Bolton 1870; A Stitch in Time

Join our two Boltonians of 1870, to learn about life, work, home and play, for Annie Coe, a mill worker, and Mrs. Mary Crompton, daughter of a gentry family, married to a mill owner. Both live in Bolton, but their experiences are very different. One labours in the spinning shed of one of the many mills operating in Victorian Bolton, the other supports her husband’s work and involves herself in local charities. They are both products of the age in which they lived and the situation of the town of Bolton, as one of the north’s powerhouses of cotton manufacturing. Although they are at different ends of the class system of the time, their voices are still relevant today, and neither of them is backward in coming forward with their thoughts and opinions!

TWT specialise in creating performance on heritage and historical themes, especially on lesser known areas of our past. This project was a brilliant opportunity to explore the lives of women in Bolton from different ends of the social scale in 1870, and their contribution to the town’s legacy. We wanted to present a positive image of Victorian women, away from the stereotypes of the rough mill girl or the cosseted rich man’s wife. We wanted to tell two contrasting stories, connected by being set in Bolton, a town that, in 1870, was recovering from a crisis and finding its feet and fortune again. A story of hope in the future, rather than despair at the past. We wanted each character to talk about their work, their home and their leisure time.

We were helped enormously in our research by the staff of Bolton Museum, who provided answers to many questions, and checked the scripts for any historical (or otherwise) inaccuracies. I started by reading as much as I could on the Textile Revolution, and then honing it down to the period 1865-1870, and then going into more detail about the particular experience of Bolton at that time. I pored through lots of surviving newspaper accounts of the ups and downs of life in Bolton. There seemed to be a lot of fires! The monologues were researched, written and then sent out to our actors to learn. We filmed the monologues on a farm, where we had old buildings, and relative quiet, to give atmosphere. The filming was completed over two days, then edited and a soundtrack added. We hope you enjoy the results in “Bolton 1870; A Stitch in Time”!