Deansgate Conservation Area - Bolton Metropolitan Borough Council

Fig.9: the west part of Deansgate is a
busy bus route
The architectural character of Deansgate alters along its length, with the buildings west
of Oxford Street being generally less imposing than those to the east. Buildings are
faced in local sandstone or Portland limestone, with red brick, sometimes rendered or
with applied timber-framing. Bradshawgate is notable for the concentration of terracotta
and faience-faced buildings, dating from about 1900. Several of the more modern
buildings are faced in synthetic materials.
There is a wide variety of building types and forms in the area. Some of the earlier
buildings date from the early nineteenth-century and were built as houses, although all
now have ground floor shops or pubs; these buildings occupy narrow plots reflecting the
medieval burgage plot boundaries and some can still be seen in the west of the area.
Later buildings tend to have wider frontages, built across two or more plots widths and
are mostly larger purpose-built banks and department stores. The variety of building
types, dates and styles contributes to the visual and historic interest of the main streets
(Figs.7, 8 and 9).
Knowsley Street, a wide straight thoroughfare which was formed in the mid-nineteenth
century as part of the development associated with the new market hall, has a more
homogenous character, despite the modern rebuilding of some premises on the western
side, and the 1990s Market Place shopping centre to the north-east side (Fig.6). Most of
the buildings in Deansgate and the other principal streets are two or three storeys high,
which has given this town-centre area its fairly homogenous character. A few singlestorey
infill buildings have eroded this strong pattern, for example on the north side of
Deansgate, opposite Whitakers. There are unusually no tall buildings in the conservation
area. The largest building in the conservation area is the Market Place shopping centre
redevelopment, linked to the old market hall at the northern end of Bridge and Knowsley
Streets, which opened in 1993.
In addition to long views along the principal streets (Fig.7), there are visual connections
and pedestrian links to other parts of the town centre. Some of these are on narrow side
streets at right angles to Deansgate, for example along Old Hall Street North, where the
trees screen glimpses south to the Town Hall.
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