The place named Greater Manchester's town of culture - Manchester Evening News manchestereveningnews.co.uk - get the latest breaking news, showbiz & celebrity photos, sport news & rumours, viral videos and top stories from manchestereveningnews.co.uk Daily Mail and Mail on Sunday newspapers.
Professor Paul Salveson is a historian and writer and lives in Bolton. He is visiting professor in Worktown Studies at the University of Bolton and author of several books on Lancashire history Bolton is a multi-cultural town and has been for centuries, going back to the Flemish weavers who arrived in the 1300s. By far the largest wave of immigration in the 19th century came from Ireland and this was explored in a previous Looking Back feature. Those first Irish immigrants were fleeing dire poverty and starvation. They settled in Bolton and created their own institutions – cultural, religious, educational and political. By the middle of the 20th century they were very much integrated into Bolton life, but have kept their distinctive cultural identity.