The Swan Hotel

The Swan Hotel is a large hotel complex with a history spanning from approximately 1800 to 1900, with possible earlier origins. It’s located on Churchgate and Bradshawgate in Bolton, and comprises several distinct phases of construction linked together. The buildings are primarily of painted brick with slate roofs.

The earliest section, facing Churchgate, is a three-storey, three-window range with a central entrance within a Tuscan portico porch. This porch is flanked by full-height, shallow bow windows with dividing shafts and tripartite sash windows containing 2-pane glazing. A renewed window above the doorway provides access to a balcony formed by the porch roof. A renewed cornice runs along the top of the facade. An axial brick stack is located to the left of the entrance.

Facing Bradshawgate is a further early 19th-century building, a three-storey, six-window range with an entrance to the left and a segmental archway leading to an inner courtyard. A moulded architrave frames the entrance doorway, and a similar architraves surround the 15 and 12-pane sash windows above. The right side of the building features a two-window range with 2-pane sashes to the ground and first floors, and 9-pane sashes in the attic storey. A Palladian window sits above the carriage entry, and a tripartite sash window is present on the second storey. A more recent public house frontage has been inserted to the ground floor beyond the archway, while the upper floors retain two 2-pane sash windows. All windows have flat-arched painted brick heads and stone sills. End and front wall stacks are present, and the eaves overhang.

A corner block, constructed around 1850, links the Churchgate and Bradshawgate buildings. This three-storey, five-window range features a curved corner entrance, framed by an architrave with a segmental canopy (likely from around 1900). Above is a four-pane sash window, partially obscured by an inn sign. A continuous sill band runs along the second floor. The returns to Bradshawgate and Churchgate have 2-pane sash windows, with a modern public house frontage inserted into the ground floor. A moulded overhanging eaves cornice tops the building.

A final addition to the complex, dating to approximately 1900, adjoins the Churchgate building to the left and is built of painted brick. This is a three-storey, two-window range with two-storey canted bay windows divided by pilasters and topped by elaborate pediments. The upper storey has paired 2-pane sashes. A pedimented gable with scrollwork in low relief, including a swan at the apex, is a prominent feature. Various later 19th and 20th-century extensions are located to the rear. The interior has not been inspected.