Bolton Wonders

[steepholm]

Last night I had the chance to look around Bolton for the first time, and was very taken with the statuary in the main square. Some of it was the kind of thing you might expect - civic appreciations of formers mayors and leaders of corporations, and the like.





But there were also more unlikely subjects, such as the People's Steeplejack, Fred Dibnah.





There was also what purported to be a War Memorial, but which I prefer to view as a before-and-after allegory of the danger posed by unlicensed chiropractors.

This won't hurt a bit...


Oh dear.




Then came a statue of a man whose only identification was the single word CHADWICK, carved boldly into his plinth. No doubt I should know who Chadwick was, and why he needs no further introduction, but I don't.



I walked round all four sides, but no more writing was to be found. There was a however a mute clue, in the form of a plaque on the plinth ("plaque on the plinth" is a wonderfully cheering phrase to type or indeed to say aloud, by the way). From this I infer that it was Chadwick's custom to don a poke bonnet and pass amongst the poor of nineteenth-century Bolton, bringing cheer to all he met. I will be rather sad if this turns out not to be the case.







(Oh, all right. I googled him, of course. The statue is probably of this bloke. [ETA: Or, more likely still, this one. Thanks to mraltariel for the link.])


Finally, I would so like to see a Romeo and Juliet story in which the son of Sizzles falls in love with the daughter of The Food Factory.



Bolton beats Verona, any day of the week.

Comments

[steepholm.livejournal.com]

That sounds very plausible. I assume the father is the moustachioed gentleman whose portrait graces the top-left-hand corner of both establishments.

[gillo]

Could well be, unless he is the eminence grise of Bolton catering. I notice the Food Factory does an all-you-can-eat buffet - possibly a sinister gangland meeting-place.

[mraltariel.livejournal.com]

I think it is more likely to be Samuel Taylor Chadwick, creator of Bolton's Orphanage and endower of its first museum.

http://www.boltonmuseums.org.uk/collections/bolton-museum-history/historyofboltonmuseum/

[steepholm.livejournal.com]

By Jove, I think you've got it! The children in that plaque do have a bit of an orphany look to them. Thanks!

[mraltariel.livejournal.com]

*puts on happy hat* *blows weird inflatable snake kazoo thing that they have at parties*

So today will *not* be a day of Zero Achievement after all!