SALFORD HUNDRED 



BOLTON-LE-MOORS 



1795 wrote : 'This original seat of the cotton trade 

 is still the centre of the manufacture of ornamental or 

 fancy goods. It is only by emigrants from this place 

 that any branches of this trade have been transplanted 

 elsewhere ; but the most ingenious part of the work- 

 manship still remains rooted as it were to the soil, 

 and flourishes even amidst present discouragements so 

 far that the poor suffer less here than in any of the 

 surrounding districts. The muslin trade is that which 

 seems to answer best at present. Since the opposition 

 of the populace to the use of machines for shortening 

 labour has been quelled by convincing them of their 

 utility, spinning factories have been erected through- 

 out all the surrounding country, especially where water 

 is plentiful. The streams near Bolton are too near 

 sources to furnish the water that large works require ; 

 there are few, therefore, in the neighbourhood of the 

 larger kind, though several of the smaller. Much 

 water is also occupied by the bleachers, who have 

 extensive crofts here. . . . The want of water in 

 this district is made up by the ingenious invention of 

 the machines called mules, or Hall-in-the-Wood 

 wheels,' by Samuel Crompton. Sir Richard Ark- 

 wright, another great inventor, was for a time a 

 barber in Church Gate, and there devised his 

 improvements. 23 



In 1807 Bolton was described as 'noted for its 

 medicinal waters, and more so for its manufactures of 

 fustians and counterpanes, dimities and muslins. . . . 

 It stands amid dreary moors. . . . Market on Mon- 

 day.' M 



Cotton-spinning and the various branches of the 

 manufacture, together with bleaching works, have 

 continued to prosper. Bolton Exchange was opened 

 in 1829. The Bolton and Manchester Canal, for 

 which an Act was obtained in 1791, helped in the 

 development, as did the railways, already projected in 

 1825, and opened in 1828 and later years. At pre- 

 sent, in addition to the many great cotton factories 

 there are in Great Bolton important iron and steel 

 works and machine factories, where boilers, steam 

 engines, &c., are made ; also breweries, saw-mills, 

 leather works, and other industries. 



The market is now open daily, but Monday re- 

 mains one of the chief days for business. A number 

 of fairs are held ; the old fair in July is kept up on 

 the last Wednesday in that month and the following 

 day ; another is held on the second Wednesday and 

 Thursday in October ; the dates of these were in 

 1824 31 July and 14. October, a cattle fair being 

 held on the preceding days. 



Beyond the fragments of crosses in the church, 



there are no remains of any great antiquity in the 

 town. The market cross was removed in 1786. The 

 pillory was last used in i8i8. 25 



A printing press is said to have existed as early as 

 1 76 1. 26 The first newspaper, the Bolton Herald, was 

 established in 1813. v At present there are two daily 

 evening papers, the Chronicle and Evening News ; the 

 former, founded in 1870, has a larger Saturday issue, 

 and the latter (i 887) also has one called the Journal and 

 Guardian. The Cricket and Football field is printed at 

 Bolton, and there is a monthly paper, the British 



Prince Albert visited some local mills in 1851, and 

 King Edward VII, when Prince of Wales, opened the 

 new town hall in 1873. 



A statue of Samuel Crompton stands in Nelson 

 Square, and one of Dr. Chadwick in Victoria 

 Square. 



Among the minor events in the town's history may 

 be mentioned the activities of the Resurrection men 

 about 1829 ; w appearances of the plague in 1623, 

 cholera in 1832 and 1848-9, and typhus in 1847 ; 

 the Murphy No-Popery riots of 1868 ; the anti- 

 Republican riot of 1871 ; and the municipal scandal 

 of 1875. 



' Jannock,' a word of approval, is said to have been 

 the name of the oat bread which was at one time the 

 universal diet of the Bolton artisans. 



Owing to the paucity of records it is 

 MANOR impossible to give a full account of the 

 descent of the manor of BOL TON. This 

 formed part of the fee of the Marsey family,* 9 as is 

 shown by the descent of the 

 advowson of the church, and 

 so passed to Ranulf, Earl of 

 Chester, and his heirs the 

 Ferrers, Earls of Derby. 50 On 

 the forfeiture of the latter in 

 1266 Bolton escaped, having 

 been granted by Robert de 

 Ferrers to his brother Wil- 

 liam, 31 after whose death in 

 1287 it was found to be held 

 of Edmund, Earl of Lancaster, 

 by doing suit to Salford Wapen- 

 take court from three weeks 

 to three weeks and to the county court from six 

 weeks to six weeks. 82 In the time of Henry VIII 

 Bolton did suit to Penwortham. 33 



Shortly after 1287, but by what title is unknown, 

 the manor was held by Margaret, sister of Sir Robert 

 de Holland, and on her death divided among her four 



IAA/ 



UT7U 



\TU\f, 



FERRERS, Earl of 

 Derby. Vairy or and 

 gules. 



28 Aikin, Country round Mancb. 262-4. 

 At one time, it is said, the manufactures 

 were sold at Bolton, but this part of the 

 trade was gradually drawn to Manchester ; 

 Baines, Lanes. Dir. i, 534. Cotton velvets 

 are stated to have been made at Bolton in 

 1756, and muslins and cotton quiltings 

 in 1763 ; ibid. 



24 Lanes, and Ches. Hist, and Gen. Notes, 

 in, 115, from the Universal Gazetteer. 



23 For the pillory see ibid, iii, 100. 



28 Local Gleanings Lanes, and Ches, i, 

 21, 30. 



3 7 For an account of the local news- 

 papers see Bolton Hist. Gleanings, i, 68. 



28 One Hannah was convicted in 

 1830; he had stolen seven bodies from 

 Bolton. 



29 Lanes. Inq. and Extents (Rec. Soc. 



Lanes, and Ches.) i, 71 ; the services 

 due from this part of the fee appear to 

 have been divided among the dependent 

 manors. Several of the later inquisitions 

 state the manor to be held of the lords 

 of Manchester, but this seems to be an 

 error. It was Penwortham rather. 



80 See V.C.H. Lanes, i, 296. With the 

 ' manor of Bolton ' went lands in Little 

 Bolton, Tonge, Haulgh, Breightmet, 

 Sharpies, &c. ; Ormerod, Cheshire (ed. 

 Helsby), i, 37. The later manor of Little 

 Bolton had as dependencies Haulgh and 

 part of Tonge, together with certain ' de- 

 tached portions ' north of Astley Brook, 

 which were probably the Sharpies lands of 

 the charter quoted. 



81 William de Ferrers' estates were con- 

 fiscated, but afterwards restored to him by 



245 



the king. There is an account of the 

 family in Collins, Peerage (ed. 1779), 

 vi, 331-7 ; also in G.E.C. Complete 

 Peerage. 



82 Inq. and Extents, i, 268. There were 

 in Bolton 69 burgages, each rendering i zd. 

 a year ; John de Halliwell held 43 acres 

 and a burgage, worth zos. ; 36 acres of 

 land were worth 5</. a year each. The 

 tolls of fair and market were valued at 

 431. ; the water-mill at zos. ; but the 

 pleas and perquisites of the court were 

 worthless, on account of the poverty of 

 the tenants. The whole value of the manor 

 was therefore 8 71. a year. Nicholas de 

 Segrave had the custody of lands during 

 the minority of the heir ; Cat. Pat. 1281- 

 92, p. 295. 



83 Ducatus Lane. (Rec. Com.), i, 213. 



