History

Recent History

Like many UK towns recovering from a decline in traditional industry, Bolton has switched to technology and IT (helped by the University of Bolton) as well as call centres. Tourism, manufacturing and retail industries still form a large part of the private sector. Although only 19km (12mi) from Manchester, Bolton boasts its own Premiership football team, Bolton Wanderers, as well as a thriving theatre and arts scene.

Modern Day History

The textile industry continued to boom in the 20th century as Bolton grew and swallowed up some of the surrounding villages into Greater Bolton. By 1929 there were more than 200 cotton mills operating in the district and more than 30,000 people employed directly in the industry. Following WWII there was a sharp decline in the cotton industry and by 1979 only eight mills remained.

Cotton wasn't the only famous product though. A footwear company first founded in Bolton in 1895 was renamed Reebok in 1960 and went on to become a sports-shoe success.

Pre 20th Century History

A Saxon village existed in the area now occupied by Bolton on the banks of the River Croal. Following the Norman conquest in 1066 the land passed between the Crown and various earls before receiving its first town charter (to host a market) in 1251 from King Henry III. Bolton's oldest pub, Ye Olde Man and Scythe, on Churchgate, dates back to the same year. Around the 14th century, the first leanings towards Bolton's future industrial prominence began when Flemish weavers settled. However, the cotton and textile industry didn't really take off until the 17th and 18th centuries.

Bolton was a parliamentarian outpost during the civil war of the 17th century. In 1644, 3000 local troops were routed by royalist forces led by the Earl of Derby in what became known as the Bolton Massacre. When Cromwell was finally victorious, the earl was captured and beheaded at Churchgate in Bolton.

In 1779 Samuel Crompton invented the spinning mule at his Bolton home and, although he was too poor to patent it, the water-powered yarn-spinner would revolutionise the industry. Steam-powered cotton mills and factories were already churning out textiles, but over the next 150 years Bolton, along with Manchester, would grow to become one of the world's biggest cotton manufacturers.