All Souls Bolton Conservation Statement - The Churches ...

Greenhalgh brothers’ other church of The Saviour, which was also designed byPaley and Austin and had many characteristics in common with All Souls, wasdemolished in 1975. The church was designed to hold up to 800 regularworshippers, with free and unappropriated seating, and with a wide interiordesigned for maximum visibility and audibility. The evangelical emphasis ischaracteristic of Bolton’s reputation as ‘the Geneva of the North’. Paley andAustin are an architectural practice of major regional importance.The building is considered to be of regional historical significance.3.4. Townscape significanceThe church is located about a mile to the north of Bolton town centre, just offthe Blackburn Road. It is located in an area of nineteenth century development,but many of the old mills and much of the terraced housing shown in the 1893Ordnance Survey map have been demolished. Nevertheless, the nineteenthcentury street pattern remains, and the area is dominated by the church and itsmajestic tower.The building is considered to be of major local townscape significance.3.5. Negative features affecting significanceThe church survives in a relatively unaltered form, and there is little to detractfrom its significance. However, the removal of the boundary railings on thenorth side has deprived the building of the real and apparent security thatrailings provided. This, along with the underuse of the building and the evidentlocal social deprivation, has served to encourage vandalism and use of thechurchyard as a rubbish dump (22), which detract from the character andappearance of the building and its setting.All Souls, Bolton: Statement of Significance 10