, 

 attacked the town, defended by Colonel Rigby, who 

 had withdrawn his troops from Lathom. The first 

 assault was repulsed with loss ; but Lord Derby, eager 

 to avenge the long siege of Lathom, led a second attack 

 at the head of a body of picked men, while Prince 

 Rupert attacked the town from another side. The 

 defenders were outmatched and the town was taken, 

 Colonel Rigby flying into Yorkshire. The Royalists 

 were said to have used their advantage with great 

 cruelty, refusing quarter 13 and desolating the town. 



It was on this account that the Earl of Derby's execu- 

 tion in 1651 was ordered to t; ke place at Bolton. 

 He was accordingly beheaded there on a scaffold 

 erected by the market cross. The people of the town 

 appear to have sympathized with him, and a tumult 

 had to be forcibly quelled by the soldiery. 14 



The Man and Scythe Inn, the house where the 

 earl is said to have rested a little before his execu- 

 tion, still stands on the south side of Church Gate, 

 near the old market-place : a low two-story building 

 with modern blue-slated roof, substantially the same 

 as when rebuilt in 1638, though in some degree 

 modernized and repaired. The date of rebuilding, 

 together with the initials A.W., occurs on a stone over 

 the old kitchen fireplace. Two relics of the earl are 

 preserved in the house a triangular-seated chair on 

 which, according to a brass plate on the back, the 

 earl sat ' immediately prior to his execution,' and a 

 two-handled tankard out of which he is said to have 

 drunk, which also bears an inscription. 



The cotton manufacture is said to have been intro- 

 duced about 1650. Bolton soon revived, 14 and in 

 1673 was thus described: 'Seated on the River 

 Irwell, a fair, well-built town, with broad streets, 

 hath a market on Mondays, which is very good for 

 clothing and provisions ; and it is a place of great 

 trade for fustians.' 16 Some Protestant artisans, driven 

 from France by Louis XIV, are said to have settled 

 in Bolton in 1685, to the advantage of its manufac- 

 tures. 17 It was not directly affected by the Jacobite 

 risings of 1715 and 1745. The people were rude 

 and violent, 18 and the ' barbarous customs ' of the 

 place were noticed at the beginning of last century. 19 

 The improvement that had then taken place was 

 attributed to the rise of the Sunday school, for in a 

 place where even young children worked all the week 

 round, Sunday was the only day for teaching. These 

 schools began about 1770, that of the Wesleyans 

 being famous. There were numerous charitable in- 

 stitutions, the dispensary being established in 1814. 

 The Mechanics' Institution was founded in 1825. 

 By that time the outward aspect of the town had also 

 improved, the inclosure of the moor in 1792 enabling 

 a great advance to be made. Horse-racing * and cock- 

 fighting were among the amusements. In 1793 and 

 1 794 companies of Marines and Infantry Volunteers 

 were raised in view of the national dangers. 21 The 

 later volunteer movement readily found a response in 

 the town, a company being formed in 1859 largely 

 multiplied since then. 2 * 



The trade of the town continued to make advances in 

 spite of occasional years of adversity. Dr. Aikin in 



8 The infirmary is a development of 

 the old dispensary. 



83 De Banco R. 455, m. 395 d. 



9 Itin. vii, 57. 



10 Stat. 8 Eliz. cap. 12. 



11 ' Poor and pious Bolton ' ; Civil 

 War Tracts (Chet. Soc.), 128. 



u The accounts of these events are 

 printed in Scholes and Pimblett, op. cit. 

 399-418 ; also Civil War Tracts, 77,81, 

 128 (first attack), 133 (second), 188-98 

 (third) ; War in Lanes. (Chet. Soc.), 22 

 (first), 50-2 (third). On the alleged 

 murder of Captain Bootle by the Earl of 

 Derby see ibid. 1 34-42. 



18 The account in Seacome's House of 

 Stanley states that quarter was at first 

 refused because Prince Rupert learned 

 that the defenders had killed some of his 



soldiers taken prisoners in the first 

 attack. 



14 Civil War Tracts, 321 ; War in 

 Lanes. 82-5 ; see also Stanley Papers ( Chet. 

 Soc.), pt. 3, and Seacome, op. cit. For a 

 curious incident see Lanes, and Cbes. Hist, 

 and Gen. Notes, iii, 9. 



15 For several tokens issued 1651-67 

 see Lanes, and Ches. Antiq. Soc. v, 74. 



16 Blome, Britannia, quoted by Baines. 

 1 ' r Baines, Lanes. 



18 Oliver Heywood has a story of ' a 

 monstrous, prodigious, barbarous murder ' 

 in 1665, arising out of the rejoicings over 

 the repulse of the Dutch ; it was ' auda- 

 ciously huddled up by the justices and 

 others ' ; Diaries, iii, 94. 



John Wesley, after a rough reception at 

 Rochdale in 1749, went to Bolton, and 



244 



found 'the lions at Rochdale lambs in 

 comparison with those at Bolton. Such 

 rage and bitterness I scarce ever saw before 

 in any creatures that bore the form of 

 men' ; Scholes and Pimblett, op. cit. 357 

 (quoting Wesley's Journal"). 



19 Baines, Lanes. Dtr. \, 537. 



80 Races took place in 1752. 



31 Scoles and Pimblett, op. cit. 447-53 ; 

 Local Gleanings Lanes, and Ches. i, 255. 

 Light Horse Volunteers were raised in 

 1798, and disbanded in 1816. A Yeomanry 

 troop was formed in 1819. 



22 At present the gth Lanes. Royal Gar- 

 rison Artillery (Volunteers), with three 

 batteries, have head quarters in Silverwell 

 Street ; the 2nd V.B. Loyal North Lanes. 

 Regiment, twelve companies, have head 

 quarters at their barracks in Fletcher Street. 



