Bolton

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This page is about the town of Bolton in Greater Manchester, England. For other places and people named Bolton, see Bolton (disambiguation).

Image:Bolton dot.png Image:Boltonarms.PNG Bolton is a town in the Greater Manchester urban area in England, and traditionally part of Lancashire. It is the largest settlement in the Metropolitan Borough of Bolton, yet is notable for its proximity to the West Pennine Moors which surround the town to the north and east.

1 Origins of name
2 History
3 Employment
4 Sport
5 Demographics
6 Arts
7 Education
8 Media
9 Twin Towns
10 Other Facts
11 External links

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Origins of name

The origins of its name (in full, 'Bolton-le-Moors') is generally thought to derive from the words "Bolt", a type of arrow (thought to be a reference to the role inhabitants played in the defeat of the Scots at Flodden Field in 1513) and "Tun", the Saxon word for town. Indeed, a Bolt and a Crown (a representation of a village stockade) are depicted in the coat of arms of the town.

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History

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, to eventually settle there, 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 rapid 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 maintainance in late June became the Bolton Holidays.

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Employment

In recent times, the town has swapped much of its heavy industrial machinery for service-based activities. 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-developped 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, as well as keeping an eye on the present and future with electronics development and information technology.

Tourism plays an important part of the local economy, with offerings such as Halli'th'wood, Smithills Country Park, 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.

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Sport

Bolton has a Premiership football club called Bolton Wanderers F.C. managed by Sam Allardyce. 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.

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Demographics

89% White
6.1% Indian
2.5% Pakistani
2.4% other (with no one group exceeding 1%)

(Office for National Statistics, 2001 Census of Population)

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Arts

Bolton has an acclaimed theatre called The Octagon along with many small, independant 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 http://www.alberthalls-bolton.co.uk/, this venue is over 100 years old. Art is also to be found in Bolton via Bolton Museum and Art Gallery (http://www.boltonmuseums.org.uk/HTML/art.asp) boasts a fine collection of both local and international art.

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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. Formally Bolton Institute of Higher Education, it finally gained University status in 2005 and has seen much building work and growth since.
Bolton has its own Children's Service, formed September 1st 2005).
The Bolton Teaching and Learning Centreserves schools as a central point for online materials.

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Media

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

The town's local newspaper is the Bolton Evening News, although the Manchester Evening News is also widely available.

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Twin Towns

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

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Other Facts

At the last count, in around 2003, the town is home to over 260,000 people. It is the second largest town in the U.K, coming just after Croydon, Greater London.

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.

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

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

Some famous people from Bolton: