Metropolitan Borough of Bolton

The Metropolitan Borough of Bolton ( BOHL-tən) is a metropolitan borough in Greater Manchester, England, named after its largest town, Bolton, but covering a larger area which includes Blackrod, Farnworth, Horwich, Kearsley, Westhoughton, and part of the West Pennine Moors. It had a population of 310,085 in 2024, making it the third-most populous district in Greater Manchester. What is now the borough was created in 1974 under the Local Government Act 1972; the area was formerly part of Lancashire. It was formed from seven urban districts from the administrative county of Lancashire, the southern part of an eighth urban district, and the county borough of Bolton. The metropolitan districts of Bury, Salford and Wigan lie to the east, south and west respectively; and the unitary authority of Blackburn with Darwen and the non-metropolitan district of Chorley in Lancashire to the north and north-west.

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Octagon Theatre, Bolton

The Octagon Theatre is a producing theatre located in Bolton, Greater Manchester, England.

Theater

Bolton Town Hall

Bolton Town Hall in Victoria Square, Bolton, Greater Manchester, England, was built between 1866 and 1873 for the County Borough of Bolton to designs by William Hill of Leeds and George Woodhouse of Bolton. The town hall was extended in the 1930s to the designs of Bradshaw, Gass and Hope and has been designated a Grade II* listed building by Historic England.

Government Landmark

Bolton

Bolton ( BOHL-tən, locally BOH-tən) is a town in Greater Manchester in England. In the foothills of the West Pennine Moors, Bolton is between Manchester, Blackburn, Wigan, Bury and Salford. It is surrounded by several towns and villages that form the wider borough, of which Bolton is the administrative centre. The town is within the historic county boundaries of Lancashire. A former mill town, Bolton has been a centre for textile production since the 14th century when Flemish weavers settled in the area, introducing a wool and cotton-weaving tradition. It was a 19th-century boomtown, development largely coincided with the introduction of textile manufacture during the Industrial Revolution. At its peak in 1929, its 216 cotton mills and 26 bleaching and dyeing works made it one of the largest and most productive centres of cotton spinning in the world. The British cotton industry declined sharply after the First World War and, by the 1980s, cotton manufacture had virtually ceased in the town. The town has a population of 184,073, whilst the wider metropolitan borough has a population of 296,169. Bolton originated as a small settlement in the moorland known as Bolton le Moors. In the English Civil War, the town was a Parliamentarian outpost in 1644 in a staunchly Royalist region and, as a result, the Royalist Prince Rupert of the Rhine led the 1644 storming of Bolton of 3,000 Royalist troops, which is also referred to as The Bolton Massacre, with 1,600 residents perished and 700 were taken prisoner. Bolton Wanderers football club now play home games at the Toughsheet Community Stadium in Horwich. Cultural interests include the Octagon Theatre and the Bolton Museum and Art Gallery, as well as one of the earliest public libraries established after the Public Libraries Act 1850. Bolton is of high strategic importance, being the location of missile production for the Ministry of Defence through the MBDA facility at Over Hulton.

Historic Site Landmark

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Storming of Bolton

The Storming of Bolton, sometimes referred to as the "Bolton massacre", was an event in the First English Civil War which happened on 28 May 1644. The strongly Parliamentarian town was stormed and captured by Royalist forces under Prince Rupert. It was alleged that up to 1,600 of Bolton's defenders and inhabitants were slaughtered during and after the fighting. The "massacre at Bolton" became a staple of Parliamentarian propaganda.

Historic Site Landmark