CC Team of the Week / Place of the Week - Bolton

In honour of the lovely MC Martin (Club Oasis) this week’s team of the week has to be Bolton – the place he is returning to.  So less on the team and more on the Town. And what a town it is with 260,000 people it is the largest one in Britain.  The locals have tried to city status in 1992 for the 40th anniversary of the Queen’s accession; in 2000 to mark the Millennium;and in 2002 for the Diamond Jubilee all without success.

Part of Lancashire, the name Bolton derives from the Old English bothel and tun, meaning a "settlement with a special building". The first record of the town dates from 1185 and there were five different spellings before Bolton was used from 1307. The town's motto of Supera Moras means "overcome difficulties" (or "delays"). A charter to hold a market was given in 1251 by King Henry III and the market was held near Ye Olde Man and Scythe until 18^th Century. 

In the English Civil War the town supported Parliament but it was a Royalist region and so Bolton was stormed by 3,000 Royalist troops led by Prince Rupert of the Rhine and Lord Derby in 1644. In what became known as the Bolton Massacre, 1,600 residents were killed and 700 were taken prisoner. At the end of the Civil War Lord Derby was tried as a traitor at Chester and condemned to death. When his appeal for pardon to parliament was rejected he attempted to escape but was recaptured and executed outside Ye Olde Man & Scythe Inn at Bolton on 15 October 1651.  As one of the  oldest pubs in Britain it is alledgely haunted.

  120+ pubs in Bolton area according to the web! 

Bolton has been a production centre for textiles since Flemish weavers settled in the area during the 15th century, developing a wool and cotton weaving tradition and Bolton developed with the introduction of textile manufacture during the Industrial Revolution. Local inventors Richard Arkwright’s water frame and Samuel Crompton’s spinning mule revolutionised cotton spinning. It was a boomtown of the 19th century employeeing up to 36,000 and at its peak in 1929, its 216 cotton mills and 26 bleaching and dying works made it one of the largest and most productive centres of cotton spinning in the world. The earliest mills were situated by the streams and river as seen today at Barrow Bridge, but steam power led to the construction of the large multi-storey mills and chimneys that came to dominate Bolton's skyline.  But the British cotton industry declined sharply after the First World War, and by the 1980s cotton manufacture had virtually ceased in Bolton.

As well as the spinning and weaving, bleach works were key in the area and the development of the entire textile industry was helped by local availability of coal and transport links including the Manchester Bolton and Bury Canal and the Bolton and Leigh Railway (the oldest in Lancashire). The latter opened to goods traffic in 1828 and connected to the Leeds and Liverpool Canal a route for receiving raw cotton from America. By 1900s Bolton was the third largest engineering centre with companies building textiles machinery and components for motor industry. 

Bolton Central Library was one of the earliest public libraries established after the Public Libraries Act 1850, opening in October 1853 in the Exchange Building on the old market square . In 1880 the municipal transport system started with horse drawn trams amd then in 1899 the electric tram service started. By 1820 there was 60 miles of tramway.  During the first World War during the night of 26 September 1916, Bolton was the target for one of the first aerial offensives in history. L21, a Zeppelin commanded by Oberleutnant Kurt Frankenburg of the Imperial German Navy, dropped 21 bombs on the town, 5 of them on the working class area of Kirk Street, killing 13 and destroying 6 houses.

Currently the Reebok brand's European headquarters are located at the Reebok Stadium and the town is also the home of the family bakery, Warburtons established in 1876 on Blackburn Road.  In 2008, Watson Steel Structure of Lostock, Bolton was awarded the contract to build the steel structure for the 2012 Olympic arena. The mascots for the 2012 games are based on two drops of steel from the firm.

Bolton has had notable success in sport; former Premier League football club Bolton Wanderers play home games at the Reebok Stadium and The WBA World light-welterweight champion Amir Khan was born in the town. Bolton also has several notable cultural aspects, including 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.

According to a survey of the British Association for the Advancement of Science Boltonians are the friendliest people in Britain. Famous locals include Peter Kay (comedian), Vernon Kay (tv & Radio), Fred Didnah (tv historian) and Sarah Cox (no place can be perfect!)

As for the football team – with their new manager Dougie Freedman, nicked from Paula – they were formed in 1874, founder members of the football league and played at Burnden Park for their first 102 years before moving to the Reebok Stadium in 1997.  It spent 73 seasons in the top division of the English league – more than any club never to have been league champions.

On 28 April 1923, Bolton won the cup at their third attempt to win their first major trophy, beating West Ham United 2–0 in the first ever Wembley final (sorry M,J,A&T). The match, famously known as The White Horse Final was played in front of over 127,000 supporters. Bolton's centre-forward, David Jack scored the first ever goal at Wembley Stadium. They became the most successful cup side of the twenties, also winning in 1926 and 1929, beating Manchester City and Portsmouth respectively (hmm).

The years of the Second World War saw most of the Wanderers' playing staff see action on the front as 15 Bolton professionals, led by their captain Harry Goslin, volunteered for active service in 1939, and were enlisted in the 53rd Bolton Artillery regiment.  53rd Bolton Artillery took part in the battle of Dunkirk and also served in the campaigns of Egypt, Iraq and Italy. Remarkably, a number of these soldiers managed to carry on playing the game on these theatres of war, taking on as 'British XI' vario They managed to keep playing during this time competing in scratch teams against teams assembled by King Faruk of Egypt in Cairo and Polish forces in Baghdad. In 1953 Bolton played in one of the most famous FA Cup finals of all time – The Stanley Matthews Final of 1953. Bolton lost the game to Blackpool 4–3 after gaining a 3–1 lead. Blackpool were victorious thanks to the skills of Matthews and the goals of Stan Mortensen.