Danny and His Big Brother's Day Walk

An event with a difference, Danny (the leader) is running this day walk with his older brother, Andrew, who is not an OutdoorLads member.   So join us both as we take a wander up Winter Hill and enjoy the surroundings followed by tea and cake at Rivington Barn

Winter Hill is a well known feature for those who travelling on the M61 Motorway or being anywhere nearby Bolton, Chorley or north Manchester.  For those who don't "see" Winter Hill physically, you will no doubt see what is transmitted from the mast at the top of the hill. The Winter Hill TV transmitter provides TV and radio service to some 6.3 Million people across the North of England and some parts of North Wales also.  

Our walk will take us from Rivington Hall Barn along the shore of Rivington Reservoir to Liverpool Castle - why you may ask, is there a castle devoted to Liverpool in Bolton?  The answer lies with Lord and Lady Leverhulme, the original (and somewhat eccentric) original landowners of the area where the castle was built, the Lord and his wife having never seen the original Liverpool Castle worked from a design based on archaeological evidence and other historical data.  Ironically however, the castle replica was never finished and now lies in a state of partial ruin. But as the original castle site in the centre of The City of Liverpool is covered now by the law courts, this is the closest we have.

After exploring the ruins, we will ascend the side of Rivington Moor to Rivington Pike, a gritstone tower built on the site of an original beacon that formed part of a national fire beacon network for early warning from invaders, mainly from Scotland but its last lighting was to warn of the arrival of the Spanish Armada in 1588.  Later commemorative lighting's of the beacon took place more recently in 1910, 1918, 1977 and 2012.

We will then begin our walk over the moor to Winter Hill itself, reaching the transmitter base station, the site of a plane crash in 1958, when a freighter, a Silver City Bristol 170 G-AICS crashed en-route from Isle of Man in poor weather.  

Our return journey takes us to The Pigeon Tower, the once famed embroidery room of Lady Leverhulme, a very solitary structure but with some fabulous views.  

We return to Rivington Hall Barn for tea and coffee.