THIS picture shows a junction that is definitely very familiar to many of our readers.

It was the photograph in our “identify the mystery photograph” feature in Looking Back and reader Mark knew the spot immediately.

He explains: “The gateposts on the right of the picture belonged to the Doffcockers’,

“It was the home of Sir Benjamin Dobson who was a former Mayor of Bolton and chairman of engineering firm Dobson & Barlow which was also known as Dobbies.

“Dobson and Barlow was founded in 1790 and was internationally successful in textile machinery.”

Benjamin, explains Mark, would travel internationally for the firm.

This would be at a time when such travel was certainly not as commonplace as it is today.

“There doesn’t seem to be anything remaining of of the house today, but generations of children called the area Dobbies’ Wood,” he adds.

Benjamin was knighted by Queen Victoria in 1897 and gave a garden party for 1,000 people at his home.

“There was a torchlight procession from the town centre all the way up Chorley Old Road to the house.”

The gardens were so large and extensive they contained a model railway.

He was Mayor of Bolton from 1894 until he died in 1898.

His statue in the Town Hall Square was paid for by public money and unveiled in February 1900.

The house was demolished in 1913

“My parents and their parents before them, ran the greengrocers shop opposite the Doffcocker hotel and pub, which was just a bit further down Chorley Old Road, for many years,” says Mark.

There are many large houses in the Bolton area which were once home to the wealthy business owners both in Chorley Old and Chorley New Roads.