Histories of Bolton and Bowling, townships of Bradford, historically and topographically treated

Front matter

HISTORIES OF BOLTON and BOWLING (TOWXSHIPS OF BRADFORD) Ibfstorfcalls an& {Topographically Œreateb. v Bv WILLIAM CUDWORTH, Author of " Round About Bradford," " Rambles Round Horton," "Historical Notes on the Bradford Corporation," " Life and Correspondence of Abraham Sharp, Mathematician," &c, &c. [PUBLISHED BY SUBSCRIPTION] BRADFORD : THOS. BREAR AND CO., LIMITED, KIRKGATE. 1891. ENTERED AT STATIONERS' HALL. The Illustrations are Copyright. THIS VOLUME IS RESPECTFULLY DEDICATED TO GEORGE ACKROYD, Esq., A NATIVE OF BOWLING, A PATRON OF LOCAL LITERATURE, AND A CHRISTIAN GENTLEMAN.

Preface

. This work is published as a contribution to a complete History of Bradford. It is offered, with all its short comings, as the result of an effort involving much time and the patient unearthing of material not previously made use of. The prosperity of Bradford has been largely dependent upon the enterprise developed in its several townships, and it appeared desirable, therefore, that more ample recognition should be made of the places referred to than has hitherto been vouchsafed in the scanty notices which have already appeared. If this effort be approved, the Author hopes to be able to continue these township histories until the whole borough has been similarly treated, believing that by such a method alone a complete History of Bradford can be compiled. It would be next to impossible to give in a preface the names of all who have aided the Author in a work of this character.

To Mrs. Arthur Tempest, of Coleby Hall, Lincoln, the Author is under especial obligation for much hitherto unpublished information respecting the historic family with which she is connected. To the following gentlemen he is also particularly indebted, namely : — Mr. C. A. Federer, Mr. Butler Wood, and Mr. T T. Empsall, Bradford ; Mr. S. Lodge, Bowling ; Mr. S. Margerison, Calverley ; Miss Bland, Harrogate ; Rev. Canon Stowell, Chorley Rectory ; Rev. C. W. N. Hyne, Bierley ; Rev. J. Hollywood, Bankfoot ; Mr. Fred. C. Galloway and Mr. Harry Speight, West Bowling ; Mr. John H. Atkinson Jowett, Bolton ; Mr. Watson Rogers and the Overseers of VI

PREFACE.

. Bolton ; Mr. Jonathan Wilkinson and the Overseers of Bowling ; Messrs. Taylor, Jeffery & Little, Solicitors, Bradford ; Messrs. Killick, Hutton & Vint, Solicitors, Bradford ; Messrs. Smith, Gotthardt & Co., Mr. John Hindle, and Mr. Wm. Cowgill, Estate Agents, Bradford. The illustrations in the book are nearly all original sketches taken from the objects in situ, and in their preparation the Author desires to express his special obligations to Mr. W. Burton, of New Barnet, London, for the admirably-etched portrait of Mr. Geo. Ackroyd ; and to Messrs. Virtue & Co., Limited, for impressions from the plate ; also to Mr. W. Rose, Bradford, for several photo views ; to Mr. Tom Bradley, of Bingley, and Mr. C. H. Shaw, Bradford, for drawings ; to Messrs. Hare & Co., Limited, London ; Mr. Wm. Holmes.

Ulverston ; and Mr. C. W. Shepherd, Bradford, for the execution of other artistic work. Several of the heraldic bearings have been drawn by Mr. John Thornton, of Bradford. The Author is similarly indebted to Mr. F. H. Pearce, mining engineer to the Bowling Iron Company, for the section of the geological strata of Bowling, which will always be a standard guide to the coal measures of that township. The subject has been treated in a popular rather than in an archæological manner, and although the mine of wealth existing has been far from exhausted, the present effort will form a substantial groundwork upon which additional material may be placed. W. Cudworth. Bradford, March, i8qi. ILLUSTRATIONS. FULL PAGE PICTURES. Portrait of George Ackroyd, Esq. (Frontispiece) St. James's Church, Bolton ... ... ... ...Face page 40 Rose Cottage, Bolton ... ... ... ... ... „ 56 Bartlett House, Bolton ... ... ... ... ... ,, 59 Hodgson Fold, Bolton ,, 76 James Atkinson Jowett (Portrait) ... ... ... ,, 83 Bolton Old Hall „ 102 Boiling Hall „ 183 Mantelpiece at Boiling Hall „ 186 John Green Paley (Portrait) ... ... ... ... „ 215 John Charles Pearce (Portrait) ... ... ... ... „ 234 Sir H. \V. Ripley, Bart.

(Portrait) „ 246 George Pearson, Esq. (Portrait)... ... ... ... ,, 257 Alderman William Moulson (Portrait) ... ... ... „ 260 Bierley Chapel ... ... ... ... ... ... „ 268 Balme Monument (by Flaxman) ... ... ... ,, 292 Balme House, West Bowling ... ... ... ... „ 314 Wilson Sutcliffe, Esq. (Portrait) „ 323 Newall Hall, Bowling „ 341 Rooley Hall, Bowling „ 342 OTHER ILLUSTRATIONS. Old Cottages in Bolton Low Fold Page 51 George Thompson Lister (Portrait) ... ... ... „ 66 " Ginnel" in Hodgson Fold, Bolton „ 73 Buttressed Chimney, Ivy Hall, Bolton „ 85 Old Door, Ivy Hall, Bolton „ 87 Joshua Pollard, Esq. (Portrait) „ 220 Nasmyth Steam Hammer „ 233 Doorway at Newall Hall, Bowling „ 341 Prophet Wroe's Mansion, near Wakefield „ 345 Shields of Arms Pages 158, 188-9,

Chapter I. Historical And Descriptive

Rural Bolton — Probable Origin of the Name — Bolton during the Conquest— The Township chiefly Agricultural Land— Formerly well-wooded — Ancient Roadways — Yeoman Class — Bolton a modern Arcadia. Rural Bolton was of all places one of the least likely at one time to form part of such a town as Bradford. Evidently destined by Nature for a quiet country place, the inhabitants of the little township for generations pursued the quiet, unobtrusive ways of an agricultural district. The husbandman, in his daily round of duty, trod the Softly swelling hills On which the power of cultivation lies, remote as in a Craven village, and was rewarded for his toil as husbandmen generally are, which is not always in proportion to the labour expended. Notwithstanding all this, the township of Bolton has become an integral portion of the borough of Bradford, carrying with it municipal privileges, and among them that of contributing to municipal expenditure — in other words, of paying rates.

For all these advantages many Boltonians are probably truly thankful, although as faithful historians we must not conceal the fact that there are a few of the " older end " who would rather that matters had remained as they were. The story of the annexation will be told in due course. For the present, let it suffice that in July, 1873, Bolton became part of Bradford by articles of incorporation which it would take an Act of Parliament to destroy, for it was Parliament that tied the knot. Attempts to account for the origin of names are generally conjectural, and the results too frequently mis leading. It is not likely that we shall be more successful in attempting the derivation of that of Bolton. In the early Chaucerian ballads the name of a well-known animal is spelt " bolle." There is no question that " ton " is Anglo-Saxon for town, originally a mere collection of huts.

Accepting this derivation, the township we are treating of would be " bull-town." Upon the same principle Bowling or Boiling, the history of which forms the second part of this volume, would be the " bull meadow " or ing. Having but little faith in such conjectures, we print them for what they are worth, and, adopting the method of an easy-going candidate for Parliamentary honours, when in doubt as to his opinions being palatable to his hearers, say, " These are my views, gentlemen, and if they don't suit you, they can be changed ! " Up to the present time the township has well retained its agricultural character, although outlying portions have been seized upon by prospectors and converted into "eligible building sites." According to present appear ances, there is little likelihood of its losing that rural character which affords such a pleasing contrast to its surroundings.

That this may continue to be the case will be the desire of many a wearied townsman longing for a Breath of unadulterate air, The glimpse of a green pasture, which are denied him in many other quarters of the huge hive of industry styled Worstedopolis ! We shall not attempt to dilate on the wonderful progress that Bradford has made since it became an incorporated borough. It is within the recollection of many persons living that the three townships of Bowling, Horton, and Manningham were divided from the town itself by country lanes and fields, and were considered a long way off! Our present intentions are confined to Bolton township, which, although numerically the least populated of the various places comprised within the borough, has its life-history and traditions, differing, it may be, from those of other places, but of equal interest and meaning, always remembering that every hamlet, however remote, is a unit of the national life.

Until comparatively recently, a large proportion of the farming land of Bolton was under the plough. Indeed, from the date of the Conquest we imagine Bolton to have been among the favoured places in regard to cultivation, for in the Domesday Record we learn that " In Bodeltone Archil had four carucates of land to be taxed, where there may be two ploughs. Value in King Edward's time, ios. Ilbert has it, and it is waste." Leaving out of consideration for a moment the concluding sentence, it appears that in Bolton there were four carucates, equal to probably four hundred acres, of land under cultivation of some kind, which, considering that the total area is about seven hundred acres, was a large proportion. The fate of Bolton, as indicated in the words, " It is waste," was only that of nearly all the habitable places visited by William the Conqueror during his devastating tour through the northern provinces.

Archil, the Saxon Thane who had previously possessed the land, had considerable possessions in this district, which all fell to the Conqueror's favourite, Ilbert de Lacy. At an inquiry instituted in the year 1846, the following represented the cultivable area of Bolton, viz. : — Arable land, 226 acres ; meadow and pasture, 450 acres ; woodland, 40 acres ; highways and waste, 20 acres ; total area, 736 acres. In place of the golden grain which once nodded to the summer's breeze, the eye may now wander far before it detects even a patch of either corn or barley. Year by year field after field has been " sown down " ; in the first place because the " Stygian throats " of Worstedopolis poured their poisonous vapours upon the struggling corn, blighting the ears ; and in the second, because milk and beef were in ever-increasing demand in the growing town of Bradford, and the farmers of Bolton were among the first to supply it.

With farming was also combined the making of cloth and worsted stuffs, but this was only carried on in a small way, and as an accessory to the more stalwart labours on the land. In later years there were four maltkilns at work in separate parts of the township. In 1781, a suit was tried at York Assizes intended to enforce all farmers, millers, or maltsters, within two miles of the Bradford Soke Mills, to grind their corn at those mills. For the opposite side, Samuel Hollingworth, of Bolton Outlanes, gave evidence, and said that during his tenancy of his farm at Bolton much corn was grown by himself, and on the farms of John Cansfield, John Wrigglesworth, Robert Jobson, Joseph Blackburn, Nathan Atkinson, Jonas Smith, Benjamin Holmes, John Wainwright, John Hodgson, and James Greaves, all of which was ground at Frizinghall Mill.

That Emanuel Hodgson had a steel mill for grinding corn in his maltkiln at Bolton, and he was succeeded by James Greaves. He also said that John Midgley, of Bolton, who was succeeded by John Cansfield, had a similar mill, although they were all within the soke of Bradford Mills. Within the past forty years, wheat was grown in Slater Closes, a low-lying portion of Edward Bilton's farm in Bolton Lane. The township is pleasingly undulated, abounding with gently swelling mounds and hills, which, towards the northern portion, assume almost cliff-like proportions. There are corresponding depressions, although not very marked in character, but they are destitute of streams of any importance, except at Bolton Banks, where there is a small brook dividing Bolton from Bradford. In former times the township was well timbered.

This is evident from the existence of such terms as the "Yews," the " Broad Oaks," the " Holts," the " Woody Pasture," " Wood Lane," "Cliffe Wood," and "Bolton Woods." Time was when the slopes of the adjoining cliffs were well clothed with trees and brushwood, reaching from Oak Bank, Gaisby, past Spinkwell to the Bradford Parish Church. Cliffe Wood was then in its verdancy, as much so as Bolton Abbey woods of to-day, and abounding with game and bird life. The "boar well," where the traditional wild boar, symbolised in the arms of Bradford and a terror to the neighbourhood, used to slake his thirst, was then in existence ; and the burial place of those said to have died during the ravages of the Plague in Bradford was a common playground for the youth of the neighbourhood. It is said that in 1665 the town of Bradford was visited by an epidemic of the Plague then raging in London, and that those that were attacked were at once removed to Cliffe Barn close to Cliffe Wood, where those that recovered attended to the others.

Such as died were buried in the adjoining wood, where, it is said, human skeletons have been found. That Cliffe Wood was of early growth is demonstrated by the fact that a large number of fossil trees were dug up by the late Joshua Pollard and his brother, when the Cliffe Wood quarries were first opened. Turning to the northern side of Bolton, that portion lying about and beyond the Old Hall, the ground was pretty well covered with timber, which was cut down by a member of the Stanhope family for the gold that it brought him. A good breadth of wood still remained, however, until the Bolton Woods estate was disposed of for building sites, and that is comparatively recently. Not a vestige of this wood remains, but instead, the site is occupied by a colony of cottage dwellings as un picturesque in appearance as well could be.

Some indication of its former aspect is, however, preserved in the wooded plantation belonging to the Atkinson-Jowett estate, which extends to the banks of the Bradford Canal. Picturesque as were the pleasant uplands of Bolton, and, comparatively speaking, still are, the approaches to the village were so circuitous as in great measure to preserve its isolation. Before the canal was cut, farmers residing at Delph Hill and Hollin Close, and wishing to take a cart to Manningham, had no alternative but to drive up the beck course in the Holms, until they reached Bolton Lane, across which the beck ran open, with a narrow wood bridge for foot passengers. Within recent times the floods down this low-lying part of the township have been of a serious character. On one occasion, as the man in charge of Amos Hodgson's cart and two horses was crossing the beck, both man and horses were washed down.

The man, however, saved himself by catching at the wood bridge, but one of the horses was drowned. Directly afterwards, a narrow stone bridge was put up, which was enlarged by the Midland Railway Company in 1845. 1° February, 1795, during a flood, James Robinson, of Frizinghall Mill, lost his life in attempting to cross the road near his own house. Destructive floods also occurred in January, 1S06, and December, 181 5. Fifty years ago there was no Bolton Road, as we now have it, skirting the sides of the hill at a gentle gradient from Broadstones. The Otley Road, too, was not made, and at that time the only approach for vehicles was by way of Church Bank, round by the Paper Hall, up North Wing, and thence up Hustler Hill (now Pollard Lane) to Undercliffe and Bolton. Foot passengers had a choice of ways, one being through the fields, past Hodgson Fold and Low Fold, and over the Cliffs past Fat Mally tree, thence descending to Broadstones near to where the Wharf Hotel stands.

There was also a higher footroad leadingpast Crow Nest, and through what is now Peel Park, also a road from Delph Hill and Lower Bolton on the upper side of the canal past Boar Well. Only the latter footroad remains. The two former have been cut off, one of them by the extensive quarrying operations at Cliffe Wood, while the other (through Peel Park) was closed long before that beautiful resort became a public park. We have almost inadvertently alluded to the village of Bolton, but really there never was a village in the sense in which the term is usually employed. In the beginning of the present century there were but 470 inhabitants in the whole township, and these were distributed amongst the little clusters of houses occupying detached positions at Old Bolton, Delph Hill, Hodgson Fold, Low Fold, and Bolton Outlanes.

These are all ancient settlements, and in each of them resided specimens of that sturdy race, the " statesmen " of the North, the " yeomen " of our own neighbourhood — men who owned and tilled their own lands, collectively and honourably designated as the " backbone " of English society. Prominent among this class may be justly named the Hodgsons, who for two hundred years have resided upon their own property in Bolton, and are still represented. Bolton has had no resident " squire " for several generations past. The Stanhope family, who were owners of about one-sixth of the township, and upon whose property was situate Bolton Old Hall, resided at Eccleshill Hall ; the Rawson family, although very considerable owners of property, in recent years lived at Halifax ; the name of Richard or Dicky Hodgson, whose Bolton estates all went to Mr. J. A. Jowett, will ever be associated with Whetleys ; while the Lister property, next in extent to the above, passed into other hands.

Mr. John H. Atkinson Jowett, as heir to his father's Bolton estates, originally acquired as the result of what was known as the " Clockhouse Case," is practically the only extensive landowner. If Bolton was without a squire, so also was it without a doctor, a lawyer, a parson, a policeman, or a publican. The people were sturdy, industrious, and independent. Crime was unknown among them, and at one time locked doors were the exception. It had few poor, and its inhabitants were stolidly indifferent in the matter of highways ; hence the taxgatherer's labours were as light as his pockets, and everybody was contented. Happy the com munity that was in such case ! If human things went ill or well ; If changing empires rose or fell ; The morning past, the evening came And found this (people) just the same. They slept and ate, good folks. What then ? Why then they slept and ate again !

Chapter II. Township Affairs

Township Boundaries— The Manor of Bolton— Muster-roll of Henry VIII.— Land Tax of 1704— Obsolete Bolton Families --Pendragon Castle— The Old Town's Box and its Contents— Township Charges— Poor Law Affairs— Old Overseers- Highway Rates— The Town's Pinfold— The " Stocks "—Church-rate Times— Bolton Local Board— The Annexation Movement— Bolton, a Township of Bradford- Bolton Councillors— Bolton included in Bradford Union— Township Officers— Population and Ratable Value. Bolton, although now a township in the borough of Bradford, is in Calverley parish. The township boundary follows the line of Bradford beck, taking in on the west, the Canal, Frizinghall Mill, the Isle of Man beyond ; on the northerly side it is bounded by the township of Idle, Trap Syke being the boundary line ; on the east by Eccleshill, and by Bradford on the south, a portion of Peel Park and the New Queen's Road being within the township.

Although not within Bradford parish, several places in that parish were surveyed under the Manor of Bolton, and became dependencies upon it. These were — Clayton, Allerton, Thornton, Chellow, and Wibsey. There is, how ever, considerable uncertainty as to the manorial question. In Barnard's Survey, made in the year 1577, Bolton is included as a village in the Manor of Bradford. In 1602, in an assessment made at Wakefield, Bolton was estreated in the sum of 5d., being a fourth part of that paid by Bradford, and the same amount as that put down for Boiling and Shipley. It may, however, be noted, that the lordship of the manor of Bolton has, like the ancient lords, passed away, and its prerogatives have become vested in the freeholders. It would be interesting to know at what period and under what circumstances the title lapsed, but from the positive dearth of local records relating to the early history of the place, we fear the facts are altogether lost.

Another point of interest we have no means of ascertaining is whether the former lords were resident and had a manor house. Tradition, however, points to an eminence between Hodgson Fold and the Old Hall, upon which it is thought not only a cluster of dwellings but also a church once stood. In the Ordnance survey of the township the place is still called Old Hill. In the record of Yorkshire Fines published by the Yorkshire Archæological Society, under date 159S, Thomas Walker was plaintiff, and Thomas Hollins and Mary his wife deforciants, in the matter of two messuages and lands in the " Manor of Bolton." By an indenture dated February, 16 10, Thomas Walker the elder, conveyed to his son and heir, Thomas, one-sixth part of " all that capital messuage called ' Bolton,' late in the possession of Thomas Hollins, but now of me, Thomas Walker, on my marriage with Elizabeth my intended wife."

It is not improbable that the messuage referred to the ancient manor-house of Bolton. For lack of information on such points as these, we must pass to a period of which we have records. The material is far from ample, but it is reliable. So far as we know, there was nothing to relieve the monotony of Bolton life during the Middle Ages. If No mail-clad serfs, obedient to their lord, In grim array the crimson cross demand, we have evidence that the yeomen of Bolton, albeit few in number, were called upon to contribute men and arms towards the national defences. In the muster-roll of men able to bear arms, " as well archers as other men on horse and on fote," ordered to be viewed during the time of Henry the Eighth, the township of Bolton presented four archers and seven bill-men, three of them able to furnish a horse.

The names of the horsemen were George Hargreyve. Nicholas Lokkey, and Robt. Illyngworth. The name of Illingworth occurs several times amongst the bill-men and archers, as well as those of Sowden, Hardie, Overend, Lokkey, and Coup. Whether they were ever " called up " is doubtful. From the sparseness of its inhabitants, we doubt whether even the pulsations of the Civil War reached to quiet Bolton, quickening its stalwart youth to action for Cavalier or Roundhead. In contrast with those stormy times of warfare and bloodshed, we may picture the homely pursuits of the Boltonians of the period, to whom seed-time and harvest were the only periods of exhilaration or disquiet. The assessment for the land-tax levied in Bolton in the beginning of the 18th century gives the names of the substantial men of the township at that period.

The following was the assessment for the year 1704, being at the rate of 4s. in the £, namely — £ s. d. Edward Stanhope lands ... ... 05 07 06 Josias Craven... ... ... ... 01 16 06 John Rawson for holling close ... 02 03 00 John Wright ... ... ... ... 00 04 00 James Lister ... ... ... ... 01 03 08 Stephen Powell land ... ... 00 15 02 James Bond ... ... ... ... 02 04 10 Edward Swaine ... ... ... 01 12 04 John Rawson for Northrop land ... 00 06 10 Tho. ffletcher... ... ... ... 00 05 06 Tho. Hamond ... ... ... ... 01 12 04 Ric Shaw 00 18 06 James Thompson ... ... ... 01 17 06 The occupiers of Hodgson lands... 02 13 06 James Hopkinson ... ... ... 00 13 08 Hugh Jackson 01 15 05 John Lister 01 12 04 John Rawson 03 16 00 Jeremy Garth 02 03 02 Will Jowett ... ... ... ... 02 03 02 Mrs. Jowett 00 oS 00 Henry Slater land ... ... ... 00 07 10 Simon Bell 00 14 00 Ric Cordingley 00 10 03 Total £27 04 11 Jf.remy Garth, } -.

John Rawson, f assessors. William Hodgson, Collector. In the above assessment the names of several old Bolton families do not occur, their possessions having passed into other hands. Among them may be named those of Walker, Hollings, Midgley, Northrop, Hemingway, Cordingley, and Squier. Probate of the will of Thomas Hollings, of Bolton, was obtained March Sth, 1668. His wife Mary having secured to her her rights in his estate " according to the custom of the province in which I dwell " (namely, her " thirds "), he made several bequests, among them one to "James Ellis, my apprentice, 30s., in case he honestly serve out his time ; to John Walker, my neighbour, 20s. ; to the poor people of Claiton, 20s., to be disbursed by my two nephews, John Hollings, of Allerton, and Isaac Hollings, his brother."

The residue of his estate he left to his three nephews, John Hollings, of Allerton ; Isaac Hollings, his brother, and John Hollings, of Cottingley, and the younger children of Joseph Hollings, late of Allerton. In Clayton, Allerton, and Cottingley the Hollings family were numerous. The Midgley family was of considerable standing in Bolton from the year 1594. In 1661, Samuel Sunderland, of Harden, released to Joseph Midgley, of Bolton, and Joseph his son, all that messuage in Bolton, " wherein he (Midgley) did dwell." This was the Sunderland, of Hill End, who was robbed of gold in his own house to the value of over Joseph Midgley died in December, 1673. He executed a conveyance of the Brig Croft and the Dels Close to Isaac Hollings, of Clayton, for i.150. Those invaluable records, the registers of Calverley parish, which have been published in a handy form by Mr. S. Margerison, of Calverley, give the names of several heads of the Midgley family.

By the will of William Midgley, yeoman, of Bolton, dated February 20th, 1646, he divided his estate in Bradford into three equal parts — Mary, his wife, to have one third thereof; the other two thirds to his daughters, Susan and Mary. To his son, John Midgley, his Bolton estates, including messuage, provision being made for his daughters' maintenance. The testator proceeds — "Also my will is that if Mary, my wife, be not pleased to dwell with my son John after my decease, my son shall give to her the two lower parlours, with the chamber over the same, and also part of my lathe or barn, and the mistalling belonging the same." In a subsequent chapter we advance reasons showing the Midgley homestead to have been at Low Fold. The name of Northrop is found very early connected with Bolton. In the Calverley records referred to, we find the entries — " Thomas, son of Wm. Northroppe, of Bolton, baptised May 1st, 1580," other entries following.

The "Northrop land" alluded to in the land tax of 1704, was cut through by the Bradford Canal, and a portion of it now forms part of Mr. Beanland's farm. The Northrop family were, however, strongest in Bradford and Manning ham, and are associated with a singular grant of land about Girlington, made by John of Gaunt for the service of yearly blowing a horn at Martinmas. Thomas Hammond represented a Bolton family dating from 1600; and Will Jowett had a progenitor, one "John Jowett, shoemaker, of ye Kyrkgate, Bradeforde," who was in possession of Robin Royds and the Ox Closes (or Slater Closes) in Bolton, in 1650. Cordingley is a name common to the district round about Bradford, although not of late represented at Bolton. The Stanhope, Rawson, Lister, Hodgson, and Jowett families we shall have ample oppor tunity of referring to in making a topographical survey of the township.

Bolton always constituted a township, and managed its own affairs until a period of which we shall have occasion shortly to speak. Such records as we have been able to meet with are the result of turning over the contents of the old " town's box " at " Pendragon Castle," facetiously styled the " Town Hall " of Bolton. The name has puzzled many a one. We imagine that the site of it was the original pinfold, or some walled enclosure for protecting stock. A "pen" in Saxon times was an enclosure for cattle or sheep, and the term is still in common use. When the low hut was erected upon the site, it might in derision be called a " Castle." Although quite conscious that this explanation will be unsatisfactory to those who associate the place with the slaughter of some "dragon," whatever that may be in natural or mythical history, it is all we are able to offer.

The " Castle " having for some years been in possession of a man named James Pickard, who by reason of paying no rent had assumed a right over it, his ownership was allowed to go unchallenged until his death. After that event, however, his widow, Mary, was served with legal notice to quit, and possession was regained, as appears by the following minute passed in May, 1836: — "That the house belonging to this township, known as Pendragon Castle, be divided into two cottages, and that Benj. Holmes, overseer, be required to see that the work is forthwith done " — a somewhat inglorious fate for an edifice with such a notable name. It has since been used as a town's office. After a patient perusal of the contents of the old " town's box," we have culled from them the following items, which we place upon record because of their relation to the future history of Bradford, rather than for any especial interest of their own.