Bolton Steam Museum

16th-century mansion, timber-framed with stone additions, used as multiple lets for 17th- and 18th-century cottage industry. One of those occupants was Samuel Compton, who designed his "Spinning Mule" here. This helped textile processes grow bigger and bigger, into "dark satanic mills", and the days of cottage industry were ended. The Hall fell into disrepair but was bought up by Lord Leverhulme the "Sunlight Soap" tycoon, who gifted it to the town.