Follies Galore at Rivington

Famed throughout Lancashire as the nation’s original country park, Rivington has become the playground of the north. Reservoirs stacked up along the Anglezarke Valley have effectively turned the area into a miniature ‘Lake District’. The Park lies to the south of this oasis of tranquillity. First laid out under the tutelage of the late Viscount Leverhulme, the estate was acquired for the princely sum of £70,000 in the year 1899.

Rivington’s Anglezarke Reservoir, the largest reservoir in the Rivington chain.

And once this ‘lad from Bolton’ had made his mark and fortune in the household cleansing business, he proceeded to set out his vision of developing an exotically orchestrated holding for the benefit of his hometown. He was perhaps overstepping his authority in this respect due to Rivington lying within the Borough of Chorley. That anomaly, however, certainly didn’t prevent him from putting his philanthropic ambitions into practice.

Approaching from the west, Rivington is gained by crossing a causeway that separates the Upper and Lower Reservoirs. The original village boasts two churches, and close by is the primary school still housed in its original 18th-century building. The village green has an ancient water trough and a set of stocks once used for punishing miscreants. This is an excellent spot from which to commence an exploration of the Park.

Stocks on Rivington Village Green

In keeping with Victorian traits exhibited by the landed gentry, Willian Hesketh Lever employed expert gardeners and landscape architects to bring his dream to fruition.

Rare plants and shrubs, waterfalls in quirky grottoes linked by a labyrinth of terraced paths adorned the steeply rising flank beneath Rivington Moor. Without a doubt, their design was much influenced by Lever’s numerous foreign visits, particularly to Italy and Japan. He lived with his wife at Roynton Cottage built on the hillside. An impressive structure far more splendid than the name suggests did not prevent it being burned to the ground by a suffragette called Edith Rigby in 1913. Only the foundations remain today. It is just one of many secrets that can be seen during an exploration of this quaintly archaic slice of Bolton heritage.

The benefactor of the town made his name in soap and is best remembered for building the housing development of Port Sunlight for the workers employed in his factories on the Wirral peninsula. A fitting link between the two towns is the chain of reservoirs built in the mid 1800s with the express purpose of supplying corporation pop to Liverpool, a function still in operation today. As befitted an accomplished entrepreneur of the age, Viscount Leverhulme was a prodigious builder of that Victorian symbol intended to overtly flaunt power and wealth – namely, the folly of which there are two, or perhaps three, depending on your point of view.

Its childlike simplicity is certainly out of character in this remotely austere location on the edged of the terraced gardens below – truly a bizarrre eccentricity if ever there was one.

The first is the Dovecot, known locally as the Pigeon Tower, which is located high up on the edge of the moors. And here above the intricately designed parkland on the old road connecting the mill village of Belmont with Horwich can be found a tall narrow structure with a steeply canted roof. This is the celebrated Dovecot which is similar to Scottish country houses, a reflection of Leverhulme’s Highland interests. Its childlike simplicity is certainly out of character in this remotely austere location on the edged of the terraced gardens below – truly a bizarrre eccentricity if ever there was one.

Pigeon tower at the top of the terraced gardens Rivington Pike

The lower floors of the Dovecot were taken over by His Lordship’s stock of pigeons which were often seen resting in the adjacent wall holes inserted for that very purpose. One can only surmise as to whether he used them to communicate with his business interests in Port Sunlight. The great man’s wife used the top floor as a sewing room and to enjoy the distant panorama across West Lancashire. Following years of neglect, the tower has been renovated in accordance with the modern concern for rustic preservation.

It is to be found a half mile south of the Dovecot and clearly on view from all western approaches, whence eyes are variably drawn to the giant pimple perched on a mound atop its moorland torso.

It is perhaps significant that the most famous structure of all in the vicinity of Rivington is that erected in 1733 by John Andrews. It is to be found a half mile south of the Dovecot and clearly on view from all western approaches, whence eyes are variably drawn to the giant pimple perched on a mound atop its moorland torso. This is much esteemed Rivington Pike.

Rivington Pike

Akin to a black stone cube boasting a crenelated hat, it is perched on a splendid eye-catching plinth which is clearly why John Andrews chose it. It was built to proudly display his holding of the entire Manor of Rivington, which was originally divided into two parts. The castellated structure had windows, a door, a cellar and a fireplace and was used as a refuge for grouse shooting parties working the Moor. So, a practical structure and perhaps not really a folly as such. The stone was taken from an earlier beacon lit to warn of traumatic events, the most famous of which was the sighting of the Spanish Armada in 1588.

Lord Leverhulme also commandeered it as a shooting lodge. He would often shelter here from the rampant westerlies beating across the open moorland. Now closed and blocked up, it still attracts thousands of visitors and even enjoys its own fell race. Once threatened with demolition it is now a listed building. Further to the east, the prospect is dominated by the surging upthrust of the Winter Hill television mast, the top of which is often obscured by swirling skeins of cloud.

To express disapproval, a mass trespass was organised in 1896, which lasted for two days before the frustrated landowner was forced to back down.

An earlier owner of Rivington Moor, Colonel Henry Ainsworth, objected to the local populace wandering across his land and proceeded to block off the entry points with guards posted to prevent access. Not a course of action that endeared him to the workers who used the highways crossing the moors nor those seeking an escape from the polluted industrial towns nearby. To express disapproval, a mass trespass was organised in 1896, which lasted for two days before the frustrated landowner was forced to back down. A stone depicting the event can be found on Cockpit Road in Smithills Country Park to the east of the Moor.

The last of our follies is down in the valley close to Lower Rivington Reservoir. Liverpool Castle was intended as an exact replica of the original castle following its despoilation during the Civil War of the 17^th century. The ruin was never actually finished but who would ever guess? A plaque at the entrance indicates how the real castle in Liverpool would have looked in all its glory.

The unfinished folly of Liverpool castle

In 1967, men working nearby noticed a nebulous figure, starkly white amidst the dull grey of the walls, flitting among the bare ruins. For two hours, the mysterious entity glided about before finally disappearing into the gloom. Could it possibly have been a throwback to a bygone age? A confused spirit trapped within the original essence of Liverpool Castle forever seeking its lost abode. The castle was finally raised to the ground in 1720 as a more contemporary Liverpool developed.

These and many more interesting features can be explored at one’s leisure amidst the scenic grandeur of Rivington Park that make it one of the most enthralling locations to visit in our wonderful county of Lancashire.

NorthernLife Dec/Jan/Feb 24/25