History of Little Lever

By Kathleen Richardson

Little Lever is a township within the Metropoliton Borough of Bolton in Greater Manchester or as we would prefer to describe it, a Village near Bolton, Lancashire.
It's history dates back to the time of William the Conqueror when it was part of the properties in the Salford Hundred awarded to a certain Roger of Poitou for services rendered at the Battle of Hastings. In the 12th Century it came under the ownership of the 1st Baron of Manchester - a certain Albert Greslet.

The Manor of Little Lever, as it was known, has effectively, from early times, been split into two - those two parts roughly being Little Lever as we know it today and Darcy Lever, the adjoining area - locally known as Dolly Tub City. Darcy Lever aquired its name from Sir Thomas D'Arcy who, at the end of the 15th Century, married into the family who then owned the land. Sir Thomas, unfortunately, was beheaded for protesting against the dissolution of the Monasteries by Henry the Eighth.

Those who would search further are urged to read an excellent booklet entitled 'Little Lever' by Betty Connor which was published by Neil Richardson in 1995 and is available at the local library and no doubt at Sweetens Bookshop in Bolton..

Geographically, the Village of Little Lever is situated on high ground to the north of the River Croal Valley. The River Croal starts its life as the Middlebrook near where the Reebok Stadium has been built and flows (or trickles) through the centre of Bolton at the side of the Market Hall. It has now been culverted under the St Peter's Way bypass but re-emerges shortly before flowing through what is now the Moses Gate Country Park and subsequently joining the River Irwell at Prestolee.

Industries which developed in the area during the 18th and 19th Centuries were, typically for the region, those of Coal Mining, Cotton weaving, Dyeing and Bleaching, Paper and Chemical production and Brick and Terra Cotta works using locally sourced clay.

Around 1800 the Manchester Bolton & Bury canal was opened. This ran between Church Wharf, near Bolton Parish Church, alongside the Croal over an aqueduct at Hall Lane and to the south of the Village Centre. The Bury branch joined at Nob End and the canal continued down a flight of locks in its journey towards Manchester. Numerous coal pits operated along the banks of the canal, the last of which closed in 1948. As regards the canal, a serious breach in 1936 near Nob End brought to an end over a hundred years of its use for transportation of coal, bricks and the like.
The aqueduct at Hall Lane was demolished in 1950 and everything from that point towards Bolton was filled in, but from Hall Lane through to Nob End the canal is still in water and seasonally is home to Swans, Geese and Ducks.

The Village Centre seems to have developed in the 19th Century around Hall Lane ( now Church St) Lever St, Market St and High St. Villagers were well served with the variety of shops that you would expect around this time in a working class area - butchers, bakers, greengrocers, the Smithy as well as religiously, with churches & chapels representing the major faiths. Politics was well represented with the Reform Club, the Conservative Club and subsequently the Labour Club -which was named Hardie Hall after the founder of the Labour movement Keir Hardie, not, as some people assume about the modern building on Church St, after Laurel & Hardy.