Dates relevant to the pictures of Bolton
1644 28 May, Prince Rupert’s army overcome the Bolton defences resulting in the “Bolton Massacre” of the civil war.
1651 15th October, Earl of Derby beheaded in Churchgate
1721 Boar’s Head on Churchgate built (closed 1992, demolished 1998)
1777 16th April John Wesley opens Ridgway Chapel, predecessor of Victoria Hall
1777 St Helena Mill built
1796 St George’s Church opened
1808 Great Moor Street /Mawdesley Street Congregational Church founded
1813 Nelson Square, a small health office opened – no in patients at this stage (see 1838)
1818 11th February, Bolton Gas Company established
1819 BGC supplied gas lighting and household gas
1819 Parish Church School built on corner of Silverwell Street and Churchgate
1824, July 30th the Trustees of Little Bolton held their first meeting in the partially completed town hall which officially opened Feb 7th 1828
1827 26 June. Samuel Crompton died
1828 Bolton Leigh railway opened but no evidence of a regular passenger service until joined with Manchester Liverpool railway 1831
1828 7th February Official opening of Little Bolton Town Hall. Little Bolton became a Parish in 1662
1831 the original (ground level) Great Moor Street railway station opened
1835 Greater Bolton most of Little Bolton, and Tonge with Haulgh amalgamated as a Municipal Borough, the second to be created in England, part of Rumworth added 1872, part of Halliwell 1877, Breightmet, Darcy Lever, Great Lever, the rest of Halliwell, Heaton, Lostock, Middle Hulton, the rest of Rumworth which had been renamed Deane (in 1894) Smithills, and Tonge plus Astley Bridge Urban District, and part of Over Hulton in 1898
1835 The Wheatsheaf built on the corner of Newport Street and Great Moor Street
1836 Legs of Man on Churchgate first opened
1837 Queen Victoria accession to the throne
1838 Nelson Square health office – from this date some patients were given beds in an emergency but some time after this about sixty beds were provided
1847 Bridgeman Street baths opened (built 1845, closed 1976)
1851 William Hesketh Lever born at 16 Wood Street
1853 Magee’s Crown brewery was founded in 1853 by David Magee, Derby Street Crown Street
1855 Church Institute, Silverwell Street opened, became Canon Slade School in 1946 (moved to Bradshaw 1959) demolished 1969
1855 19th December, Market Hall, Knowsley Street opened
1856 Bank Street Unitarian Church original building opened.
1861 Bolton Institute workhouse built at Fishpool farm on the Farnworth border to replace a workhouse in Fletcher Street and a “Casual or Tramp Ward” on Kings Gate (King Street in the Bolton town centre?). This was not at this stage a hospital or infirmary.(see 1875)
1862 Statue of Samuel Crompton dedicated in Nelson Square
1865 Bridge Street Fish Market opened alongside the Market Hall.
1868 (1866?) old Parish Church demolished
1869 Preston’s opens on Bradshawgate
1871 29 June, The new Bolton parish church was consecrated
1872 Bolton Corporation take over Bolton Gas
1873 Town Hall constructed; opened 5th June 1873 by the Prince and Princess of Wales, later Edward VII and Queen Alexandra
1873 The Bolton Royal Infirmary was built just off the bottom of Chorley New Road to replace the Nelson Square facilities, originally with 84 beds but eventually around 224.
1874 Bolton Wanderers formed
1875 Great Moor Street Station rebuilt and reopened. The station closed for regular services in 1954 though was used at holiday times for North Wales until 1958. It was finally demolished in 1970.
c1875 – The Hollins Cottage Homes were set up adjacent to Fishpool but separated from it with its own access to Plodder Lane. The purpose was to accommodate orphan or pauper children who might otherwise have been placed in the Workhouse which was essentially for adults. It was later extended. (see 1910)
1878 17th January, One of the first telephone lines in the world connected the Gas Offices with the gas works.
1878 Marsden Road High Level Bridge opened
1880 tram lines laid (for horse drawn trams)
1881 Bolton Wanderers signed James McKernan from Hibernian and to get round the amateur/professional ruling they installed him as publican of the Britannia Inn in Derby St; for some considerable time the Britannia was the headquarters of the Wanderers after they left Christ Church, Pikes Lane.
1883 Bolton Royal Infirmary opened
1886 Silverwell Street Drill Hall built, attached to front of Silverwell House
1887 Victoria Golden Jubilee year
1889 Bolton became a County Borough
1892 Marks and Spencer opened a stall in the Market Hall
1893 The lending library SW corner of Victoria Square (now replaced by Wellsprings) opened
1895 Albert Ward sports shop established on Bradshawgate, closed 1974
1897 Town Hall Square renamed “Victoria Square” for the Diamond Jubilee
1897 Co-op drapery on corner of Higher Bridge St / St George’s Rd opened 20 Jan (fire 1902 reopen 1904)
1899 School in Parish Church grounds (behind Church Institute) moved the Chorley New Road and became Bolton School.
1900 trams electrified
1900 Victoria Hall opened
1902 White horse on corner of Mealhouse Lane and Shipgates, closed
1902, 1st June Co-op building at corner of Bridge Street St George’s Road destroyed by fire
1902 9th August Some buildings in Bolton decorated for coronation of Edward VII
1903 High Street Swimming Baths opened (closed 1985)
1904 Trinity Street station opened
1905 Preston’s acquire the site on the West corner of Deansgate / Bank Street
1905 16 Wood Street becomes the home of Bolton Socialist Club
1907 King’s Hall, Bradshawgate opened
1907 Whitaker’s opened on corner of Deansgate and Old Hall Street North, then Lion’s Paw on opposite corner was rebuilt in imitation and opened as Silver Vat
1908 The New Empire Theatre later the Hippodrome opened
1909 new market cross erected
1909 Whiteheads buy the block west of “Prestons” as far as Crown Street and renovate to the form
known thro C20. Closed 2000
1909 Olympia skating rink opened, becoming the Regal Cinema, then Nevada skating rink, burned down by an arson attack in 1985. Now Bolton Lads and Girls Club Bolton Lads Club having changed its name and moved into a new purpose built building here in 2002
1910-1913 The original wards A to E of the new hospital were built on Townleys Farm adjoining Fishpool, the new hospital being built because the population of Bolton had increased considerably and the Infirmary was not big enough
1910 The Electric Theatre, later the Imperial Playhouse and finally the Embassy cinema opened at corner of Deansgate and Bridge Street (closed 1947)
1912 Woolworth’s opened in Oxford Street
1913 Prestons rebuild on the corner in style of Whitehead’s into form known through rest of C20.
1920 Cenotaph in Nelson Square to commemorate Bolton Artillery
1920 Trustee Savings Bank opens in Hotel Street
c1920 The Queens Park cenotaph was erected to commemorate the Soldiers & Officers of the Loyal North Lancashire Regiment.
1924 Moss Street baths opened (closed 1988)
1925 In Victoria Square, the ornate gas lamp and the circular trough surrounding its base were removed so it would not detract from the planned cenotaph and to avoid future interference with traffic.
1925-7 The Bessemer forge east of Moor Lane, between New Street and Deansgate dismantled
1926 Woolworth’s moved to Deansgate / Bridge Street corner (Britannia House, replacing Constantine Bros)
1927 St George’s Hotel at corner of Knowsley Street / St George’s Road rebuilt. Closed Jan 1926.
1928 unveiling of Cenotaph in Victoria Square for WW I without statues.
1928 Civic Week - a pair of semis built in Queen Street.
1928 and 1930 June, demolition underway for the building of the Civic Centre Crescent
1929 13 February, Capitol Cinema opened, became ABC August 1962, closed as a cinema October
1977, replaced by Stone Cross House in 1991
1931 the statues put in place on the Victoria Square Cenotaph.
1931 Construction of Civic Centre Crescent begins
1932 Fish Market in Bridge Street demolished
1932 Ashburner Street market opened
1932 work on extending the Town Hall and building the Crescent began
1937 March LIDO opened (building started 1936)
1937 21st August The Odeon’s first night with the first Battalion of the Royal Scots band
1938 Individual stalls constructed in the Market Hall to replace the open area and what were not much more than trestle tables.
1938 The visit of Queen Elizabeth (wife of King George VI, later Queen Mother)
1939 Extension to Town Hall and Civic Centre opened by Earl of Derby (though parts had been in use since 1937).
1946 Church Institute, Silverwell Street became Canon Slade School
1947 29th March, last tram route in Bolton (Tonge Moor route) was closed.
1948 Foundation of the NHS, Fishpool and Townleys hospital were amalgamated
1950 Singer and Manchester on corner of Victoria Sq
1952 3rd March Daubhill Station closed
1954 29th March Great Moor Street Station closed for normal use but holiday services to North Wales continued.
1956 March trolley buses to Four Lane Ends ceased running (The last trolley bus Service in South Lancashire stopped 31 August 1958)
1957/8 Demolition of one side of Newport Street and north side of Victoria Square
1958 Great Moor Street station completely closed
1958 New shops (Battersby’s) built on Newport Street opposite Ault’s
1958 the Trinity Street station canopy is demolished
1958 Bolton Wanderers FC win FA Cup
1959 Canon Slade School moved from Silverwell Street to Bradshaw Brow
1959 May - Grand Theatre closed but used for other purposes for a time afterwards
1959 new shops on Great Moor Street are in use, the Wheatsheaf has not yet been demolished
1961 Timothy Whites and Taylors on corner of Victoria Square / Hotel Street has been built (when?) but rest of the block remains as yet unchanged
1961 May Top Storey Club fire disaster
1961 Gas Offices closed
1961 Hippodrome closed
1962 Capitol became ABC August 1962
1962 Booth’s Music moved from number 11 to number 17 Churchgate
1962 The Wheatsheaf is demolished
1962 Legs of Man, Churchgate closed
1962 King’s Arms, Deansgate closed, later headquarters of Operation Mobilisation, then their bookshop Chapter and Verse finally Sweeten’s Bookshop
1962 November the rebuilt Wheatsheaf on the corner of Great Moor Street and Newport Street was opened.
1963 Gas Offices demolished
1963 Elim Chapel on Moor Lane demolished
1963 March, Great Moor Street / Mawdesley Street Congregational Church demolished
1963 Churchgate – Grand Theatre, Legs of Man and the Derby Arms replaced by Churchgate House.
1964 King’s Hall, Bradshawgate, demolished – closed 22 Jun 1958
1964 demolition in preparation for Arndale Centre
1965, railway from Great Moor St to Daubhill, Chequerbent, Atherton and Leigh ceased all operation. [[The last goods train to use Crook Street Goods Yard was in 1967, the line from Atherton remaining open as far as Hulton Sidings until January 1969. William Nightingale]]
1964 demolition on corner of Hotel Street, Mealhouse Lane already done in preparation for M&S extension
1966 frontage of Great Moor Street Station demolished. Whole site levelled early 1970s
1966 Bull and Wharf, Church Wharf, demolished in preparation for St Peter’s Way
1966 Arndale partly complete, partly under construction, buildings on corner of Hotel Street, Mealhouse Lane have been demolished in preparation for M&S extension (still there 1957).
1968 Victoria Sq still through traffic with buses but new shops on north side of Newport St
1968 Howell Croft North demolished to make way for Paderborn House
March 1969 Pedestrianisation of Newport Street.
March 1969 Blackhorse Street widened at junction with Deansgate
1969 Church Institute in Silverwell Street demolished
1970 Sabini’s on Churchgate becomes the Sandwich Inn
1970 or 1966? Great Moor Street station demolished
1972 St Peter’s Way open (December 1971 quote “ready for traffic” but some pictures suggest it is not quite.)
1972 Parish Church School on corner of Silverwell Street / Churchgate demolished
1972 16 May Flax Mill chimney demolished
1972 St George’s Hotel and block between Bark Street and St George’s Road demolished ready for building of Market Place 13 years later
1974 Commercial demolished and Mothercare built
1974 May, Chapter and Verse Book Shop opens in King’s Arms building Deansgate after Operation Mobilation had used the premises for some time as headquarters.
1974 Bolton County Borough abolished and Bolton (with Blackrod, Farnworth, Horwich, Kearsley, Little Lever, South Turton, Westhoughton) became Bolton Metropolitan Borough
1977 Capitol closed as a cinema October 1977
1978 Ambulance Station moved from Cheadle Square
1985/6 Market Place building commenced
1980 December, Sweeten’s Book Shop opens in King’s Arms building
1980? New fire station
1983 Odeon became Mecca bingo
1985 Co-op build Normid Supermarket at embankment end of Burnden Park.
1985 Oct/Dec Nevada burned down
1985 April major restructuring of Moor Lane bus station begins
1985 High Street baths closed
1986 The Wheatsheaf is renamed Serendipity’s
1987 Newport Street shops opposite Town Hall have now been rebuilt, the Samuel Wigglesworth fountains
1987 Trinity Street bridge has been rebuilt and widened, the station clock has been rebuilt on the other side of the road but the old station remains
1988 Moss Street baths closed
1988 HM Queen Elizabeth opens the Market Place and the Water Place
1991 Capitol cinema replaced by Stone Cross House
1992 Boar’s Head on Churchgate closed
1996 After a considerable amount of building at Townleys - more correctly the Bolton District General Hospital the name Townleys having been officially abandoned years before but still used by much of the population - the Infirmary was closed.
1997 April Bolton Wanderers v Charlton Athletic, last game at Burnden Park before move to Reebok Stadium.
1997 Southeast side of Nelson Square redeveloped
1998 August; Burnden Park demolished to be replaced by ASDA etc.
1998 Bolton Royal Infirmary closed (patients
removed 1996) and demolished. It was flat by
August 1998
1998 Boar’s Head on Churchgate demolished
2000 Whitehead’s closes.
2001 Marsden Road Fire station is demolished, gone
May 2001
2002 Bolton Lads’ Club became Bolton Lads’ and Girls’ Club in its new purpose-built building on the site of the Nevada, Spa Road.
2003 Water Place demolished
2007 Odeon scheduled for demolition (actual date demolished?)
2008 Thurs 24 July 2008 Copyplan fire
2009 Woolworth’s closed
2014 Reebok Stadium renamed Macron
here ..
MATERIAL WORLD: Naisby's shop, which stood on the corner of the Town Hall Square and Hotel Street for many years. According to an advertisement, it was established in the 18th century, and was described as "Merchant Drapers, Manufacturers, Linoleum Fitters, Carpet Planners, Wholesale Shirt, Skirt, Jacket and Window Blind Makers.
A reliable firm with experts in every department.".
Above: Naisby's windows on Hotel Street.
Left: Hotel Street / Victoria Square corner with the Gas Offices at the left and some contemporary transport.
1952
Looking across Victoria Square from near the Grapes Hotel; taken in 1952 by Bolton News reader, Bill Shaw,
Jaguar Mk VII
1950s, still cobbles, still horses and carts, now bus stops. Headscarves are in, but so are hats with bows and trilbies. We have a foreshortened view along Knowsley Street with the Victoria Hall visible and beyound it the tall steeple, now removed, of St George's Road URC (Congregational?).
The Commercial Hotel, thought to have been built in the 1790s in open fields. This picture early 1900s, tram tracks, Oxford Street, horses and carts, toy shop on far right. Note the pub is Brandwood's.
1954
In its heyday, as many people remember it.
It is now Magee's.
1973
the Commercial Hotel has been recently demolished despite many protests and the building of Mothercare is in progress. Victoria Square now pedestrianised (yes 40 years ago) with the prize winning cement flags. The Co-op is still the Co-op?? The Hick Hargreaves machine is there in its glass case.
Work in progress on the new Mothercare store on a wet January afternoon in 1973. Another storey was added in 1974. The store closed in ??2006 and is now Barclays Bank.
24 September 2009
1961
Similar but wider view. On Victoria Square, Timothy Whites, the Northern Clothing building, Thomas Cook. Shortly before the Arndale Centre was built, now Crompton Place.
Photographer took advantage of the scaffolding while work was being done on the Town Hall. This is before any large scale clearance in that area. Gas Offices (demolished 1963) and Commercial Hotel still there. There is an unexpected chimney attached to the Bolton Evening News offices, a chimney is marked on the 1939 map attached to the “printing office”.
1955
A snowy evening scene just before Christmas, looking past the Co-op to the Commercial, Naisby’s and the Gas Offices
between 1955 and 1961
1,3,5 Victoria Square demolished
Looking back where we came from down Hotel Street, Gas Offices on the right. The Co-op building is the most obvious feature, still there though sadly no longer a co-op. The street on the left is Old Hall Street North. Where the flags are is now Paderborn House. Date not specified but obviously the time of the Coronation in 1953.
Howell Croft North towards Hotel Street, the garden on the left became Paderborn House with the GPO the Register Office and motor taxation office. Later Whitaker's extended into it, now Beales, empty since 2016. The pillared doorway is the Co-op Department store, now Sports Direct and Costa Coffee. Across is the Commercial Hotel, later Mothercare, at present Barclays Bank. On the right of Hotel Street the Gas Offices. The parish Church is to be seen dimly in the distance.
1964
Taken from the top of the Town Hall not long after the Gas Offices were demolished to make way for the Arndale Centre. There has been demolition on the near corner of Mealhouse Lane but we are some time off the building of the new Marks and Spencers. There is a clear view down Fold Street.
A view down Old Hall Street probably from a Town Hall upstairs window
1968
Howell Croft North. This whole area had once been Howell Croft, but the Town Hall and Crescent cut it in half so we have Howell Croft North where the Police Station used to be and Howell Croft South where the Library and the Deane and Daubhill bus terminus were.
The Aspin Hall still stands, though it is many years since the dances for which it was well known. In this block you might remember Betty’s sweet shop and the La Casa coffee bar, less likely to be remembered, H Lee, grocer; Hughes drapery and household; Civil Defence Headquarters; Health Food Store. Paderborn House now stands here
Howell Croft North,
Bolton Archives picture, probably from the Spender Worktown collection, 1937
Howell Croft North
<<< Bolton Archive picture probably just pre-war
24 September 2009>>
The block on the right has been replaced by Paderborn House (Victoria House before the twinning with Paderborn). The police station was on the right, now out of town at Scholey Street. The Magistrate's court is still on the left but there is talk of moving it.
Howell Croft North from Deansgate with a good view of Betty's. The flags on the right hand picture might date it to 1953. The Aspin Hall is on the left edge.
1968
The former Civil Defence Headquarters, Howell Croft North in the process of demolition.
1968 The shops have been demolished and in their place will be a new building, the ground floor will be the central Post Office, the GPO on Deansgate to be used for administration purposes, corporation departments will occupy the upper floor. It also accommodated the Registry Office before this moved to Mere Hall.The GPO of course later moved back to its home on Deansgate. When it was originally built in 1976 it was named Victoria House. The name Paderborn House was of course given when Bolton twinned with Paderborn in Germany. It eventually became Whitaker's extension.
1950
The Crescent, horse and cart still a standard means of transport, but getting quite busy with cars
1960s?
The last picture looked quite summery. The same place a few years later in the depths of Winter (mid 60s? compare Morris 1000 with cars of previous shot).
On the next page we continue round Howell Croft / Le Mans Crescent seeing it through the whole 20th Century.
That corner has been rebuilt and is now occupied by Timothy Whites. Next to it (Double Diamond sign) is Ross Munro's licensed premises moved from Victoria Square when Naisby's extended.
Page 16 has information about Ross Munro