25 YEARS AGO

IF Samuel Crompton, impoverished inventor of mule spinning could see today the tiny cottage where he was born, he might not consider it such a humble beginning. He would recognise it as his early home from the plaque recording that fact, yet inside find no spartan rooms, but a cosy gently-opulent home. A £32,750 scheme is under way to conserve nine acres of land and Firwood Fold's row of picturesque cottages. It is the town's first such scheme, and will create a 'village green' and turn the Fold into a 'living museum' of Bolton's history.

50 YEARS AGO

From the Evening News, May 1, 1947

THERE was a time when the residents of a town like Bolton knew its geography intimately, but those days seem to have gone, and young people no longer know the names of places which were familiar to their parents and grandparents.

In a conversation yesterday a group of young people who work in the town centre were asked if they knew either Bolling's Yard or Tipping Place. And none of them did.

125 YEARS AGO

From the Evening News, May 1, 1872

TODAY, being the 1st of May, the carters bedecked the horses entrusted to their care with all the paraphernalia usually employed to usher in the 'Merrie month of May'. A large number of horses belonging to the principal firms of the town, bleachers, colliery proprietors, and others, were greatly admired for their neat appearances, the majority of them wearing new harness or gears of the latest style or fashion. Many of the horses were laden with gay and in many instances gaudy decorations. Saddlecloths in great variety, some of which had very neat effect, were to be seen on most of the horses. The general condition of the horses reflected great credit upon their owners and the carters.

Converted for the new archive on 14 July 2000. Some images and formatting may have been lost in the conversion.