A HISTORY OF LANCASHIRE 



The house is stated to have been originally of brick 

 and wood-and-plaster," but was entirely rebuilt in 

 1862, when nearly all traces of the ancient building 

 were lost. The roof timbers and principals of the 

 great hall were, however, preserved, and the south 

 side of the house in which the hall is situated was 

 rebuilt in brick between the old timber framing and 

 faced externally with timber and plaster on a low 

 stone base. This timber facing, which is continued 

 round the end of the hall facing east, consists of uprights 

 and straight and diagonal fillings, with a single centre 

 crosspiece, the absence of horizontal lines adding to 

 the apparent height of the elevation. The design, 

 however, does not apparently follow that of the old 

 building, which was of a much plainer description, 

 the constructive timbers only showing with wide 

 plaster spaces between. The rest of the house has 

 been rebuilt in stone in the domestic Gothic style of 

 the middle of the last century, with square-headed 

 windows and tile-covered roofs. 



If the former great hall occupied the full length of 

 the south side of the house, it must have been about 

 42 ft. long by 17 ft. wide, and the spacing of the roof 

 principals, if following out the original arrange- 

 ment, seems to imply that it did so. The principals 

 are two in number, dividing the roof into three bays 

 of unequal length, the western of which is now divided 

 from the rest by walls, and forms a separate room 

 on each floor ; a floor is also inserted in the eastern bay 

 of the hall, so that only the middle bay is now open 

 to the roof. The principals come down to the floor, 

 resting on stone bases, the timbers being quite plain 

 and roughly wrought, the height from floor to ridge 

 being about 25 ft. The purlins are strengthened by 

 wind braces, and the trusses have arched braces rising 

 to the underside of the collars, and king-posts above 

 the collars. The fire-places and windows date from 

 1862, but the tall window which occupies the full 

 height of the south side of the room probably replaces 

 an old one of similar type. The staircase is on the 

 north side, and preserves its Jacobean twisted balusters 

 and newels. A modern gallery across the east side of 



the open bay of the hall gives access to the bedroom 

 above. The cutting up of the hall and the intro- 

 duction of floors, together with the entire rebuilding, 

 has made the original disposition of the plan impos- 

 sible to follow. The house was opened in May 1908 

 as a church house in connexion with the parish of 

 St. John. 



Some other owners of land in the township occur ; 

 as Humphrey Booth of Salford K and William Horro- 

 bine, 26 in the ijth century. In 1782 the lands of 

 John Gartside paid half the land tax ; the other estates 

 were small. 17 



John Norris of Little Bolton, for some slight com- 

 pliance with the Royalists, had to compound for his 

 estate with the Commonwealth authorities in i646.* 8 



For the Church of England All Saints', formerly 

 known as the Chapel in the Fields, was built in 1726, 

 and rebuilt in 1871 ;* St. George's, I796; 30 St. 

 John's, 1849 ;" St. James's, 1871;" St. Matthew's, 

 I876; 33 St. Barnabas's ; M and at Astley Bridge, St. 

 Paul's, 1848, rebuilt 1869 ; 3S All Souls', iSSi. 36 

 The patronage is in various hands. Some of the 

 churches have benefited by the diversion of the Bolton 

 Lectureship endowment. 



The Wesleyan Methodists have churches in Bridge 

 Street, built in 1803, Park Street, 1863, and three 

 other places in the township, as well as one at Astley 

 Bridge, opened in 1868. The Primitive Methodists 

 have two ; the New Connexion also have two : in 

 St. George's Road, 37 and at Brownlow Fold ; the 

 United Free Church one, in Albert Place ; M the 

 Independent Methodists two, and a mission hall. 39 



The Congregationalists have three churches ; one of 

 them, in St. George's Road, claims to be the repre- 

 sentative of the original chapel in Duke's Alley, Great 

 Bolton ; it was opened in 1863.* 



The Baptists have two churches, named Claremon 

 and Zion, and a third is at Astley Bridge. 41 



The Society of Friends, removing from Great Bol- 

 ton, have had their place of meeting in Tipping Street 

 since 1820. 



Among the other places of worship are a Catholic 



34 Canon Raines, Notes to Gastrell's 

 Notitia Cestr. (Chet. Soc. xix), 1 2. There 

 is a rough drawing of the building as it 

 was about 1 860 now hung in one of the 

 upper rooms. 



25 Duchy of Lane. Inq. p.m. xxvii, 

 no. 44 ; no details are given. 



Roger the Louerd of Little Bolton was 

 defendant to a suit by Adam the Purser of 

 Lancaster from 1327 to 1332, respecting 

 goods found on the moors at Bolton in 

 1 322 ; De Banco R. 269, m. 184 ; R. 283, 

 m. 233, &c. 



26 Duchy of Lane. Inq. p.m. xxviii, 

 no. 70 ; he died in April 1633, holding a 

 messuage, &c. ; his son John was eighteen 

 years of age. A Thomas Horobin was 

 defendant in 1586 in a suit respecting 

 lands in Tonge ; Ducatus Lane. (Rec. 

 Com.), iii, 175. 



27 Land Tax Returns at Preston. 



28 His landlord, Sir Orlando Bridgeman, 

 had, at the outbreak of the Civil War, 

 asked John Norris to tell the tenants that 

 each man should provide himself with 

 arms and meet the king at Nottingham. 

 He read the letter, but had never taken 

 active part for the king, and had taken 

 the Negative Oath and National Covenant; 

 he had also found two men for the Parlia- 

 ment, who were slain when Prince Ru- 



pert took Bolton. He paid ,15 as 

 composition ; Royalist Comp. Papers (Rec. 

 Soc. Lanes, and Ches.), iv, 223. 



39 There is a view of the original chapel 

 in Scholes and Pimblett, Bolton, 229. A dis- 

 trict was formed for it in 1 841 ; Land. Gam. 

 12 Nov. The patronage is in the hands 

 of five trustees of the Tipping family. 



80 A district was assigned to it in 1841 ; 

 Land. Gam. 12 Nov. It was afterwards 

 endowed with 128 a year ; ibid. 28 July 

 1863. The vicar of Bolton is patron. 

 There is a peal of eight bells. 



81 A district had been assigned in 1 846 ; 

 Land. Gaz. i o Apr. ; for endowment, 

 ibid. 10 Aug. 1866. The Crown and the 

 Bishop of Manchester present alternately. 



82 The church was opened in 1869. A 

 district was assigned in 1872 ; Lond.Gaa. 

 23 Apr. ; for endowments, ibid, n July 

 1873 and 10 June 1881. It is in the 

 gift of three trustees. 



88 A district was assigned in 1875 ; 

 Land. Gaz. 29 Oct. ; for endowment, ibid. 

 15 June 1877. Five trustees hold the 

 patronage. 



84 The district was formed in 1896, but 

 a permanent church has not been built ; 

 the patronage is in the hands of the 

 Bishop of Manchester and the Bolton 

 Lectureship Trustees alternately. 



254 



85 A district was assigned in 1844; 

 Land. Gam. 3 June. The Crown and the 

 Bishop of Manchester present alternately. 

 There is a peal of five bells. 



86 The patronage is vested in five 

 trustees. 



8 ? Opened in 1852. 



88 This chapel was originally known as 

 Nimmo's,' from the Rev. David Nimmo, 

 an agent of the Town Mission. The 

 Methodists acquired it in 1857, and it 

 was rebuilt in 1881 ; Scholes and Pim- 

 blett, op. cit. 368. The New Connexion 

 and Free Church have recently united. 



89 Their history, reaching back about a 

 century, has been published in S. Rothwell's 

 Mem. of Folds Road Chapel, 1887. 



40 B. Nightingale, Lanes. Nonconf. iii, 

 30. Blackburn Road Congregational 

 Church was an offshoot from this ; started 

 in 1872, an iron church was built in 

 1877, and the present church was built 

 by Mr. W. H. Lever in memory of his 

 father. 



41 At Astley Bridge there was a meeting 

 of Baptists about 1818, revived again 

 about 1840. Claremont Church, opened 

 in 1869, is a migration from Moor Lane 

 Chapel, Great Bolton, which had become 

 too small ; Scholes and Pimblett, op. cit. 

 376-8. 



