The town fairly creaks and groans under the weight of its formidable history and some of its oldest buildings are still in use. The castle is used partly as a crown court and prison and the Shire Hall, which has a collection of coats of arms dating from the 12th century, can also be visited. Capital of a beautiful area with the ruins of Furness Abbey, once the most powerful around, lying in a wooded vale. The town is a succession of terraced houses dominated by the once all-menacing Trident nuclear submarines. Another of Lancashire's key cotton weaving centres with the Lewis Textile Museum to prove it.
Modern engineering is the main industry.
Busy industrial town and cotton-spinning centre with many old mills converted to other industries. William Lever, son of a Bolton grocer, was born here and went on to soapmaking and the beginnings of Port Sunlight and Unilever. A Roman station, Saxon fort and baronial castle at Castle Croft shows this was an important place before King Cotton made its name for the town. Beatles fans may head for Mathews Street site of the Cavern Club, or try the Magical History Tour. Take a ferry across Mersey to get glorious views of the waterfront or shop at Albert Docks.