No. 35 of 112 · Bolton
The Iron Hall Iron Church Bolton
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History & description
Known to everyone in Bolton as the Iron Church, though the iron building it is named after was replaced well over a century ago.
The mission
The cause was founded in 1872 as a mission of St George's Road Congregational Church. Its first home was a corrugated-iron building, and the nickname stuck permanently. The present building on Blackburn Road opened in 1897; Lord Leverhulme was among its principal benefactors, and it ran a very large Sunday school.
Closure
The congregation became part of the United Reformed Church at the union of 1972, and the church closed in 1990 — the final service was held on 29 April that year. The building was afterwards an antiques centre and now trades as a furniture salesroom, still under the Iron Church name.
