History
It is not known exactly when "Ye Olde Man & Scythe" was originally built, but a charter of 1251 permitting the market mentions it by name. It has been rebuilt at least once (1636 according to the datestone inside), and only the vaulted cellar remains of the original structure, though some internal beams remain from 1636. The frontage of the building is an early 20th-century remodelling. It is a Grade II listed building.
In 1651 the Earl of Derby was executed for his part in the Bolton Massacre outside the Man and Scythe (owned at the time by the Earl of Derby's family). Outside, is a cross on the site with a plaque that relates the story of Bolton through the ages. The pub contains a chair that the Earl of Derby supposedly sat on before being taken outside to be beheaded, its inscription reads "15th October 1651 In this chair James 7th Earl of Derby sat at the Man and Scythe Inn, Churchgate, Bolton immediately prior to his execution".
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““And now this is the way in which the history of your former life has reached my ears!” As he said this he held out in his hand the fatal letter.”
—Anthony Trollope (1815–1882)
“The history of the world is the record of the weakness, frailty and death of public opinion.”
—Samuel Butler (1835–1902)
“We don’t know when our name came into being or how some distant ancestor acquired it. We don’t understand our name at all, we don’t know its history and yet we bear it with exalted fidelity, we merge with it, we like it, we are ridiculously proud of it as if we had thought it up ourselves in a moment of brilliant inspiration.”
—Milan Kundera (b. 1929)