HENRY Ashworth was an employer who, by 19th century standards, really was a cut above the rest.

The Bolton cotton mill owner treated his textile workers with a great deal of respect. Originally, six terraced cottages were built for his workers at his New Eagley Mill at Ashworth Bottoms at the Bank Top end of Ashworth Lane.

Between 1822 and 1825 the size of his mill doubled and by 1835 employed 300 people, increasing to 1,000 in the 1840s.

He provided homes for his workers around the Bank Top area.

Although he had built a schoolroom at the New Eagley Mill in 1833 it was moved to Bank Top Village.

He built a library and by 1857 it had 1,500 books on the shelves.

He built a social club and ensured his workforce and the children were educated.

Norman Hindley has researched this part of Bolton and finds the story of Ashworth and his pioneering treatment of his workers fascinating.

Henry Ashworth was a leading liberal and became the first Quaker magistrated in England.

His social reform would change the face of Bolton and create a village where the workers were respected and then housed in homes that would have, for the time, all mod cons.

Rent varied between one shilling six pence and four shillings and three pence a week.