Building Name

Old Exchange and Reference Library, Victoria Square, Bolton

Date
1825 - 1826
Street
Victoria Square
District/Town
Bolton
County/Country
GMCA, England
Architect
Work
New Build

In 1825 the Great Bolton Trustees set up a new market on the edge of the town centre to relieve the congestion in the streets around the old Bolton market. The exchange and library were built to overlook this new Market Place. Some years earlier, a group of the leading men of the town had set up an Exchange Newsroom in the Commercial Hotel. The Bolton Exchange Company was formed to  build new headquarters, paid for by subscription. In 1852 the Exchange Company let the upper floor to the Council for the purposes of a  public library and on 12 October 1853, the Bolton Free Library was inaugurated. With the dissolution of the Bolton Exchange Company, the council took possession of the whole building, establishing a small museum in addition to the library facilities. When, in 1891, a new library was opened across the square, the building became the reference library. It is now a branch of the Nationwide Building Society.

References
Bolton Civic Trust: Buildings of Bolton
Bolton Civic Trust: Bolton Town Centre History Trail