A HISTORY OF LANCASHIRE 



ways are worked by the corporation. 75 The ceme- 

 teries at Tonge and Heaton, opened in 1857 and 

 1879 respectively, are regulated by a burial board. 



The Parliamentary borough was created by the 

 Reform Act of 1832 ; the electoral area included 

 Great Bolton, most of Little Bolton, and Haulgh, and 

 was extended in 1868 to include Astley Bridge and 

 Little Bolton Higher End/ 6 It has always been 

 represented by two members. 



The parish church has been described above. 

 There is a mission hall in connexion with it. The 

 other churches in this district are : Holy Trinity, 

 Sweet Green, was erected in 1826 as a chapel of 

 ease, and made the head of a separate parish in 

 1841 ; the Bishop of Manchester is patron." Em- 

 manuel was built in 1838, and made parochial in 

 1841 ; the vicar of Bolton presents the incumbent. 78 

 Christ Church was built in 1818 by the Methodists, 

 and called Ebenezer; it was transferred in 1841 to 

 the Church of England ; the Crown and the Bishop 

 of Manchester present alternately." St. Paul's, which 

 has a mission church, was built in 1865, and had a 

 district assigned to it the following year ; it is in the 

 gift of five trustees. 80 St. Mark's was built in 1866, 

 and was consecrated in 1871 ; the Bolton Lecture- 

 ship Trustees and another body of four trustees pre- 

 sent alternately. 81 St. Bartholomew's, built in 1879, 

 had a district assigned to it in 1880 ; five trustees 

 have the patronage. 8 * The Saviour's was built in 

 1882 ; in this case also the patronage is vested in five 

 trustees. 63 To St. Philip's, 1898, the Bishop of Man- 

 chester and the Bolton Lectureship Trustees present 

 alternately. 84 Three of these churches have benefited 

 by the Lectureship fund. 



A small Methodist congregation was formed about 

 1742, but John Wesley, on his first visits in 1748 and 

 1749, met with a brutal reception. 85 Soon after this 

 there broke out the dispute between Wesley and 

 Whitefield as to Calvinism ; the congregation divided, 

 and the few Wesleyans proper kept up a meeting, and 

 Wesley himself several times visited the town. The 



chapel in Ridgeway Gates, Deansgate, opened in 

 1777, represents this first congregation. There are 

 now seven other Wesleyan churches in Great Bolton,* 6 

 and the Victoria Hall, Knowsley Street, built in 1900, 

 is the head quarters of the Bolton mission. The 

 Methodist New Connexion formed a congregation as 

 early as 1797 ; their first chapel, Ebenezer, built in 

 1818, has been mentioned above as Christ Church. 87 

 They have now no building in Great Bolton. The 

 Primitive Methodists had a meeting-place in Newport 

 Street in 1822, used till 1865 ; they have continued 

 to increase, and have two chapels in the township. 88 

 The United Free Methodists have two chapels, 

 Hanover Street dating from i834. 89 The Indepen- 

 dent Methodists also have two chapels. The Bible 

 Christians are represented. 



Congregationalism in Bolton " traces its origin to 

 the above-mentioned dispute between Wesley and 

 Whitefield. The latter great preacher visited the 

 town in 1750, and the Calvinistic section of the 

 Methodists soon afterwards began separate meetings, a 

 chapel being built in Duke's Alley in 1754 > ll was 

 in use till recently. 91 Mawdsley Street, opened in 

 1808, originated in a secession from the other con- 

 gregations ; it was rebuilt in 1870. There are two 

 other churches of this denomination, 92 and a mission 

 hall. 



Baptist preaching began in 1777 ; a little chapel in 

 King Street, on the bank of the Croal, was opened in 

 1793 and used for some years. A new start was 

 made in 1 8 1 8, as a result of which Moor Lane Chapel 

 was opened in 1822 ; this was sold to the Primitive 

 Methodists in 1866, and the denomination has now 

 no place of worship in Great Bolton. 93 



The Moravians had preaching stations at Bolton 

 and Haulgh in the latter part of the 1 8th century. 9 ' 



The Society of Friends assembled for a century 

 from 1721 to 1820 in a meeting-house in Acres- 

 field. 95 



The Presbyterian Church of England has St. 

 Andrew's, opened in 1 8^.6. x 



7 s The first tramways were laid in 

 1880 ; ibid. 509. 76 ibid. 509-11. 



77 Land. Gaz. 12 Nov. 1841 ; endow- 

 ments of ;8io in all have been notified 

 in the Gazette, It was built out of Par- 

 liamentary funds. There is a peal of 

 eight bells. 



< 8 The name of the church was sug- 

 gested by the vicar, who was of Emmanuel 

 College, Cambridge ; Land. Gaz. \ 2 Nov. 

 1841 for district; 22 Oct. 1841 and 2 

 Aug. 1864 for endowments. 



7 9 Ibid. 3 June 1844. 



80 It stands on the site of a chapel built 

 in 1803 for Scottish Presbyterians. See 

 ibid. 13 Apr. 1866 for district. 



81 Ibid. 29 June 1866. 



82 Ibid. 28 May 1880 ; for endowments 

 ibid. 20 May 1881 and 10 June 1881. 



88 Ibid. 3 Mar. 1882. The building 

 funds were provided by Nathaniel and 

 Thomas Greenhalgh, two brothers. There 

 is a peal of eight bells. 



84 A temporary iron church is used. 



85 This account is from Scholes and 

 Pimblett, Bolton, 355-8. The first Wes- 

 leyan meeting-place was in Hotel Street ; 

 the authors refer to J. Musgrave's Origin 

 of Methodism in Bolton (1865). Wesley 

 visited Bolton again in 1752, 1753, and 

 many later years ; the last visit was in 

 1790, when he ' preached in the lovely 

 house at Bolton, to one of the loveliest 



congregations in England, who by patient 

 continuance in well doing had turned scorn 

 and hatred into general esteem and good 

 will.' 



86 Fletcher Street Chapel was opened 

 in 1819, Bradshaw Gate in 1849-51, 

 Fern Street 1871, and Victoria 1872. 



8 7 Scholes and Pimblett, op. cit. 366. 

 Owing to internal disputes and financial 

 difficulties, Ebenezer Chapel was disposed 

 of in 1 841; the minister conformed to the 

 Established Church and was ordained as 

 perpetual curate, and most of the congre- 

 gation followed him, and continued to 

 worship in the old building, which was 

 consecrated in 1844. From 1841 to 

 1852 there was a New Connexion chapel 

 in Lever Street. 



88 Ibid. 366. In 1865 the Primitive 

 Methodists acquired a Baptist chapel in 

 Moor Lane, rebuilt in 1877. 



89 Ibid. 367. This denomination began 

 in Bolton about 1820 as Independent 

 Methodists. Hanover Street Chapel was 

 due to a secession from the Wesleyan 

 schools in Ridgeway Gates. 



90 Ibid. 369-74 ; B. Nightingale, Lanes. 

 Nonconf. iii, 16-43. 



91 There seem to have been two suc- 

 cessive chapels on the same ground, which 

 was the place where Whitefield preached. 

 The chapel was in use in 1892 ; Night- 

 ingale, op. cit. 26-7. A history of it, 



25O 



under the title Centenary Memorials, was 

 published by the Rev. William Hope 

 Davison, the minister in 1854. 



92 Rose Hill was the meeting-place of 

 a vegetarian society, nicknamed Dump- 

 lingites and regarded as Socialists. It was 

 then used by Wesleyans, and in 1841 was 

 acquired by the Mawdsley Street congre- 

 gation for a Sunday school; in 1864 a 

 school chapel was erected, and in 1870 a 

 separate church was constituted ; Nightin- 

 gale, op. cit. 41. 



93 Scholes and Pimblett, op. cit. 375-7. 

 King Street Chapel, said to have passed 

 from the Baptists in 1806, appears as a 

 Baptist chapel in a map of 1824. 



94 Moravian Ch. in Lanes. (1888), 16, 17. 



95 Scholes and Pimblett, op. cit. 353. 

 There were Quakers in Bolton as early as 

 1675. 



96 A number of Scotchmen attending 

 Duke's Alley Chapel formed a separate 

 congregation in 1 803, building a chapel at 

 the junction of Moor Lane and Deansgate, 

 now occupied by St. Paul's Church. After 

 a few years the Presbyterian Chapel had 

 to be closed, and was used by several 

 denominations in succession. A new start 

 was made in 1837, and this led to St. 

 Andrew's being built ; Scholes and Pim- 

 blelt, op. cit. 374-5. The old chapel was 

 occupied by Baptists in 1819, and after- 

 wards by Unitarians ; ibid. 376. 



