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The West Pennine Moors is an area of approximately 90 square miles of moorland and reservoir scenery, located in North West England, between the towns of Chorley, Bolton, Horwich and Blackburn. Notable architectural features exist, such as Rivington Pike, Winter Hill TV Mast, Holcombe Tower and Jubilee Tower on Darwen Moor. Image File history File links Download high resolution version (1120x840, 136 KB) Summary Created by me on 20-Nov-2005 Licensing I, the creator of this work, hereby release it into the public domain. ...
Image File history File links Download high resolution version (1120x840, 136 KB) Summary Created by me on 20-Nov-2005 Licensing I, the creator of this work, hereby release it into the public domain. ...
Rivington Pike stands on Rivington Moor, near to Winter Hill, 361m (1200 feet) above sea level. ...
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Royal motto (French): Dieu et mon droit (Translated: God and my right) Englands location (dark green) within the United Kingdom (light green), with the Republic of Ireland (blue) to its west Languages None official English de facto Capital None official London de facto Largest city London Area – Total Ranked...
Chorleys Coat of Arms Chorley is a market town in Lancashire, Great Britain, south of Preston and at the foot of the West Pennine Moors. ...
Location within the British Isles Arms of Bolton, the motto is Latin for Overcome your hinderance Bolton is a town in the Greater Manchester Urban Area in England, traditionally within the county of Lancashire. ...
Location within the British Isles Horwich (pronounced Horrich) is a town in Greater Manchester, England, at the foot of the West Pennine Moors, half way between Bolton and Chorley. ...
This article is about Blackburn in Lancashire, England. ...
Rivington Pike stands on Rivington Moor, near to Winter Hill, 361m (1200 feet) above sea level. ...
Winter Hill Mast is a television mast situated on Winter Hill between Chorley and Bolton, in Lancashire, England. ...
The memorial tower to Sir Robert Peel high above Ramsbottom was planned and erected at the same time as Bury was preparing its statue to the recently deceased statesman. ...
Location within the British Isles Arms of the former Darwen Borough Council Darwen is a small market town of the West Pennine Moors in Lancashire, North West England. ...
United Utilities are a major landowner. United Utilities is a British utility company with its headquarters in Warrington which operates mainly in the North West of England. ...
Geography Rising to a peak on Winter Hill (456 meters), the area is mainly upland, with many well-trodden paths, as well as areas of historical and geological interest, as well as being a major water catchment area. A large amount of open moorland has been made accessible due to the right to roam legislation, which is a mixed blessing, as a lot of the area can be extremely boggy!
The "Little Lake District" The majority of visitors to the area tend to visit the four large reservoirs : Anglezarke, Upper Rivington, Lower Rivington and Yarrow, along with the village of Rivington itself. These are linked through Heapey and White Coppice by a man-made ditch called The Goit that cuts through the landscape. To the east of the area can be found Belmont, Delph, Turton & Entwistle, Wayoh and Jumbles reservoirs. Anglezarke is an area of oustanding national beauty in Lancashire that is dominated by a series of reservoirs that supply water to Manchester and Liverpool. ...
Binomial name Achillea millefolium L. Yarrow (Achillea millefolium) is a flowering plant in the family Asteraceae, native to the Northern Hemisphere. ...
Rivington is a small village in Lancashire between the towns of Chorley and Bolton. ...
Like the 'real' Lake District, the area is a haven for walkers and ramblers, offering easy level walks around the reservoirs or more challenging walks on Winter Hill or the moors to the East. There are plenty of guidebooks available for the area, some of which can be bought from the information centre at Rivington Lower Barn. Mountain biking has become increasingly popular since 2002, when the area was the setting for the biking events of the 2002 Commonwealth Games. Unfortunately, this has resulted in erosion problems. The panorama across Eskdale from Ill Crag. ...
The 2002 Commonwealth Games were held in Manchester, England from July 25 to August 4. ...
Lever Park Lord Leverhulme left his mark on the area, with Rivington Pike, the Chinese Gardens, and a replica of Liverpool Castle, which remain popular tourist attractions. Lord Leverhulme is the most familiar name of William Hesketh Lever, a British Industrialist who was created 1st Viscount Leverhulme. ...
Rivington Pike stands on Rivington Moor, near to Winter Hill, 361m (1200 feet) above sea level. ...
Liverpool Castle in Liverpool, England was probably erected in the 1230s. ...
Landmarks The Lower Barn in Rivington is a common meeting place for walkers. The Upper Barn is more known for its large biker meetings, where several hundred machines can be seen every Sunday.
History The West Pennine Moors has a long and varied history from Iron Age Settlements on Winter Hill to the Lead Mines at Anglezarke, the beacon on Rivington Pike at the time of the Spanish Armarda which was later converted to a folly at the same time as the Pigeon Tower and Oriental Gardens were built by Viscount Leverhulme. Not all the history is peaceful, in the 1800's, the people of the surrounding towns took place in a mass trespass, leaving the legacy of today's Access Land arrangements and later the Oriental Garden's were nearly destroyed by the Suffragette Movement. Also in the 1800's the valleys to the West of the Moors were flooded to form today's reservoirs and more recently, the area came to world's screens as the setting for the Manchester 2002 [Commonwealth Games] Cycling Events.
Anglezarke Human activity around Anglezarke can be traced back to pre-historic man. Dotted across Anglezarke Moor are two pre-historic sites which are still clearly visible - Pikestones and Round Loaf, a landmark clearly visible from the route across Great Hill from White Coppice. Round Loaf is a Bronze Age tumulus on the West Pennine Moors on Anglezarke Moor, within the locale of Chorley in Lancashire, England. ...
Most of Anglezarke's history, however, revolves around mineral mining. As early as 1690, lead was discovered in Stronstrey Bank, near White Coppice and despite. The landowner, Sir Richard Standish formed a partnership with two farmers and a mining engineer, John Knowle. After several failures, a good quantity of lead was mined, but following her husband's death, Sir Standish's wife claimed all the profits. After loosing the resultant court case she flooded the mines by diverting a stream. Despite this, the mines were expanded in the 1790's and not only lead was extracted, but also copper and galena.
A substance known as Witherite (Barium Carbonate) was also discovered as early as 1700, and although there were some ill-fated attempts to use it for medicinal purposes it main use it as a coloured glaze for porcelain.
Lead Mines Clough The earliest recorded evidence of lead mining in the Lead Mines Clough area is from 1690. Though the yield was always small, production continued through the 1700's, finally ending around 1830. It seems that whilst the most productive time was in the late 1700's, this was often disrupted by disputes between the landowners and miners. Overlooking the valley is a war memorial, commererating the crew of an RAF Wellington bomber which crashed there suring the second world war. RAF is an three letter acronym for: Royal Air Force -- the Air Force of the United Kingdom (see also Air Ministry) Red Army Faction (Rote Armee Fraktion) -- a German terror organisation Rigas Autobusu Fabrika -- a factory making buses in Riga, Latvia Rapid Action Force in India RaÄunarski Fakultet RAF...
Belmont Nestled between Winter Hill, Anglezarke Moor and Turton Moor, Belmont, first recorded in 1212, sits astride the old turnpike road between Bolton and Preston, the present day A675.
Belmont at its height housed a bleaching and dying works, powered by water from Eagley Brook. When a the reservoir to the north of Belmont was constructed, there was much objection, so much so that an Act of Parliament stipulated that nearly 2 million gallons a day be released into Eagley Brook during the working day to sustain the industry that depended on it. Belmont is now largely a commuter town with easy road access into both Bolton and Blackburn.
Jubilee Tower The octagonal tower on Beacon Hill overlooking the town of Darwen was completed in 1898 to commemorate Queen Victoria's Diamond Jubilee and also to celebrate the victory of the local people for the right to access the moor. 85ft in height, walkers can climb to the top via the internal staircase to admire the views of Yorkshire, Morecambe Bay Lancashire and surrounding moorland.
Reservoirs The West Pennine Moors are almost exclusively owned by United Utilities, formerly North West Water, and prior to privatisation, the Liverpool Corporation. As this suggests, the water collected supplies the city of Liverpool and has done since August 1857. The first reservoirs to be built, authorised by a 1847 act of parliament, were designed to impound the waters of the rivers Douglas and Roddlesworth, and form a reservoir in the valley between Rivington Pike and Heath Charnock. These are the current day Anglezarke, Upper Rivington and Lower Rivington Reservoirs. All water piped to Liverpool passes through these reservoirs in the order given and is filtered through the sand beds at the southern end of Lower Rivington Reservoir.
In 1860, the increasing demand for water in Liverpool meant that extra supplies were required. A new reservoir was built further up the Roddlesworth valley, the furthest upstream of the current Roddlesworth Reservoirs. Though this new reservoir increased the storage volume for wet years, it did not increase the area of the watershed.
In 1867, it was found that yet more water was going to be needed, so the decision was made to construct another reservoir in the Yarrow Valley, current day Yarrow Reservoir. Work started in 1868, was finished in August 1875, and finally filled in February 1877. To cope with the extra water, two new filter beds were also constructed.
The Roddlesworth and Rake Brook Reservoirs are now linked to Anglezarke and so the filter bed via a 3.5 mile long canal, of which some is underground near Brinscall, and is labelled on Ordnance Survey maps as The Goit.
High Bullough reservoir - formerly Chorley Reservoir - is now disconnected from the system, existing as a nature reserve attracting Goldeneye amongst other species. GoldenEye is the seventeenth James Bond film and the first to star Pierce Brosnan as Ian Flemings British secret service agent, James Bond. ...
Since then, a multitude of other reservoirs have been constructed across the West Pennine Moors area. The Rivington Watershed now comprises of 10,000 acres of land and the average flow rate through the filter beds near Horwich is 8.96 million litres/day (2.24 million gallons/day)
Rivington Pike Due to it's exposed position, Rivington Pike was long used as a signalling and Beacon point with it's first recorded use being 19th July 1588, when it was lit as part of the national system to alert the population to the engagement of Spanish forces by the Royal Navy. A beacon was also lit here as part of numerous celebrations more recently, particularly the end of the Great War in 1918, the coronations of both George V and Elizabeth II and the Royal wedding in 1981. The beacon site has since been re-allocated to the Last Drop Village, closer to Bolton where it was lit as part of the Millennium Celebrations.
The building which now stands on top of the Pike was first built as a folly come shooting shelter commissioned by John Andrews in 1733. It ceased to be used when the estate was bought by W.H. Lever (later Viscount Leverhulme) in 1900 and has since been bricked up, though it remains a Grade II listed building.
Rivington Barns
There are two 'barns' within the Rivington Estate. Rivington Great Barn sits beside the main road, and has been dated at around 1000 AD with dates ranging from 811 AD to 1300 AD with its Scandinavian design. It experienced a major renovation in 1702 and it is now a tourist information centre and café. The larger barn is set back along a drive, and was renovated in the early 20th century. It is now used as a venue for presentation evenings, weddings and the like as well as the weekly motorbike rally which forms in the car park of a Sunday. Terraced 'Oriental' Gardens
Oriental Gardens On the flanks of Rivington Pike lie the Oriental Gardens. Built by Viscount Leverhulme, the gardens featured pavilions, pools, waterfalls and exotic plants and shrubs. After the arson attack by a member of the suffragette movement on the 8th June 1913, it fell into disrepair, but is still accessible today, though many of the buildings have been demolished.
Pigeon Tower
This tower sits at the northwestern edge of the Oriental Gardens, and originally had three stories, with the top room being Lady Lever's sewing room and the lower two levels housing ornamental doves and pigeons.
Winter Hill Transmitters The main transmitter on Winter Hill extends to a height of 100m. It is television and radio transmitter broadcasting terrestrial channels, some digital channels, BBC radio and some local commercial radio stations. This transmitter broadcasts at a power of 60kW and serves millions of homes across the North-West region. Image File history File links Winterhilltransmitter. ...
Most of the other transmitters are repeater stations for two-way radio communication, such as that used by the emergency services, and microwave links.
Winter Hill Iron Age Sites Iron Age Tumulus (stones visble in the grass)Two Iron Age sites have been discovered on Winter Hill Moor. The first located around 0.5km west of the summit is a burial mound thought to have been for an important person living in or around the area around 1500 BC.
A further site, 1km west of the summit, known as Noon Hill Saucer Tumulus, is also a burial site consisting of two concentric stonewalls with two sets of burnt human bones in the centre and broken urn containing more bones, along with two flint arrow heads and flint sacrificial knife. The site has been dated at around 1100 BC, and artefacts from both sites can be found in the Bolton Museum.
Access Land In 1896, a mass trespass took place across the moors. This followed the sale of the land to Colonel Ainsworth who intended to use the land for shooting, and so took step to deter members of the public from using the public rights of way across. Reports from the time claim a crowd of 10,000 people gathered to be confronted by a barrier and the police, but the crowd literally threw the police officers over the fence and proceeded to march across the land. Since then there have been arrangements made to allow member of the public to walk freely across the moors. See the walking page for more information.Plaque on Scotsman's Stump
Scotchman's Stump Situated opposite the transmitter, there is a memorial to young Scottish salesman who was shot on the moor by an unknown assailant in 1838. The story goes that he was en-route to a local inn to meet a friend. When he failed to arrive, his friend went out to look for him, and found him with a fatal shot to his head. Though a man was charged at the time, he was never actually convicted.
Two Lads A ranger on Winter Hill constructed two cairns on the moor to commemorate the alleged tragic perishing of two young men on the site many hundreds of years ago. Despite the fact that Bolton Council had them demolished, claiming they were a safety hazard, he re-constructed them and supported by the Bolton Evening News, successfully fought for them to remain. In the 1980's a project was panned to excavate the site, but was abandoned, so the truth behind the story is not known.
Air Disaster On the 27th February 1958, a commercial flight from Manchester Airport to Douglas on the Isle of Mann ended tragically on Winter Hill. The weather was atrocious and due to the poor visibility, heavy snow and remote location, only two of the 37 people on board survived. The crash remains the area's worst air disaster. A plaque to commemorate this is mounted on the side of the mast.
External links - Winter Hill
- Mike's Walks
- West Pennine Wanders
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