Hollywood, Chorley New Road, Lostock, Bolton

The buildings, the family and their story

The mansion Hollywood was built in the 1850 in grand gothic style with arch-shaped internal doors. It was owned by Helen Agnes Taylor (nee Higgin) and her husband Edgar Taylor, whose firm, Holdsworth Brothers, was eventually the last independent cotton spinners in Britain, closing only in 1990.

Edgar and Helen Taylor brought up 7 children at Hollywood, with the help of 9 staff – 2 gardeners, 1 coachman, a nanny and 5 more residential staff. The bay to the left was added by Edgar to accommodate his growing family.

Sold in 1979 after the death of Mrs Taylor, Hollywood forms part of the private BMI Beaumont Hospital.

Many of the internal features have been conserved. The stone terrace has been truncated to provided parking and a range of bedrooms have been added to the right.

The Hollywood estate is entwined with the history of Bolton, and its supreme position as one of the major northwest cotton towns. Here, the best long-staple cotton from Egypt and the Sea Islands was spun into the finest threads, using the 'mule' spinning invention of Bolton's Samuel Crompton.

The first mills were recorded in 1790, and by 1843 there were 50. Whittle's History of Bolton counted 'upwards of 81' in 1856, and by then Lancashire's textiles were contributing 50% of Britain's exports. It was claimed that Lancashire mills produced enough cloth before breakfast to satisfy home demand, so the rest of the day's production was for export. Expansion seemed never-ending and even in the Edwardian period 25 new mills were built here: a total of 50,000 Boltonians were then employed in textile manufacture. In 1913, 8,000 million yards of cloth were produced, mostly in Lancashire, and 7,000 m. of these were exported, making a quarter of Britain's exports. Lancashire made the country's wealth. It is said that two Bolton spinners persuaded the Egyptian government to install irrigation schemes in the Nile valley, and most of this cotton came to Bolton.

Many of the spinners built homes on the west of town. Hollywood was the family home of Helen Agnes Higgin (1882 – 1978); after her marriage to Edgar Taylor and a short time living elsewhere, they returned to Hollywood with their growing family, and there brought up 7 children, with the help of 9 staff – 2 gardeners, 1 coachman, a nanny and 5 more residential staff.

Edgar had served his apprenticeship with his uncle, managing Woodside Mills 1, 2 and 3, and then in 1919 he risked his livelihood by purchasing New Stone Mill, Higher Bridge Street, from the Holdsworths. The war years had suppressed any business, but then profits returned, and Messrs Holdsworth Brothers rode out the Depression of the '30s and all the ensuing downturns in a very cyclical business. Edgar's sons and grandsons carried on until their closure in 1990, as the last independent cotton spinners in Britain. Edgar borrowed money in 1919 to make his purchase, but not from the banks. He issued shares to other friends, some also spinners and fellow Unitarians – the Haselden and Tillotson families – and debentures to the Holdsworth family members, managing to repay the capital in just 10 years.

Hollywood was built in 1850 in the gothic style and still bears its date-stone over the door; in the same year Hollywood Cottage was built at the north end of the 11-acre site which stretches, long and narrow, from Chorley New Road northwards. The Cottage stands on the spot where quarrymen lived whilst cutting stone to build High Rid Reservoir further uphill. Their well and pump survive. At first there were no main services to either, just the well. The stables and coach-house with a tower were also built then, and later, when gas was installed, an amateur laboratory was made in the tower for the son who was a science enthusiast. The eldest son, Arthur, recalled that Hollywood was built of cedar wood, and the doors are romantically arch-shaped; the walls of the dining room and hall were painted with designs, and so was the panelling. On the ceiling of the dining room were the words Edite ut Vivati – 'Eat to Live'. In other words, don't be greedy.

Helen's father, William Higgin, was an avid builder. He added Hollywood Lodge, on the southern boundary with Chorley New Road, in 1897. The style is unusual and distinctive, with a squared bay window set across the corner; it is still complemented by the fine set of 4 gateposts and wing walls with chamfered coping stones, and by the boundary wall of coarsed hand-cut stone and battlement-style copings. When Helen's family outgrew their first home in Park Road, he built a new one for her in 1907 behind his own; Holly Hill was built by the noted architect Hermon Crook who also worked for Lord Leverhulme, using the stone from the demolished Blackamoor's Head public house in Rivington; contemporary photos display the same drip-stone mouldings over windows and door. Holly Hill is still in the family.

Details compiled by Elaine M Taylor MA

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The Hollywood Estate

6 buildings occupied the 11 acre estate prior to the sale in 1979. It can be seen that these buildings are all in a similar style and of similar materials complementing each other. There may be other recent buildings around them now, but these are of a style which complements them in size and quality and they are not cheek by jowl with each other.