Home Sweet Home: Old Photographs of Bolling Hall

Bolling Hall had been owned and lived in by its wealthy owners for centuries until the 19th century. Sir Francis Wood sold Bolling Hall to the Bowling Iron Company in 1816 and one of the company partners, Mr John Paley, received the Hall and subsequently rented it to other families. 

Rev. Heineken was one of the first in a long line of subsequent tenants; it is believed he lived there from 1822 to 1827. Census records tell us that the Walker family lived there in 1851, and then the Tankard family in 1871 and 1881 – both were well-off enough to have domestic servants. William, head of the Walker family, was a local magistrate. James, head of the Tankard family, was a wealthy worsted spinning mill owner. It is believed the Tankards lived at Bolling Hall until 1887.

The Hall was then split into separate dwellings and several families rented and lived in different wings or rooms. In 1911, three families are listed as living at Bolling Hall: the Watts family, the Warburton family and Parrington family. These were not rich families. Their humble occupations ranged from a printer, labourer, warehousemen and a tailor.

In our collection, we have some glass lantern slides which show us what some of the rooms at Bolling Hall looked like during this period. These have been digitised, printed and put in the corresponding rooms around the Hall to tell this chapter of Bolling Hall’s history.