HUNDREDS of historic sites around Bolton opened their doors to the public — to celebrate England’s heritage.

From huge halls, to quiet places of worship, visitors enjoyed free access to the town’s seldom seen historic treasures.

Bolton Parish Church was open throughout the weekend and even opened up its 180ft high tower for tours.

Canon Matt Thompson said: “We’ve always participated in Heritage Open Days. It’s an opportunity for us to share the building with the people of Bolton.

“It’s amazing the number of people who will say they’ve lived in Bolton all their life and they’ve never been in our church.

“The open days catches people imaginations, you don’t realise how lucky we are having these building. They take a lot of looking after and you forget the excitement that someone new coming in will see.”

Tower tours by tower captain Alan Forrester lead visitors up the 192 steps to test out bell ringing skills and take in the views from the top.

Three concerts filled the church with music on Saturday and there were home baked goods on sale.

Visitors Pat Wilson, 65, and her friend Stella Weaver, 64, made the trip from Leyland to Bolton to see some of the buildings open on Saturday.

She said: “The open days give us an opportunity to go to places you might not think about visiting.

“It’s amazing because you get to see things you would not normally see.”

Joanne Curran, 48, was taking a look around the 144-year-old building as part of her visit from Sydney, Australia.

Mrs Curran’s mum Doreen Berry was originally from Bolton, before moving half way around the world in 1963 with her husband John Monks.

She was joined in her visit by cousin Louise Nixon, 51, from Bradshaw.

Mrs Nixon said: “I wanted to show her how nice our heritage is. We take these things for granted but places like this are so beautiful.”

Mrs Curran added: “There might have been generations of my family who could have come to this church.

“It’s just so beautiful, it’s really lovely to get the opportunity to come along and see it.”