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Bolton

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Revision as of 21:18, 5 July 2006 by Lancsalot (talk | contribs) (rv sub-standard editor)(diff) ← Previous revision | Latest revision (diff) | Newer revision → (diff) This page is about the town of Bolton in Greater Manchester, England. For other places and people named Bolton, see Bolton (disambiguation).

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File:Boltonarms.PNG
Arms of Bolton Metropolitan Borough Council, the motto is Latin for "Overcome your hinderance"

Bolton is a town in Greater Manchester in England, traditionally within the county of Lancashire. It is the largest settlement in the Metropolitan Borough of Bolton, which borders the north-west edge of the Manchester metropolis and yet is notable for its proximity to the West Pennine Moors which surround the town to the north and east. The town itself had a population of 139,403 according to the 2001 Census, with the whole borough having a population of 264,800.


Origins of name

The origins of the name (in full, 'Bolton-le-Moors'), which has had many derivations of its spelling including Bothelton and Boulton, are not totally clear from historical records.

History

Evidence of a Saxon settlement exists in the form of religious objects found when the present Victorian parish church was built.

The town's position on the west of the Pennines provides a damp climate. It is this feature which probably led to Flemish weavers, fleeing the Huguenot persecutions in the 17th century, to eventually settle here, as moisture-laden air allows for the spinning of cotton with little breakage. The cotton industry was to provide the catalyst for the town's expansion between the 14th and 19th centuries. Large, steam-powered textile mills eventually dominated the town's skyline, providing the major employment and defining the rhythm of the working week, so much so that an annual shut-down for maintenance in late June became the Bolton Holidays.

In the early 19th Century Bolton was split into Great Bolton and Little Bolton with Little Bolton being approximately the area North of the River Croal. On 11th January 1838 a Charter of Incorporation was drawn up by the councils of Little Bolton and Great Bolton. On 11th October 1838 Bolton was incorporated as a municipal borough under the Municipal Corporations Act 1835. The election was held on 30th November 1838 and Mr. Charles James Darbishire became the first mayor. Other outlying areas were incorporated into Bolton later in the 19th Century. The two parts of Bolton continued to be known as Great Bolton and Little Bolton at least until the end of the 19th century.

Employment

In recent times, the town has swapped much of its heavy industrial machinery for service-based activities including a large number of data processing and call centres and also hi-tech electronics and IT companies. It is a mecca for shoppers from all over the north of England and further afield, not only to the Victorian splendour of the town centre but to newly-developed Middlebrook park, home to Bolton Wanderers, the Bolton Arena, leisure facilities, shops, pubs, restaurants and sundry other businesses. The town retains a variety of more traditional industries, employing people in, amongst other things, aerospace, paper-manufacturing, packaging, textiles, transportation, steel and building.

Tourism plays an important part of the local economy, with attractions such as Hall I'th Wood (the home of inventor Samuel Crompton), Smithills Country Park and Smithills Hall, Rivington, Last Drop Village and the civic museums in the town centre. Townsfolk can make use of the facilities at Leverhulme, Moss Bank and Queens parks.

Bolton is the birthplace of the Reebok brand. The company's European headquarters are located in the town. Bolton is also the home of the bread manufacturers, Warburtons, who began their business in 1876 on Blackburn Road in Bolton. As well as this Bolton is home to MBDA's main production facility in Horwich.

Sport

Bolton has a Premiership football club called Bolton Wanderers F.C. who play their home games at the Reebok Stadium, and is managed by Sam Allardyce. Bolton Wanderers qualified for the UEFA Cup by finishing sixth in the Premiership in 2004/05, but were knocked out by Olympique de Marseille after a 2-1 defeat. This season they finished eighth in the Premiership. Indoor facilities for sports training and major racket sports tournaments are provided courtesy of the newly-built Bolton Arena, which was used for some of the events in the 2002 Manchester Commonwealth games.

Demographics

(Office for National Statistics, 2001 Census of Population)

Arts

Bolton has an acclaimed theatre called The Octagon along with many small, independent groups such as Bolton Little Theatre, Farnworth Little Theatre and the Phoenix Theatre Company. In the town hall of Bolton there is also a large theatre and conference center called The Albert Halls - this venue is over a hundred years old.

Visual arts are also represented in Bolton via Bolton Museum and Art Gallery which boasts a fine collection of both local and international art.

Le Mans Crescent, (currently home to the library, museum, art gallery, aquarium, police station, magistrates court and the town hall) is to be at the centre of a new Cultural Quarter. This area will no longer house the police station and magistrates court; instead the library and museum are to be extended into these sections of the building, along with other new cultural projects. These works are to take place during a large-scale expansion and improvement project, which is set to more than double the size of the current town centre and improve its appearance, infrastructure and amenities.

Education

Bolton is home to a leading independent day school, Bolton School, whose Boys' Division originated in around 1516. It was endowed by Robert Lever in 1641 and again by William Hesketh Lever (later Lord Leverhulme) in 1898, allowing it to be rebuilt alongside a new Girls' Division on its current site in Chorley New Road .
Bolton also has its own modern university, the University of Bolton. Formerly Bolton Institute of Higher Education, it finally gained University status in 2005 and has seen much building work and growth since.

The town also has a host of primary and secondary schools, many of which are performing well although some are in special measures. A notable achievement was the turn-around of the formerly under achieving school - The Deane School, now renamed Ladybridge High. Bolton also has a community college which provides further education to many in the borough and has many sites throughout, and Bolton Sixth Form College.

The Bolton Teaching and Learning Centreserves schools as a central point for online materials.

Media

Local radio is provided by Tower FM, a station which broadcasts across Bolton and Bury.

The town's local daily newspaper is the Bolton Evening News. There are weekly free papers, such as the Bolton Journal and Bolton Scene.

The town falls under the Granada ITV television region, and North West BBC region, both served by the Winter Hill transmitter in Belmont, just to the north west of the town.

Twin Towns

Bolton is twinned with Le Mans in France and Paderborn in Germany.

Other Facts

According to a survey of the British Association for the Advancement of Science Boltonians are the friendliest people in Britain.

Bolton is one of the more deprived boroughs in England according to the Indices of Deprivation 2000. It is the 28th most deprived in England in terms of numbers of people who are income deprived. A third of the Borough's population lives in seven wards which are amongst the 10% most deprived in England - Central, Derby, Farnworth, Burnden, Halliwell, Tonge and Harper Green. An eighth ward - Breightmet - is almost as deprived. (These electoral wards have now been replaced.)

Despite this, Bolton is currently experiencing much attention and is experiencing an influx of people, leading to property prices increasing faster than most parts of the UK. The borough already contains traditional and also increasingly affluent areas including Heaton, Horwich, Harwood and Smithills. Much of the growth in the western half of the borough is being driven by the Bolton Economic Development Zone, which is centred around the Middlebrook development.

On February 13, 2003, Bolton was granted Fairtrade Town status.

Local Groups

Bolton has over 1,000 voluntary and community groups working in the area. Contacts for some of these groups can be found at Bolton Groups Online. The Bolton District Council For Voluntary Service is online and people seeking voluntary work can apply.

Bolton children's services authority was formed on September 1st 2005.

Famous people from Bolton

Areas of Bolton

External links

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