All Souls Bolton Conservation Statement - The Churches ...

SUMMARYThe church of All Souls at Bolton is an outstanding and little alteredchurch designed by Paley and Austin, the finest and most prolificarchitects of the nineteenth century Gothic Revival in the NorthWest of England. It was built in 1878-81 under the patronage of thebrothers Greenhalgh, evangelical mill owners, and is a more thanusually high quality example of the major programme of church andchapel building that was undertaken in the newly industrialisedareas of England in the Victorian period. It is primarily an auditorychurch, designed to hold 800 worshippers, and it retains furnishingsof high quality. The church is a major feature in the local townscape.However, it is little used, and there are problems with vandalism. Itis desirable that the building should be put to greater use, meetingthe present-day needs of the local community, while retaining thoseelements of the building from which it derives its significance.1. INTRODUCTIONThis Statement of Significance for the church of All Souls, Bolton has beencommissioned from the Architectural History Practice (AHP) by GabriellaMisuriello, Conservation Manager for The Churches Conservation Trust (CCT),North West and West Midlands Region. Proposals are being developed toextend the use, and thereby increase public access to and enjoyment of thebuilding. The purpose of this document is to describe and assess thesignificance of the building, and from there to ensure that this significance isgiven its due weight in the development of proposals.1.1 The siteAll Souls Church lies about one mile to the north of Bolton town centre, inAstley Street, off the Blackburn Road (A666). It is an area of evident socialdeprivation. The nineteenth century street pattern still survives around thechurch, with some original terraced housing. However, the immediate setting ofthe church is mostly low-rise modern housing. The parish school building, nowa Muslim Community Centre, lies to the east of the church. The churchyard islaid to grass, without burials or memorials.The church is listed grade II*, and the list description is attached at Appendix ii.The former school is listed grade II. It is not included in this study, but a copy ofthe list description is also attached at Appendix ii.1.2 OwnershipFollowing closure of the church in 1986, All Souls was vested in the RedundantChurches Fund (now the Churches Conservation Trust) in 1987.1.3 AuthorshipThe Conservation Statement is written by Andrew Derrick, BAHons, AA DiplCons, IHBC, a Director of AHP.All Souls, Bolton: Statement of Significance 2