The Story of Bolton – a Village History

In ancient times Bolton was written Boelthus, Boeltum, Bovelthus and Botheltum. In the Cumbrian dialect it is pronounced Bowlton and the suggested meaning of the name is enclosure with buildings or the village proper. The village lies about one and a half miles from the A66 in the appropriately named beautiful Eden Valley, four miles from Appleby to the South, and nine miles from Penrith to the north. The Pennines lie to the east with a good view of High Cup Nick on a clear day. The fells are an ever changing scene depending on the weather pattern. To the west can be seen the tops of the Lakeland hills. There is a lively caring community here supported by the village school and nursery, the New Crown, two churches and the Memorial Hall.
How or why the village came to be here is unknown. There is evidence of it being here in medieval times from the 5th to the 15th century, as the archaeological patterns of ridge and furrow ploughing can be seen in several places within the village. The medieval period began before the collapse of the Roman Empire so there could have been a settlement here before the Romans came. Between Crackenthorpe and Kirkby Thore at the side of the A66, an old Roman road, there was a large Roman camp Gallatum and just a short distance further on a Fort called Maidenfold which was perhaps a guard house or watch tower for the camp. There could have been a community arising adjacent to the Fort across the river Eden which was easily reached via islands in the river at Bolton Mill.
The 14th century would have seen Bolton as a village of hovels huddled together around the church, the houses being little more than barns. Travellers in Cumbria in the 17th century described Cumbrian Cottages as consisting of one room built of dry stone walls, long and low and often joined at one end of the farm buildings. The whole range would have been covered in roughly hewn slate from the local quarry and if slate was not available the houses were thatched with heather or rushes. The Manor Records for 1627 gives permission for Willow to be cut with a “licence from the Bail or Frithmen”. The last house to have its thatch replaced by slate was Greystone House. At the time it was just one story high and was known as Marle Cottage.

There are several old houses in Bolton, but they have been considerably altered since they were first built. Many have features of seventeenth century building; it was in the seventeenth century that the architecture of the houses began to change, and a period of rebuilding and alteration took place. When the Black Death started in the south and then swept through the rest of the country it was believed that the plague was carried on a south wind and so whenever possible the houses were built north to south so that a narrow windowless end was set towards the pestilence. The houses running parallel to the main street in Bolton are set almost north to south.

There are several old houses in Bolton but they have been considerably altered since they were first built. Many have features of seventeenth century building; it was in the seventeenth century that the architecture of the houses began to change and a period of rebuilding and alteration took place. When the Black Death started in the south and then swept through the rest of the country it was believed that the plague was carried on a south wind and so whenever possible the houses were built north to south so that a narrow windowless end was set towards the pestilence. The houses running parallel to the main street in Bolton are set almost north to south.

During the rebuilding in the seventeenth century it became the practice to build into the fabric of the house a date stone. There are several date stones surviving in Bolton from the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries and two from the nineteenth century. The oldest known one is that over the door of Glebe House – 1660. Unfortunately the original has been chiseled away to make room for an outside light and the date then painted on either side of the light.

Several modern houses have been built as infill along the village streets and Eden Fold, Grahams Rigg, Whinfell View and North End are all small modern housing estates.

Prior to 1801 there were no accurate figures for the population of England; it was in this year that the government asked that all the people be counted as well as the numbers of acres of land that were in crop. This was the first official census but Westmorland had a census taken in 1787. The reasons for the request to gather this information is unknown and there is no evidence that this it was ever used. The information has been preserved for some parishes and is useful to those tracing their family history. In that year the number of people living in Bolton was 289, in 1851 – 384 and in 2011 about 400. Although the population has not changed that much over the years fewer people live in a house to-day as they did in 1851. As many as ten people could be living in one much smaller house in 1851 whereas today the houses are much bigger and provide accommodation for 4/5 people

The economy of the village has been founded on agriculture from time immemorial. The Common lands in Bolton were enclosed by an act dated 1808. Altogether 562 acres were enclosed mainly along the village street. Some people exchanged plots for larger ones and vice versa, some sold their rights and others bought several plots. Altogether 17 plots became freehold passing into private hands. In 1828 John Dixon and John Dent were the largest land owners and the third was Robert Hodgeson from Bewley Castle who rented the freehold from the Dean and Chapter of Carlisle. The smallest holding was 4 acres owned by James Atkinson.

The number of farms in the village has decreased steadily since 1851. By this time most of the open field system had been converted into one of small compact farms worked mainly by tenant farmers. If only a small number of acres were owned the farmer would also have had some other occupation such as game keeper, blacksmith, carrier or grocer. By 1881 the number of farms in the village was 22 and this reduced to 20 in 1891. Today there are ten working farms, a disappearing way of life of which few of today’s village children will have memories of.