IF Stanley Radcliffe gets involved in an argument about old Bolton, for instance which pub was on which street, the names of mills and where they stood, and many other similar subjects, he knows that he has the answer virtually at his fingertips.

He simply looks in a large book of maps which he owns, called Plan of the Borough of Bolton, 1882, "shewing boundaries of Townships and Wards", and he can prove his point.

Stanley, of Medway Close, Horwich, got the book when he bought the contents for scrapping of Mortfield Bleachworks, near the bottom of Chorley Old Road, Bolton, when it closed in the early 1960s (in his career he "scrapped" about 60 mills in Lancashire, he tells me). The book, which measures 28in x 22in (none of that new fangled centimetre nonsense for me!) contains about 50 large pages of maps, in great detail, of Bolton in those far off times at the end of the 19th century.

The book, left in the mill by the previous owners together with other papers, records that it was "Published by Bolton Corporation in 1882 under the direction of J Proctor, Borough Surveyor, and drawn up in Stone and Printed by W and A K Johnston, Edinburgh and London". And in case you are wondering, no I don't know what "drawn up in Stone" means. I think I read it correctly, even though I had to take off my glasses to do so!

One of the most interesting things about the maps, is that they demonstrate the amount of space there appeared to be, apart from near the mills where houses had been built for the workers, and some of the main roads. Vast tracts of open countryside are shown -- although by now, at the beginning of the 21st century, most of them have disappeared for development of different kinds, mainly housing.

The mills are numerous, of course; for instance, in only the reasonably small section near where the Blackburn and Halliwell Roads meet (it was known as the Halliwell New Road in those days) mills included the Prospect, Cobden, Waterloo, Spring , Britannia, and Alexandra. It was the same for other areas including near the town centre.

The book also shows many reservoirs, but a number of these are near the mills, so presumably they are what later we would call mill lodges. There were other larger reservoirs, though, some near the town centre, such as the Great Bolton Reservoir No. 1, just off Fletcher Street opposite the Volunteer Barracks.

The railways also played a much bigger part in Bolton's life in those days; both the Lancashire and Yorkshire Railway (Trinity Street station) and the London and North Western (Great Moor Street station) were prominent, with branches for Preston, Kenyon, Little Hulton, Manchester, Bury, Blackburn and Clitheroe, and also the Astley Bridge branch railway. There were also numerous railway sidings, important, of course, for transporting goods.

Other things I noticed in particular was that the Post Office was on the corner of Bradshawgate and Silverwell Street, the Savings Bank in Wood Street, the Public Library on the Town Hall Square (where the Nationwide Building Society now stands, in the same building). And at the back of the Town Hall, where the Crescent now stands, were shops and houses -- many people lived in the town centre in those days, of course.

You will recall that earlier in this article, I mentioned that the public houses were also noted. There were, as you can imagine, quite a lot of them, and some are still here! Take Deansgate, for instance. Starting at the Moor Lane end, and going to the junction with Bradshawgate, were the White Lion, King's Head, Hen and Chickens, Queen's Arms, Coach and Horses, Hand and Banner, Four Horse Shoes, Higher Nag's Head, Lower Nag's Head, Old Woolpack and Joiners Arms.

On the other side of the road, along Deansgate, from Bank Street to Marsden Road, were the Old Three Crowns, Rope and Anchor, Rope and Crown, King's Arms, Hen and Chickens (yes, that's right, another one), Blue Bear, Collingwood Inn, Beehive, and Welcome Home.

A Friday night pub crawl with a half pint in each of those would have left you more than slightly inebriated.

It is a fascinating book of local maps, showing Bolton how it used to be 120 years ago, even before Burnden Park was built. So here's a tip -- don't get into an argument about old Bolton with Stanley Radcliffe, because he might just have the evidence at home ...