St George’s originally formed the civic heart of the township of Little Bolton. For many years the River Croal acted as a physical barrier between Great Bolton and Little Bolton. Each settlement, essentially market townships, grew and were serviced by their own respective civic and religious buildings. At the time of the cotton boom, Bolton, with its locational advantages, quickly became an important centre for the mill industries. The Town of Bolton was formed by the merger, in 1837, of the two former townships. The valley side location of Little Bolton, which developed from 1790, was never really suited to accommodate the development of mill buildings, which are more visible in the rest of the borough. This goes some way to explaining the large number of civic and church buildings in Little Bolton. Indeed the area has the greatest concentration of Georgian buildings in Bolton.
St George’s Conservation Area
St George’s Conservation Area was designated in 1970 and reflects an area of special architectural and historic interest following the route of St George’s Road and St George’s Street.
Little Bolton THI
The St George’s Conservation Area, which includes many of the key surviving buildings of Little Bolton, is currently the subject of the Little Bolton Townscape Heritage Initiative (THI). The THI is a Lottery funded grant-giving programme for the repair and regeneration of the historic environment in towns and cities in the UK. The programme is primarily aimed at filling the conservation deficit that often arises during the development of historic buildings. Bolton’s THI programme is managed on behalf of the Heritage Lottery Fund by Bolton Council. A common fund of £1.6 million was established in 2006 which included funds from the Heritage Lottery Fund and Bolton Council. Eligible grant funded works include external building repairs, internal works to bring buildings back into use, reinstatement of original architectural detail and works to the streetscape and public realm.
Deliverable THI Projects
The initial work undertaken to secure the THI for Bolton identified a number of projects that would be eligible to receive grant funding assistance including: Little Bolton Town Hall & 34 All Saints St; St Georges Church; 44-80 St Georges Road; Bridge Street; Bark Street East; Bow St; and public realm improvements.
The following projects are currently identified as priorities for action.
44-80 St Georges Road
This terrace of 19 two-storey properties was built in 1820 and the complete terrace is Grade II listed. Each property is made up from a common plan, reversed at the midpoint from where the terrace steps up in line with the gentle slope from east to west. Historical photos show this as a grand cobbled street which would have been one of the most prestigious addresses in Bolton. Over time many architectural features have been lost or unsympathetically reinstated.
The owners of all 19 properties on St Georges Terrace formed a company St Georges Terrace Limited and successfully submitted a Grant Application and received approval for grant funding in November 2008.
Work commenced on the terrace in February 2009, and focused on external structural repairs and the reinstatement of lost architectural features which were part of the original design of the terrace. Work was completed at the end of 2009, and the streetscape of St Georges Road has been significantly enhanced allowing the street to reclaim its “des res” status. Particular effort has been made to use local materials and expertise where possible including locally quarried stone for the boundary walls, Bolton manufactured railings, Bolton door and window joinery, front door, and fan lights.
Pickard Finlason Partnership were the conservation architects and contract administrators and Corporate Developments Ltd were the contractors employed by St Georges Terrace Limited to help them to successfully deliver the group repair scheme.
Bark Street East
The owners of 8 properties on Bark Street East formed a company named 'Bark Street East (Developments) Ltd' to drive forward a repair and reinstatement project and secure grant funding from the Heritage Lottery Fund to implement their proposals.
Bark Street East is a former residential street within the Little Bolton Townscape Heritage Initiative area in Bolton town centre; all properties on the street are now in commercial use. Although the properties are not listed, they make a generally positive contribution to the character of the St. Georges Conservation Area.
Restoration of the architectural details throughout the Little Bolton area is a key aspect of the Little Bolton Townscape Heritage Initiative. This is an important feature of the programme as the funding provides an opportunity to not only reinstate what features are threatened or which have been lost, but also to capitalise on a fine townscape quality that is evident throughout the area.
Planning permission was granted on the 18th January 2011 for the reinstatement of Georgian character features, including sash windows, entrance doors, fanlights, stone steps, railings to frontage, new gutters and rainwater pipes will commence during October 2011.
The Heritage Lottery Fund has approved an application for grant assistance to Bark Street East Developments Limited and the scheme will complete by 31st December 2011.
Little Bolton Town Hall & 34 All Saints Street
Little Bolton Town Hall & 34 All Saints Street is identified in the Little Bolton Townscape Heritage Initiative as a critical project. This critical status is based on the architectural and heritage merit of the building as well as the significant regeneration opportunity presented by bringing this vacant building back into use.
The Council sold the long lease for the properties to SJLL Ltd whose current plans are to restore and convert the Town Hall into a high quality restaurant. An application for grant funding to the Heritage Lottery Fund has been approved and the empty buildings will be brought back into use as a quality restaurant, wine bar and boutique hotel.
Public Realm
A number of public realm improvements to St Georges Street were completed in December 2008. This area was considered to be one of the most important areas of Little Bolton, outside Little Bolton Town Hall and the former Lion Oil Works. This area was chosen as a result of the limited funding available to undertake public realm works and the need to focus the works on an area that would have the biggest impact.
The following public realm works were undertaken:
-
Reclaimed York stone paving to the footways along St Georges Street;
-
Conservation kerbs along both sides of St George’s Street;
-
York stone tactile paviours at crossing points along St Georges Street;
-
Cast iron bollards to replace the existing concrete bollards;
-
and ornate street lighting columns on St Georges St and Bridge St.
The above improvement works to St Georges Street formed part of a much larger scheme of public realm improvement works in the Little Bolton area of the town centre. The larger scheme involved similar treatment along St Georges Road, in front of St Georges Terrace and in the pedestrianisation of Bath Street to serve the new multi-storey car park, located to the rear of St Georges Terrace. These works have contributed an additional £2.3m in public realm improvements to Little Bolton and have greater enhanced the area above and beyond the grant funding.
Further projects are being developed to deliver public realm improvement’s to the pavements along Bark Street East and environmental improvements to the land surrounding the former Methodist Chapel on Higher Bridge Street, currently occupied by the Mint Casino.
Public realm improvements have sent out a positive message to local businesses and residents and have also served to draw attention to the Georgian historic importance of the area.