Sharples, a suburb of Bolton, was a township of the civil and ecclesiastical parish of Bolton le Moors in the Salford hundred of Lancashire, England. It lay 2½ miles north of Bolton. It contained the smaller settlements of Banktop, Sweet-Loves, High-Houses, Gale, Folds, Belmont, Piccadilly, Water-Meetings, Old Houses and part of Astley Bridge. History Sharples was recorded in documents as Charples in 1212, Sharples and Scharples in 1292 and the manor was part of the Barony or Lordship of Manchester in the Middle ages and was separated and then further divided into shares by subinfeudation. Sharples was the name of a local family who lived at Sharples Hall, the Lawson family owned the Hall at the time that the manor became partitioned after the death of Dr John Sharples Lawson who died in 1816. The next family to live and own the hall were the Rothwells. Sharples contained forty-three hearths liable to the hearth tax in 1666. During the Industrial Revolution coal was mined on a small scale and cotton mills, calico print-works, extensive bleach-works were built in Belmont and Astley Bridge. Malcolm Howe of Chelsea, a native of Sharples and published historian, with expertise in heraldry, had purchased manorial rights through an intermediary acting on behalf of the descendants of the owner as an historic relic to preserve its existence and keep the rights within the borough, at a cost of £15,000 in 2006. At the same time designing a heraldic badge for Sharples. In the same year he gifted the rights to Bolton Council whilst retaining rights to continue the use of the title of Lord of Sharples. Governance Historically, Sharples formed part of the Hundred of Salford, a judicial division of southwest Lancashire, whilst administered from St Peter's Church, at Great Bolton. Under provisions of the Poor Relief Act 1662, townships replaced parishes as the main units of local administration in Lancashire. Sharples became one of the eighteen autonomous townships of the parish of Bolton le Moors. In 1837, Sharples became part of the Bolton Poor Law Union, which took over the responsibility for the administration and funding of the Poor Law in that area. In 1864 Lower Sharples and part of Little Bolton became Astley Bridge Local Board of Health and in 1894 Astley Bridge Urban District before being merged in Bolton County Borough in 1898. Upper Sharples became Belmont civil parish in the Bolton Rural