“Between Bolton and Manchester the ugliness is so complete that it is almost exhilarating. It challenges you to live there.”
So wrote JB Priestley in 1934 on his way to the “Work Town” made famous by Mass Observation, the organisation founded in the 1930s to study the daily lives of ordinary people in the UK.
It’s still not the prettiest of English railway journeys. But had Priestley stopped in Bolton he would have found a handsome centre surrounded by mills and terraces. Strolling past the grand town hall and the newspaper stands proclaiming council job losses, I wondered what stories the new local history galleries would tell.
The new gallery replaces a local history museum that closed due to the mid-1990s cuts. It is housed in the elegant 1930s museum and art gallery on Le Mans Crescent.
The gallery is reached by either stairs or a new lift and sticky-tacked posters advertise the venue as you ascend. Not a great start, but things pick up once inside.
Visitors are faced by a large panel that sets out the purpose of the gallery: to tell the story of 250 years of change in the area and to link those changes with events in the wider world.
Manufacturing base
Turning left you are faced with one of the star objects, Samuel Crompton’s spinning mule machine from the late 17th century. Surrounding it are displays that chart the rise of Bolton as the world centre of cotton spinning. A colourful graphic displaying trademarks of the companies declares “We Spin for the World”.
This is contextualised by panels that link Bolton’s role within the broader industrial revolution and the British empire. Most of the cotton came from the slave states of the US until the civil war. Following the cotton famine of the 1860s, the UK looked to Egypt as a supplier.
Crompton’s mule is supported by a short film portraying a dialogue between and Crompton and inventor Richard Arkwright. This is very well done and clearly illustrates why Arkwright, who, unlike Crompton, pioneered factory production, was the more successful.
The displays that follow chart the rise of the mills, industrial exploitation and the unsanitary conditions of the growing town. The story is taken up to date and includes stories of migration, workers’ rights and dramatic decline in the 1980s. When the last mill closed in 2001, only 20% of the local workforce was in manufacturing as opposed to 63% in 1841.
On the opposite wall is an illustrated timeline that charts the development of Bolton from a small town in 1650 to the post-industrial place it is today. Touchscreens, original paintings and film are used to chart the rise of civic society from the energetic chaos of the industrial revolution.
Mass Observation
Passing through an arch displaying images of mills, the main section of the gallery features open and cased displays. These are thematic and cover those areas typical of many local history galleries: local industries, community life, home life, entertainment and childhood.
It would be easy to say that this approach is formulaic, but as curators we have to tell coherent stories that can be easily understood. This is done well here, with carefully selected objects and clear, brief text.
It’s a collection of short stories that add up to deliver an excellent overview of the history of the town. They illustrate both how similar Bolton is to other industrial towns and also its genuine distinctiveness.
There are wonderful things such as the Lion’s Motor Oil advertising figure of John Bull, a photograph of a Bolton Wanderers Football Club Christmas party and a wooden figure used to celebrate Oak Apple Day on 29 May.
A closer inspection also reveals material that is more difficult. The warfare section displays a world war two police log that illustrates the fear of looting from bombed buildings.
The section on Unhealthy Bolton displays an unfinished white work layette sitting alongside the usual quack medicines. It was discovered in a linen cupboard. Did the mother miscarry or did the baby die in infancy? It’s a poignant illustration of hard times.
Another example of intelligent curation is a section on personal records, diaries and photographs from the archives. This is linked to a display on Mass Observation’s work in the town and a selection of the remarkable work of Humphrey Spender, who took nearly 1,000 photographs of Bolton in the late 1930s – a lost world of cobbles, shawls, grime, public bars and cigarette smoke.
Value for money
The displays are in an elegant gallery with a balcony above that houses the natural sciences and international collections. The original parquet floors have been retained and the displays have a simple industrial aesthetic using printed metal mesh and muted browns and greys. They are smart and functional.
Unfortunately, the introductory panels that display the headline themes are angled and therefore make the words impossible to read. This is the only mistake, as elsewhere the text is readable and the interactives simple to use.
Circulation is also a problem as most visitors I saw approached the timeline from the end. Still, I suppose you can go back in time as easily as forwards.
This is a project that was delivered on a budget of a £530,000. It has successfully achieved its objective of illustrating the lives of Bolton people and the changes they have witnessed and gives a real flavour of the town. Bolton Council, take note.
This is a real value-for-money project and instead of flogging off collections, you should be investing in the service. After all, the gallery is going down well. When I visited it was busy with parents, children, a guided group, adults and a group of lads just hanging out.
Like most modern galleries it has a comments board. Sitting among the usual responses of “fab” and “brill” was one that said: “I look back at my time in life and realise I’m a part of history.” That’s what museums are here to do: to validate “ordinary” lives lived in extraordinary times.
Mark Suggitt is a cultural consultant
Main funders Bolton Council, North West Development Agency, ERDF, MLA, Renaissance North West
Research in-house
Exhibition design Studio SP
So wrote JB Priestley in 1934 on his way to the “Work Town” made famous by Mass Observation, the organisation founded in the 1930s to study the daily lives of ordinary people in the UK.
It’s still not the prettiest of English railway journeys. But had Priestley stopped in Bolton he would have found a handsome centre surrounded by mills and terraces. Strolling past the grand town hall and the newspaper stands proclaiming council job losses, I wondered what stories the new local history galleries would tell.
The new gallery replaces a local history museum that closed due to the mid-1990s cuts. It is housed in the elegant 1930s museum and art gallery on Le Mans Crescent.
The gallery is reached by either stairs or a new lift and sticky-tacked posters advertise the venue as you ascend. Not a great start, but things pick up once inside.
Visitors are faced by a large panel that sets out the purpose of the gallery: to tell the story of 250 years of change in the area and to link those changes with events in the wider world.
Manufacturing base
Turning left you are faced with one of the star objects, Samuel Crompton’s spinning mule machine from the late 17th century. Surrounding it are displays that chart the rise of Bolton as the world centre of cotton spinning. A colourful graphic displaying trademarks of the companies declares “We Spin for the World”.
This is contextualised by panels that link Bolton’s role within the broader industrial revolution and the British empire. Most of the cotton came from the slave states of the US until the civil war. Following the cotton famine of the 1860s, the UK looked to Egypt as a supplier.
Crompton’s mule is supported by a short film portraying a dialogue between and Crompton and inventor Richard Arkwright. This is very well done and clearly illustrates why Arkwright, who, unlike Crompton, pioneered factory production, was the more successful.
The displays that follow chart the rise of the mills, industrial exploitation and the unsanitary conditions of the growing town. The story is taken up to date and includes stories of migration, workers’ rights and dramatic decline in the 1980s. When the last mill closed in 2001, only 20% of the local workforce was in manufacturing as opposed to 63% in 1841.
On the opposite wall is an illustrated timeline that charts the development of Bolton from a small town in 1650 to the post-industrial place it is today. Touchscreens, original paintings and film are used to chart the rise of civic society from the energetic chaos of the industrial revolution.
Mass Observation
Passing through an arch displaying images of mills, the main section of the gallery features open and cased displays. These are thematic and cover those areas typical of many local history galleries: local industries, community life, home life, entertainment and childhood.
It would be easy to say that this approach is formulaic, but as curators we have to tell coherent stories that can be easily understood. This is done well here, with carefully selected objects and clear, brief text.
It’s a collection of short stories that add up to deliver an excellent overview of the history of the town. They illustrate both how similar Bolton is to other industrial towns and also its genuine distinctiveness.
There are wonderful things such as the Lion’s Motor Oil advertising figure of John Bull, a photograph of a Bolton Wanderers Football Club Christmas party and a wooden figure used to celebrate Oak Apple Day on 29 May.
A closer inspection also reveals material that is more difficult. The warfare section displays a world war two police log that illustrates the fear of looting from bombed buildings.
The section on Unhealthy Bolton displays an unfinished white work layette sitting alongside the usual quack medicines. It was discovered in a linen cupboard. Did the mother miscarry or did the baby die in infancy? It’s a poignant illustration of hard times.
Another example of intelligent curation is a section on personal records, diaries and photographs from the archives. This is linked to a display on Mass Observation’s work in the town and a selection of the remarkable work of Humphrey Spender, who took nearly 1,000 photographs of Bolton in the late 1930s – a lost world of cobbles, shawls, grime, public bars and cigarette smoke.
Value for money
The displays are in an elegant gallery with a balcony above that houses the natural sciences and international collections. The original parquet floors have been retained and the displays have a simple industrial aesthetic using printed metal mesh and muted browns and greys. They are smart and functional.
Unfortunately, the introductory panels that display the headline themes are angled and therefore make the words impossible to read. This is the only mistake, as elsewhere the text is readable and the interactives simple to use.
Circulation is also a problem as most visitors I saw approached the timeline from the end. Still, I suppose you can go back in time as easily as forwards.
This is a project that was delivered on a budget of a £530,000. It has successfully achieved its objective of illustrating the lives of Bolton people and the changes they have witnessed and gives a real flavour of the town. Bolton Council, take note.
This is a real value-for-money project and instead of flogging off collections, you should be investing in the service. After all, the gallery is going down well. When I visited it was busy with parents, children, a guided group, adults and a group of lads just hanging out.
Like most modern galleries it has a comments board. Sitting among the usual responses of “fab” and “brill” was one that said: “I look back at my time in life and realise I’m a part of history.” That’s what museums are here to do: to validate “ordinary” lives lived in extraordinary times.
Mark Suggitt is a cultural consultant
Project data
Cost £530,000Main funders Bolton Council, North West Development Agency, ERDF, MLA, Renaissance North West
Research in-house
Exhibition design Studio SP
