Spinners' Hall

Spinners' Hall, St George's Road, Bolton

A former trades union hall complex, now converted to domestic apartments and commercial use. The building has a complex history spanning two major phases of construction and architectural intervention.

The original structure was built in 1880 by architect Jonas James Bradshaw (1837-1912) for the Junior Reform Club. In 1886, the building was purchased by the Bolton Operative Cotton Spinners' Association, then the wealthiest trades union society of its kind in the country. It served as their headquarters and was also used by four other trades unions. Between 1910 and 1912, the building was greatly expanded to the design of architects Potts and Hennings at a cost of £30,000. This enlargement added three separate assembly halls along with offices and other facilities, creating one of the region's finest trades union buildings. The building was widely used for public meetings beyond trades union business.

The building is constructed of red brick with stone dressings and displays Edwardian Baroque styling. The principal elevation on St George's Road comprises ten bays in a loosely symmetrical arrangement, divided into three sets of three bays with an additional bay to the east. The central three bays feature a large central round-arched entrance flanked by panelled pilasters supporting scrolled brackets that lead to a balustraded first-floor balconette. This balconette fronts a two-light window set in a pedimented surround. The flanking first-floor windows are tripartite with stone architraves and carved embellishment above; ground-floor windows are simpler two-light cross-mullioned designs. Rising above the central bay is a square tower with angle pilasters and round arches to each face, topped by stepped blocking courses rising to a dome and flanked by a balustraded parapet.

The flanking three-bay sections project slightly forward and are defined by giant brick pilasters rising to curved pediments enclosing stone cartouches within panels. Engaged stone columns rise from first-floor level within these sections. The eastern section features stilted-arched ground-floor windows and tall round-arched first-floor windows. The western section rises to three storeys, with the tall first-floor subdivided. Its ground-floor windows are architraved and pedimented, with simpler treatment above.

The single eastern bay contains a ground-floor entrance with a stone surround incorporating a projecting round-arched pediment supported on large brackets, with a tall round-arched window above, flanked by pilasters.

The secondary elevation facing Duke Street is loosely symmetrical across five bays, with the outer bays blind. Chimneys rise from corbels in the form of keystoned round arches, flanking the central three bays. The central bay is defined by giant pilasters framing a large round-arched window beneath a pediment; these pilasters rise further to terminate as pinnacles to the roof parapet. At ground-floor level are twined round arches, that to the left serving as an entrance and that to the right as a window. The flanking bays have simply treated windows across three storeys.

The building's public prominence is underscored by a significant historical incident. On Saturday 5 July 1913, it was targeted in a bomb attack when a lit package containing gunpowder and other explosives was pushed through the letter box. The package fell onto the tiled floor and the fuse was extinguished before detonation could occur. The incident was reported in The Suffragette, published by the Women's Social and Political Union (WSPU), which had been formed by Emmeline Pankhurst in 1903. From 1905, WSPU members, known as suffragettes, employed direct action in their campaigns, escalating from civil disobedience to criminal damage, arson, and bomb attacks on empty buildings. The attack on Spinners' Hall was typical of suffragette bomb tactics, and its reporting in The Suffragette suggests WSPU responsibility.

The interior has not been inspected.