TODAY marks the anniversary of the Bolton Town Hall fire.

The blaze which tore through the Albert Halls devastated the building, razing the Victorian marvel almost to the ground.

MARY NAYLOR looks back.

“THE historic hall with its famous organ ­— a centre of town for generations ­— was a blackened shell strewn with rubble and the twisted remains of the once glittering chandeliers.

“The roof has disappeared in several places," wrote The Bolton Evening News in 1981.

The civic building was 108 years old when the fire, the cause of which is still unknown, started.

Cllr John Walsh who was between stints as a councillor at the time, was returning home by car from the Shrewsbury v Bolton Wanderers football match and heard the news on the radio.

He described the scene when he arrived: The fire service pumped thousands of gallons onto the fire and out of the building across the square. They were using so muhc water.

"It was a very, very dramatic sight. It was about 5pm and by 7.30pm the whole building had gone."

He said: “At the time the annual Bolton Chrysanthemum Show was taking place but it was never established what the cause was.

“It was clear though that the organ pipes acted as a flue and carried it up into the roof space.”

The fabulous ceiling inside the Albert Hall was brought down and there were fears for ornamental figures in the four corners representing the four seasons.

The Bolton Evening News reported on the “irreplaceable ornate ceiling” in 1981 saying it was recognised as a particularly fine example of Victorian craftsmanship.

Cllr Walsh said fortunately some of the ornate bosses were recovered and local craftsmen were able to replicate them to adorn the new ceiling.

Fortunately for the four seasons they were relatively unscathed. At the time there was speculation they were made from a special plaster which had withstood the heat.

Cllr Walsh revealed they were restored by local plasterer Tommy Lowe.

He said: “His thumbnail was two inches long and hard as iron. He had used it to mold plaster with.

“He restored and installed the four seasons in the four corners of the hall.”

He said: “What’s remarkable is how much of the original fabric survived. Including the two great white figures [which held the organ].”

They were largely unharmed and were restored. They now embellish the refurbished Albert Halls.

The great English oak doors of the Albert Hall helped to contain the blaze and only one of them came anywhere near being breached. They stopped the fire from breaking out of the Albert Hall and into the corridors where it would have jeopardised the rest of the Town Hall.

Reflecting on the events of the evening Cllr Walsh said: “The fire changed the size of the Town Hall to being two halls: Albert and Festival. And what it did show was the wish of the people to see the town hall restored. [The restoration] was a tribute to the craftsmen."

Bolton Town Hall cost £170,000 and was opened by the then Prince and Princess of Wales ­— the future King Edward VII and Queen Alexandra ­— on June 5, 1873.