A campaign to keep a priceless Bolton archive together is well on the way to success.
The Hulton archive appeal that closes at the end of the month has so far raised over £90,000 towards its target of £95,000 needed to prevent the Hulton archives from going into private ownership.
The collection gives a valuable insight into 800 years of Lancashire’s social, economic and political history as well as having documents of regional and national importance.
It contains tens of thousands of documents, ranging from royal commands from King Henry VIII, gossipy letters from the Restoration Court, estate planning in the 1800s, stewards’ accounts, wage books, and household bills and cover the period from 1199 to 1947.
The Hulton family arrived in the Bolton area in 1167 and by the beginning of the twelve century controlled much of the area under Richard De Hulton, Lord of the Manor.
One of his more notorious descendants would play an infamous part in Manchester’s history. William Hulton as Sheriff of Lancashire would give the order for the arrest of Henry Hunt at Peter’s Fields in August 1819 and gave permission for the Manchester and Salford Yeomenary to clear a path to the hustings.
The family who owned the largest coal mines in Lancashire, lived on the Hulton Estate just outside Bolton until the late 1950’s.
The hall was demolished in 1958 and the last family head Sir Geoffrey Hulton died in 1993 without a heir leaving the bulk of his estate, valued at more than £8 million, to his nephew Hugh Butterfield, a businessman based in Malta.
The estate was sold to Peel Holdings in 2010.
The records are currently houses in the Lancashire County Archive in Preston and were put up for sale earlier this year.
Jacquie Crosby, The Lancashire Archives Service Manager told About Manchester
‘People from all over the UK have responded magnificently to this campaign to keep the Hulton Archive in Lancashire. Sir Roger Hulton placed it in our safekeeping in1943 and I’m delighted to say at it looks as though it will be staying here’
