Wars, Myths and Legends, Rivington

Included here are some of the legends, myths and ghost stories passed down as folk tales of the area. One is about the old Baron, published in 1883 and again in 1969. The Baron on visiting his chase on a cold and bleak winter decreed that no locals, not even the foresters above them may not eat from, or take wood from the forest, people were to starve. The folk tale is this caused the murder of the Barons family. ^1) 2) Other accounts include a story of a headless horseman first printed in 1829.³⁾ I do not claim any personal first hand experience of any of the stories I have published here. One story was reported in the local press at the time, Lord and Lady Leverhulme had to change their route to their new home at Rivington as their servants and coachman refused to travel a particular route after dark.

If anyone has contributions they wish to add, please email me to info@rivington.net and I will be most happy to include them. This site is work in progress.

Ongoing Research

Recent research: Its possible LIDAR shows drainage on Rivington Moor that may date to the First or Second World War when lower grade land was being temporarily re-purposed, a site at Moor Bottom indicates fields boundaries for arable farming there prior to the build of the branch of Belmont Rd from Pigeon Tower toward Rivington Rd.   Earthworks suggest a medieval deer park existed. Use of the open field system, an early medieval farming method is under investigation, LIDAR shows larger fields divided into smaller strips at Great House and the Hall.

Two Lads

The structures were recorded in publications in 1776, 1867, 1883, 1904 and 1953. Archeologist were in preparation's for a dig in 1953 but diverted to another site close by. In Lancashire Folk-Lore, by John Harland, published in 1867 we read that; 'On Horwich Moor are two heaps of stones, or cairns, which are called by the country people The Wilder Lads. It is believed that on May Day Eve the Druids made prodigious fires on cairns, situated as these are, on lofty eminences, which being every one in sight of some other like fire, symbolized a universal celebration. The records from Lancashire Folk-Lore state the fires were in honour of Beal, or Bealan.⁴⁾

The old mediaeval forest of Horwich, then held by the Barons of Manchester included a valley called Wildboarsclough. ⁵⁾ The name has been preserved as Wilderswood at Horwich. The Wilder lads is the old name of Two Lads.

Detailed write up at Two Lads page.

The Spectre Horseman

Extract from the Traditions of Lancashire, Volume 2, Published by Longman, Rees, Orme, Brown and Green, London in 1829 author John Roby

The full transcript is now available: RIVINGTON PIKE; THE SPECTRE HORSEMAN. Extract from the Traditions of Lancashire, Volume 2, Published by Longman, Rees, Orme, Brown and Green, London in 1829 author John Roby

Detailed write up at THE SPECTRE HORSEMAN

Robbers Walk

Until the 1930's before Lever Park Avenue that route to Rivington was by a footpath and a narrow wooden footbridge crossed the stream, with a swing gate at one end to prevent cattle crossing. During the 1890s, this footbridge fell into decay and became dangerous to cross, so a public spirited lady, then living in Rivington, organised a collection through the local press and raised enough money to have a totally new one built. This route passed the site of a Tragic Tale of Horwich Forest.⁶⁾

 Detailed write up at Tragic Tale of Horwich Forest

Reformation - Boggart

On receiving news of the destruction of the Churches and the fate of others, the last Pre Reformation Chaplain at Rivington, who lived near the present location of the headless cross is said to have died in a tunnel underground escaping with the Silverware. It is said a ghost goes past the road. In one report a taxi driver from outside the district did an emergency stop in his car, thinking he had hit someone, he got out and checked, there was no one around, long before cars and before the lakes the ghost was known as the The Headless Boggart. From the book Lancashire Folk-Lore, printed 1867, a Boggart is a sort of ghost or sprite. ⁷⁾

Detailed write up at The Headless Boggart

The current owner of house mentioned found the tunnel in their cellar many years ago, no-one in living memory has ever dared go down it and check where it goes. The tunnel is reputed to head toward Roscoe Lowe.

Scotsmans Stump, 1954⁹⁾

Scotsmans Stump

Scotmans Post, 1912⁸⁾

A news report from the Bolton Chronicle, Saturday, 10 November 1838, with the headline reads 'Horrible murder at Belmont', public interest was high at the time of the murder and remained so for long after, the killer was never found.

Horwich Journal, 30th March 1928 a body was found on open moorland in Rivington, in a decomposing state by Mr. Bootham of Moses Cocker Farm. He was identified as Walter Heyes of Stretford aged 24, he had been missing since 19th January and was found with wounds to his throat. A coroner declared an open verdict.¹¹⁾.

An R.A.F Atlas 2 seat plane crash landed on Rivington Moor near Winter Hill, 8th July 1928¹²⁾.

A United States 5th Air Depot Group plane, a Fairchild UC-61 crash landed at Winter Hill 5th Aug 1942¹³⁾.

David Owen, son of the Vicar of Rivington recalls in Wartime memories that in the late evening in November 1943 villagers heard a aircraft flying very low overhead and on waking the following day heard the news that a Wellington Bomber had crashed on the Moors killing all on board. The actual site of the crash was near Hurst Hill. The school children joined the search parties in a hunt of the moors for something unusual, a secret piece of equipment from the bomber had gone missing. Some parts of the plane were recovered but the missing part the military were anxious about was never found.

After the war the Horwich Rotary Club erected a memorial near to the site of the crash.^{14) There were no survivors, on board Zulu 8799 were Flt. Sgt. J.B. Timperon and Sgts. E.R. Barnes, J.B. Hayton, R.S. Jackson, G.E.Murray and M. Mouncey.}

Christmas eve 1943 Oxford BM837 was allocated to 410 Cougar Squadron based at RAF Hunsdon in Hertfordshire, the pilot Flt Lt Martin Anthony "Cy" Cybulski RCAF was heading across country to the the new no. 9 Squadron, departing RAF Acklington, Northumberland to go to RAF Coleby Grange, Lincolnshire when the pilot crashed at Winter hill, he was seriously injured but survived the crash ¹⁵⁾.

In one account c.1945 near the end of World War II David Owen in his memories from World War II recalls a Spitfire crash landed at the Bay Horse Inn, Heath Charnock, killing a cow on landing, he recalls at the time the aircraft was guarded by the military and it was the closest any of the boys had ever come to a spitfire¹⁶⁾

In February 1958 Silver City Bristol 170 Freighter on route from the Isle of Man to Manchester crashed at Winter Hill killing 35 people and 7 injured¹⁷⁾.

More to follow

Tank Production at Horwich World War Two 1939 - 45 ¹⁸⁾

Great war 1914 -18 shell production, Horwich Locomotive Works.

World War

Rockhaven, folk talk of being demolished to stop WW2 German Luftwaffe navigation is false, German POW's confirmed use of reservoir's to navigate during interrogation on capture in 1942 ¹⁹⁾

During the winter of 1940/41 there were frequent air raids on Liverpool, the flight route uses by the Germans was over Rivington, these bombing raids intensified when convoys were in the Liverpool docks. Two large searchlights were erected in between the Hall Barn and Village to counter German Bombers who used the moon lit reflections from the Rivington Lakes to navigate, a particular incident gave proof of this navigation method on the capture of a Luftwaffe crew in 1942. 

Rivington Hall, 1950.

During the War the public were not allowed access to the park or any of the areas under military control, this included areas of strategic importance and the reservoirs were guarded and logs were floated on the lakes to stop enemy sea planes landing, the land was turned over by tractors to produce food and both barns were used to store rations. Boundary stones had the names chipped off them, now repaired, square holes in walls at each side of the road are still present and were created to slip a telegraph pole through to block the roads. The road signs were removed and have also been replaced.

One of the most common relics of War are signs of missing Iron railings, removed under Regulations 50, 50B and 53 of the Defence (General) Regulations, 1939, the iron was taken as the UK had to stop importing scrap from America, in order to save shipping space and as the Americans wanted scrap for themselves. In most cases the iron work has never been replaced. At the Unitarian Chapel its original gates survived this but the iron railings on the grave stones was taken away.

The Auxiliary

The Dig For Victory Campaign.

A group of men, who's role has remained unrecorded were Churchill's Army, a group often referred to as the Auxiliary Units, these units had two forms, one uniformed and connected to Home Guard and others who's role was to operate in secrecy, both with their own stashes of munitions, hidden around Rivington. Whilst the home guard members were known everything about the operations of others were kept secret even from close family. They were sworn to secrecy under the Official Secrets Act and they took that oath very seriously, taking their secrets to the grave. Those who would go to ground in the event of an invasion were people with intimate knowledge of their local area and who could live off the land if necessary their role was to disappear,  sometimes to locations covered dug underground and covered with logs whilst other hideouts were in mine workings. The hideouts were well hidden and intended to be used to withdraw to, eat, sleep and lie low, the men also had special training in improvised weapons. The men anticipated being shot if they were captured, and were expected to shoot themselves rather than be taken alive.

Of the groups  formed into units those comprised of 5 to 6, there were also those who's role was to operate in isolation. The men were trained to wait for the German army to pass over them and come out, mainly at night, to take out strategically important targets, ammunition and fuel dumps, transport links, assassinate high ranking German officers and even British collaborators. Under sealed orders certain British officials were also targets due to the information that could be extracted from them. They were highly trained in how to kill quickly and silently, being from all walks of life, they were formed in 1940 and existed nationally, the groups in units were stood down in 1944.

Great House Barn, fields ploughed for food production, early World War 2.

To quote someone with first hand knowledge of Rivington in the war years, 'If you were to go taking photographs there during the war you would have been suspected of spying for the enemy', in the second war the phrase 'Loose lips sink ships' was a warning not to speak about what you see.

Digging For Victory

In the meantime, older men and those in reserved occupations, women and children were busy in every way they could in a national war time spirit working together. Folks were turning their gardens, local fields and parks into allotments, Rivington was ploughed to plant crops. Savings were being diverted to war bonds, many left hundreds tied up in the war bonds for decades after the war hoping the money would help the country recover. The local economy was on war footing along with rationing and everyone played their part in anyway they could.

Edith Kay nee Curtis in her own words, Mp3

• Recycling History interview 1
• Make do and mend interview 2

Further details in MW Atkin research.

Moorland Decoy Town

In an interview of 2005 with Edith Kay nee Curtis, a War Worker recalled "her brother lived at Rivington, at one of the lodges where the bungalow is, and we used to go over there sometimes, and what there was, on the moors, at the back of Belmont, quite a big area, and it was marked out like, like a factory. In the dark, there was lights, as if it were street lights, and it was the moors, but it was marked out for aircraft and I think it was in case Euxton" Mrs Kay recalled "if they were making for Euxton, to get the bombers to drop the bombs on this moorland, because, you see, they were lit up like faint street lights, and lights. You know there's things in the Bolton Evening News, but never, ever mentioned that, and that was there for quite a long time. If you went by in the daytime, you could see all these poles, all these wires" Mrs. Kay further recalled "the extent of the decoys were something people don't know about really" and they were 'covering a lot of moorland between Belmont and Rivington.'

More on QL decoy sites at Lancashire at war.

Munitions

ROF Chorley

During World War II munitions were stored at locations around Rivington and production was close by at ROF Chorley, located at Euxton, these locations played a vital role in the war effort, in 1939 ROF Chorley employed 1000 by 1940 that rose to 15,000 and rose by 28,00 and at it's peak it employed 35,000, it was one of the largest factories in England during the Second World War on a 928-acre site designed to be completely self-sufficient and surrounded by a guarded 9-mile perimeter fence.

The factory manufactured and developed explosives and produced weaponry and other devices. Also being a location that assisted in the building and development of Barnes Wallis' Dambuster bouncing bombs used in 1943, hence many locals worked at the ROF. The base became subject of many myths, including underground siting of trains and featured in a Secret Bases Documentary.

British Rail Engineering at Horwich, another site very close to Rivington produced tanks during World War II.  Propellers were produced at De Havilland, Lostock near Horwich. The Luftwaffe conducted a mission in 1942 using JU88s over Rivington to bomb the factory, the aircrew used the reservoir's to navigate.

US Troops Arrive

Rivington during war like the surrounding villages and towns hosted American troops, the area was under military control and the public were not permitted access, there were hundreds of American soldiers billeted on both sides of Rivington Lane and around the Bungalow grounds. Old disused farms on the moors were used in training exercises and were partially destroyed. After the first arrivals of US troops to Lancashire in 1942 the numbers increased, not all went smoothly as there was a significant difference in racial integration, such racism had never before been seen by the local population and was challenged by many British civilians, to no avail.  Locals were in support of the black servicemen and welcomed them in the local pubs.

Pigeon Tower, 1947, military road blocks left behind, radio mast still on roof. Tower is without windows and damage clear to surrounding stonework. Dovecotes in arches in wall present. ²¹⁾

Racial segregation led to the 'Battle of Bamber Bridge' when in June 1943 the racially segregated 1511th Quartermaster Truck Regiment who had been welcomed and were drinking happily with locals were facing racially motivated arrest, after a argument broke out between the soldiers and MPs it turned into a gun battle and some were killed, 32 soldiers were court martialled.

Pigeon Tower 1947 ²¹⁾

At the lead up to the Normandy Landing troops numbers and activity had significantly increased with the moorlands surrounding Rivington used for training, troops were moved south for readiness for D Day, 6th June 1944, by the time the troops had left Rivington the Hall and Bungalow were in a ruined state, the Hall was saved by the Salmon family in 1953, Leverhulmes former Bungalow was demolished by 1948.

Post War

David Owen, living as a boy in the village and being the son of the Vicar of Rivington during the war recalls how he and his friends sneaked through the barbed wire fences and into the quarry where a few boxes of munitions marked W.D were awaiting disposal, the group of boys on finding the boxes noticed two wires going off to a dug out and an unattended detonator located about 50 yards away, they took away a number of munitions and removed the yellow explosives using a stick and then hid their finds around Rivington.  In 1945 that a boy from Bolton was killed when he threw a grenade from the same spot and how this prompted the boys to dispose of their finds some by hiding them near local farms²⁰⁾

Metal Detectors

During the 1970s it became common to see people at Rivington with metal detectors, many dug up old coins and metal trinkets from the 17th century and later, however some did find unusual items, a collection of silver was found at the remains of one old farm. In that period people just went out with the detectors, often records were not kept and the land owner was not informed of the finds. Pupils at Rivington and Blackrod High school thought nothing of showing off finds of live ammo when teachers were not about, in one such instance a live shell was brought in that he had found near the Hall barn, having souvenir's from the wars is not uncommon in the area, such items include grenades, shells and guns, detector finds added to the locals collections. Artifacts dug out of the ground in the period were not recorded with authorities, even into the early millennium metal detectors were being used to dig out items from Rivingtons past. As recently as 2017 The Lancashire Evening Post reported that the Bomb Squad had been called to Rivington after a world war 2 shell had been unearthed on farmland.

Details of a database with data from British Archaeological Records, Historic Sites and Monuments Databases, Local History Sources and Archaeology Research Reports can be found at this link, ARCHI

Rockhaven Castle.

Rockhaven Castle 1940 ²¹⁾

Rockhaven Castle

The former house was modified to resemble a castle in the 1880s, hence it's name, located at Wilderswood, Horwich, very little remains of the former structure. The area was a Pine Forrest in latter part of the 20th century. The house was known locally in the Victorian era as Brownlow Castle, the land in the area being long associated with the Brownlow family and named after its occupant. On the first OS map of 1849 the house is shown as 'Rockavon', by late Victorian OS maps as Rock Haven, by the 20th century simply as Rockhaven. Inspiration for the name is a late Georgian romantic novel, of 1827, Rochavon 'A Tale of the Thirteenth century 'featuring a castle of the same name and a Knight in combat with bandits.  

The sites earliest deeds note abstracts dated 26 May 1807 and 28 September 1808. The building is believed to have been constructed between 1820 and 1840, however there is clearly an earlier history. Later land deeds show a Conveyance of the land on 2 June 1881 made between Richard Brownlow and Eliza Mort and The Local Board for the District of Blackrod, which indicate some land belonging to Rockhaven was sold. The building and remaining land was sold after Richard Brownlows death to William Hesketh Lever, 1st Viscount Leverhulme in 1899.

The 1st Viscount Leverhulme had died in 1925 and by 1926 his estates were being settled and sold by his son. A further conveyance 26 March 1926 made between William Hulme 2nd Viscount Leverhulme, Harold Robert Greenhalgh, Francis D'Arcy Cooper and John McDowell and The Urban District Council of Blackrod shows a change of ownership.  The building was always rented out, it once has a Tea Room in the Conservatory at the side of the building. By 1942 it appears to have been left unoccupied for many years, suffering vandalism and in a very poor state of repair.

See also Luftwaffe JU88s over Rivington 1942.

Wilderswood Plantation

The location is now the Wilderswood Plantation and managed by the Woodland trust, it is now 23.94 acres, located off the southern flank of Winter Hill, parking is at a car park is on the corner of George's Lane and Old Rake Lane. The original woodland was confined to Wilder's Clough. The Plantation now has beech, alder, Corsica and Lodge pole pines were grown there from 1959 and as those died off replaced by Hybrid Larch. In 2011 Horwich Council with the Woodland Trust, ordered the felling and clearing of large area's of Pine the reason given was disease report in the Bolton News. The Woodland trust has a "vision is a UK rich in native woods and trees, for people and wildlife.

A folk tale about the reason for demolition is that the building was used as a guide by enemy bombers due to its prominence and the stone from the castle was last known to be on a ship headed to the United States that was sank by a German torpedo.

One of the most obvious modern landmarks at Winter Hill is the TV mast, lit red at night as a warning to aircraft. The TV mast was a 140-metre (450 ft) and came into service on 3 May 1956. In 1965 the main is completed and erected adjacent to the old 450' specification, the original was removed, services switched to the new mast in 1966 and in 1968 ITA built the single storey engineering building located here. The main mast structure is 309.48 metres (1,015.4 ft) tall and has a diameter of 2.75 metres (9.0 ft).

Bog-wood art, Rivington.²²⁾

Sites of quality bog-wood in the world are very rare, however during the construction of the reservoirs at Rivington the excavation unearthed a site containing a significant amount of the rare wood. Bog wood is formed by tree's that have fallen into peat bogs, the natural processes that leads to bog wood forming come about when the wood is deprived of oxygen, the wood undergoes the process of fossilization and morta formation.

The image is of art created from the original finds of Bog-wood at Rivington, the photograph was taken by the family of the Rev. Owen of Rivington Church around 1950. The find of bog wood led to a sideline industry in carved art sold by locals, this art & craft has continued to this day.

There have been many reports of strange sightings around Rivington, I and friends, local police officers and members of the general public have all seen such sightings, whilst most of us do not consider these 'Alien' or some other 'not of this world craft' many do recognise the likely connection to a nearby air base. Whilst some dismissed the witness accounts, accounts also come in from serving Police officers, today we have seen significant advances in drone development which may explain what many have seen flying around the Rivington and Winter area's.

In summer 1978/79 I recall RAF fighters, who I assume were on training and who more than once did very low level passes over our gardens at Lever Park Avenue. Rivington is within the flight zone for military training and testing. In 1997 on a winter evening friends and I were taking our dog on a walk near to the Pike when we saw what we believed to be an experimental unmanned aerial vehicle(UAV).

Details released since support our UAV theory. However, I advise any reader to use your own judgment if you do see something strange flying overhead, if it looks like a civilian aircraft flying without lights at night its a danger to other aircraft.

• Bolton UFO Society - Rivington UFOs
• Bolton News - Reports on UFOs over Rivington
• Lancashire Telegraph, Reports on UFOs over Rivington

1. Traditions of Lancashire, Vol 2, Longman, Rees, Orme, Brown & Green, London, John Roby, 1829 (Folk tales)
2. Mamecestre, Vol 1, Historical Society - Manchester, John Harland FSA, 1861 (Secondary Source).
3. Lancashire Memories. London: Macmillan, Louisa Potter, 1879 (Fictional diary)
4. History of Rivington, Hampson,1893. (Secondary Source)
5. History of Horwich, Hampson, 1883. (Secondary source)
6. A short History of Rivington, Wm Fergusson Irvine, 1904 (Sponsored by W.H Lever, based on deeds assumed destroyed in 1913 fire of his home 'The Bungalow')
7. History of the Pilkington Family of Lancashire, Pilkington, 3rd ed. 1912 (Based on deeds as above)
8. Victoria County History: A History of the County of Lancaster: Volume 5, 1911, pg 286-294 (Secondary Source)
9. The Records of a Lancashire Family, Shaw, 1940. (Secondary Source)
10. My Aunt Edith. London: Phoebe Hesketh, Peter Davies (biography of Edith Rigby) 1966.
11. Rivington: the story of a village. London: Phoebe Hesketh, Peter Davies, 1972. (Poet, depicting nature.)
12. Rivington: village of the mountain ash. Preston: Carnegie, Phoebe Hesketh, 1990.(Prose)
13. About Rivington. Chorley: Nelson Brothers, John Rawlinson, 1969 (Secondary source)
14. Leverhulme's Rivington, Wyre Publishing, David Malcolm Smith, 1984, (Secondary source - as above)
15. Rivington, David Malcolm Smith, 1989 (As above)
16. Winter Hill Scrap Book, Dave Lane, 2008

1. Before 1066
2. Carved and Dated Stones (3 Booklets)
3. A History of Rivington Church
4. Boundaries and Water Courses
5. Press Excerpts, book 1, 1823-1865, David Owen
6. Press Excerpts, book 2, 1866-1899, David Owen
7. Press Excerpts, book 3, 1900-1959, David Owen
8. Wartime Memories, David Owen