SALFORD HUNDRED 



BOLTON-LE-MOORS 



At the beginning of 1253 William 

 BOROUGH de Ferrers, Earl of Derby, then lord of 

 Bolton, by his charter made the town 

 a free borough, and granted the burgesses certain 

 liberties. Each burgess was to have an acre of land, 

 measured by the long perch of 24 ft., and to pay I zd. 

 a year. A reeve was to be chosen each year by the 

 burgesses from among themselves, and pleas were to 

 be heard in the local halmote or portmanmote. The 

 burgesses had rights of turbary, and might take timber 

 from the grove between the great lane and the land 

 of the church ; they were to grind at the lord's mill 

 to the twentieth measure, but if they were kept wait- 

 ing more than two days might take their corn else- 

 where. All pleas belonging to the borough were to 

 be decided before the lord's bailiffs by view of the 

 burgesses. 58 The earl had in December 1251 pro- 

 cured the king's charter for a market at Bolton every 

 Monday, and a yearly fair on the eve, day, and 

 morrow of St. Margaret, 19-21 July, as well as for 

 free warren. 69 



The borough 60 did not develop into an indepen- 

 dent community, but, like Manchester, was governed 

 by officers appointed at the manor courts. 61 The 

 growth of the town during the 1 8th century made a 

 change desirable. In 1792 an Act was passed for the 

 inclosure and allotment of Bolton Moor, for regu- 

 lating the streets, securing a water supply, removing 

 nuisances, and licensing conveyances. 6 * The Com- 

 missioners under the Act had thus considerable powers 

 of government ; and a voluntary association for watch- 

 ing the town existed for some years. 63 In 1838 a 

 charter of incorporation was granted under the general 

 Act of 1 83 5, the townships of Great and Little Bolton, 

 with some alteration of boundaries, becoming the 

 borough of Bolton." A considerable party in the 

 district, preferring the older order, protested that the 

 charter was invalid, until the Boroughs Incorporation 

 Act of 1842 confirmed it. 65 The borough was at 

 first divided into six wards Exchange, Bradford, 

 Derby, Church, East, and West each with two 

 aldermen and six councillors. In 1839 magistrates 

 were appointed for the borough, and a court of 

 quarter sessions was granted. A number of improve- 

 ment Acts have been passed ; by that of 1847 the 

 waterworks, formed by a private company in i8i8, 66 

 were purchased, and have since been greatly enlarged; 

 the gasworks, also owned by a private company 



formed in 1818-20, were acquired in l872. 67 Electric 

 lighting works were opened in 1 894. Under an Act 

 of 1850 the powers of the Great Bolton and Little 

 Bolton Trusts 68 were transferred to the corporation, 

 and the erection of a market was authorized ; this was 

 opened in 1855, and enlarged in 1894 ; a fish market 

 was added in 1865, and a wholesale market in \%ji** 

 A free library was inaugurated in i853, 70 and this has 

 constantly grown ; a natural history museum build- 

 ing, the gift of Dr. S. T. Chadwick, was opened in 

 1884 ; the Mere Hall art museum was presented by 

 Mr. J. P. Thomasson in 1 890, and Hall i' th' Wood by 

 Mr. W. H. Lever in 1 899. The baths were opened 

 in 1846, and have been enlarged since. Parks and 

 recreation grounds have been added, and a large part 

 of Rivington has recently been presented to the town 

 by Mr. W. H. Lever. 



For a long time the council used the Little Bolton 

 Town Hall, built in 1826, for its meetings ; but in 

 1873 the new Town Hall was opneed. 71 At the 

 same time the council was enlarged ; in the preceding 

 year Daubhill had been taken into the borough as 

 Rumworth Ward, and in 1873 the wards were in- 

 creased to eight, by constituting a portion of West 

 Ward into an independent one, called North Ward ;. 

 and the boundaries were rearranged. The two new 

 wards had an alderman and three councillors each. 78 

 In 1877 the boundaries were again enlarged, part of 

 Halliwell being included as a ninth ward, with two 

 aldermen and six councillors. 73 Twelve years later 

 the town became a county borough under the Local 

 Government Act, and in 1898 a further extension of 

 boundaries took place, so that the municipal borough 

 now includes the old townships of Great and Little 

 Bolton, and Tonge with Haulgh, and those of Halli- 

 well, Heaton, Lostock, Rumworth, part of Over 

 Hulton, Middle Hulton, Great Lever, Darcy Lever r 

 Breightmet, and Sharpies. The town is governed by 

 a mayor, twenty-four aldermen, and seventy-two* 

 councillors ; there are seventeen wards, of which 

 seven Exchange, Bradford, Derby, Church, East, 

 West, and Halliwell have each two aldermen and 

 six councillors ; and the rest North, Rumworth, 

 Astley Bridge, Tonge, Darcy-Lever-cum-Breightmet, 

 Great Lever, Hulton, Deane-cum-Lostock, Heaton, 

 and Smithills have each an alderman and three 

 councillors. A grant of arms was obtained in iSgo. 7 * 

 A school board was formed in 1870. Electric tram- 



88 The charter has been printed in full 

 by Miss Bateson in Engl. Hist. Rev. xvii, 

 291-3. She describes it as 'another 

 version of the Salford and Stockport 

 charters of Ranulf de Blundeville's model ' 

 (p. 285). As in the Salford charter, 

 freedom from toll within the grantor's 

 lands was allowed, and no one might 

 exercise his trade as shoe-maker, skinner, 

 fuller, or the like, within the wapentake 

 of Salford unless he were in the borough. 



The burgages, with their rent of izd. 

 each, have frequently occurred in inquisi- 

 tions referred to above. Thus in 1288 

 there were sixty-nine (or seventy) bur- 

 gages, each rendering izd. The number 

 may have been greater, for the revenue 

 of the Harrington quarter in 1362 was 

 taid to include 211. from the burgages, 

 implying a total of eighty-eight. 



89 Cal. Chart. R. 1226-57, p. 374. The 

 charter was exemplified in 1331 at the re- 

 quest of Henry Earl of Lancaster ; Cal. 

 Pat. 1 3 30-4, p. 192. 



In a writ of Quo Warranto in 1498 the 

 market day is called Friday ; Pal. of Lane. 

 Writs Proton. 1 3 Hen. VII. 



In 1602 a citizen of London put for- 

 ward his claim to be exempt from tolls in 

 the markets and fair of Bolton ; Ducatus 

 Lane, iii, 483. 



60 Account was rendered in 1257 of 

 451., the farm of the borough of Bolton for 

 two terms 5 Lanes. Inj. and Extents, i, 205. 



61 It was in 1825 governed by a borough 

 reeve, two constables, and inferior officers 

 elected annually at the courts leet in Oct. ; 

 see Scholes and Pimblett, Bolton, 480. 

 'The privilege of holding a court-baron 

 for the recovery of small debts under 

 40*. is vested in the lords of the manor of 

 Great Bolton, and formerly a court-baron 

 was held here, but in the 6th of George III 

 it was discontinued, owing to the clerk 

 having absconded and conveyed away part 

 of the records ' ; Baines, Lanes. Dir. i, 538. 



62 The account in the text is mainly 

 drawn from Scholes and Pimblett, Bolton, 



249 



464-5 1 2, where full details are given. The 

 Act for inclosing the moor differed from 

 most others in allowing one-fifteenth to 

 the lords of the manor, and directing the 

 remainder to be sold on chief rent or let 

 on long leases in aid of the poor rate ; 

 Lanes, and Ches. Antiq. Sac. vi, 123. 



68 The 'Watch and Ward ' committee, 

 from 1812 to 1820; Scholes and Pim- 

 blett, op. cit. 470. 64 Ibid. 483. 



65 Ibid. 486. The new police super- 

 seded those of the borough reeve and con- 

 stables in 1839. 



66 Ibid. 472, 494. 67 Ibid. 472, 506^ 

 68 Created by the first Improvement 



Acts. 



* 9 Scholes & Pimblett, op. cit. 496,497.. 



7 Ibid. 497. 71 Ibid. 502-6. 



7* Ibid. 506 ; 35 & 36 Viet. cap. 78. 



7' Ibid. 510 ; 40 & 4.1 Viet. cap. 188, 

 and 42 & 43 Viet. cap. 103. 



7* Scholes & Pimblett, op. cit. 511. 

 The old arms were Gules two bendlets en-- 

 hanced or ; crest, an elephant. 



32 



