Walking on the West Pennine Moors
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WALKING ON THE WEST PENNINE MOORS About the Author WALKING ON THE Terry Marsh is an award-winning writer and photographer specialising WEST PENNINE MOORS in the outdoors and travel, and has authored or co-authored more than 80 travel or walking guidebooks. He lives in Chorley, Lancashire, at the by western edge of the West Pennine Moors, which he has explored and Terry Marsh written about extensively. He is a Fellow of the Royal Geographical Society, holds a Master of Arts degree with Distinction in Lake District Studies, and a PhD in Historical Geography. Other Cicerone guides by the author A Northern Coast to Coast Walk Walking on the Isle of Man Great Mountain Days in Walking the Isle of Mull Snowdonia Walking the Isle of Skye Great Mountain Days in the Walking the West Highland Way Pennines Walking in the Forest of Bowland The Dales Way and Pendle JUNIPER HOUSE, MURLEY MOSS, OXENHOLME ROAD, KENDAL, CUMBRIA LA9 7RL www.cicerone.co.uk © Terry Marsh 2009 First edition 2009, CONTENTS Reprinted (with updates) 2013 and 2020 ISBN: 978 1 85284 580 3 Map Key ...................................................... 6 Printed in China on responsibly sourced paper on behalf of Latitude Press Ltd Overview Map ................................................. 7 A catalogue record for this book is available from the British Library. INTRODUCTION .............................................. 9 All photographs are by the author unless otherwise stated. Geography and Natural History ................................... 10 Human Influence .............................................. 14 This product includes mapping data licensed from Ordnance Introducing the Valleys .......................................... 15 Survey® with the permission of the Controller of Her Majesty’s Walking Safely ................................................ 19 Stationery Office. © Crown copyright 2013. All rights reserved. Using this Guide ............................................... 19 Licence number PU100012932 RIVINGTON AND ANGLEZARKE ................................. 22 This book is dedicated to the memory of my dad, 1 Around Anglezarke Reservoir .................................. 23 John Marsh (1921–2009), 2 Rivington Moor and Winter Hill ................................ 28 3 Wilderswood and the edge of Rivington Moor ..................... 33 who died peacefully during the course of the book’s preparation. 4 Rivington Pike ............................................. 39 5 Rivington Country Park ...................................... 41 6 Great Hill and Spitler’s Edge .................................. 46 Updates to this Guide 7 Noon Hill Slack ............................................ 51 While every effort is made by our authors to ensure the accuracy of guide- 8 Around Yarrow Reservoir ..................................... 53 books as they go to print, changes can occur during the lifetime of an edi- 9 Lead Mines Clough and Jepson’s Gate ........................... 57 tion. Any updates that we know of for this guide will be on the Cicerone 10 Healey Nab and Limbrick .................................... 61 website (www.cicerone.co.uk/580/updates), so please check before plan- 11 Withnell Moor ............................................. 67 ning your trip. We also advise that you check information about such things 12 Wheelton Moor ............................................ 72 as transport, accommodation and shops locally. Even rights of way can be altered over time. We are always grateful for information about any RODDLESWORTH AND DARWEN ................................ 77 discrepancies between a guidebook and the facts on the ground, sent by 13 Tockholes and Darwen Tower ................................. 78 email to [email protected] or by post to Cicerone, Juniper House, 14 Darwen Tower via Sunnyhurst Wood ............................ 84 Murley Moss, Oxenholme Road, Kendal, LA9 7RL. 15 Roddlesworth Woodlands and Reservoirs. 88 Register your book: To sign up to receive free updates, spe- 16 Belmont Reservoir and Spitler’s Edge . 91 cial offers and GPX files where available, register your book at 17 Sunnyhurst Wood .......................................... 95 www.cicerone.co.uk. TURTON AND ENTWISTLE ...................................... 98 18 Turton Moor ............................................... 99 19 Turton and Entwistle Reservoir ............................... 104 20 Around Jumbles Reservoir ................................... 108 Front cover: Darwen Tower (Walks 13 and 14) 21 Around Wayoh. 110 OVERVIEW MAP 22 The Three Reservoirs and Turton Tower .......................... 115 23 Longworth Clough and Turton Heights ......................... 120 24 Cheetham Close .......................................... 126 M66 A56 RAMSBOTTOM, HODDLESDEN AND HASLINGDEN GRANE .......... 130 BURY A56 25 Calf Hey and Ogden Reservoirs ............................... 131 29 30 Ramsbottom 28 26 Haslingden Grane ......................................... 136 Tower Peel 27 Jumbles and Two Brooks Valley ............................... 140 Holcombe Moor 28 Holcombe Moor and Peel Monument .......................... 146 A58 29 Around Alden Brook ....................................... 151 26 30 Irwell Valley .............................................. 157 25 27 22 BOLTON APPENDIX 1 A6177 Route Summary Table .............................. 165 20 APPENDIX 2 21 Further Reading .................................. 168 24 19 INDEX ..................................................... 169 A666 DARWEN 23 Belmont Reservoir Route symbols on OS map extracts Moors Darwen Tower 17 Darwen A675 route 18 13 16 15 Winter Hill start/finish point 14 direction of walk 7 A673 Horwich Rivington Park 5 For OS symbols key see OS maps. 3 Country 4 2 8 11 1 9 Anglezarke Reservoir 10 12 6 M65 M61 Moors CHORLEY M6 The West West Pennine The 6 7 WALKING ON THE WEST PENNINE MOORS INTRODUCTION The West Pennine Moors, located the matter admitting as much. But between the towns of Chorley, Bolton, the facts speak for themselves; it hap- Horwich, Ramsbottom, Haslingden, pened here first. Oswaldtwistle and Darwen, comprise Dissected by wooded cloughs 233km2 (90 square miles) of moor- and characterised by skyline fea- land and reservoir scenery. The area tures like Rivington Pike, the Peel has been a place of recreation for Monument on Holcombe Moor many generations of Lancashire folk; and Jubilee Tower (also known as indeed, long before the much-vaunted Darwen Tower) on Darwen Moor, the mass trespass on Kinder Scout, there moors are a highly valued and much- were organised trespasses in the late appreciated region for recreation and 1800s (small and large: around 10,000 study. Almost the entire area is water people in 1896) and court proceed- catchment, and the successor to the ings on both Winter Hill and Darwen North West Water Authority, United Moor in an attempt to keep rights of Utilities, owns around 40 per cent of way across the moors open. The West the land, and operates four informa- Pennine Moors were very much in the tion centres – at Rivington, Jumbles vanguard of the campaign for access Country Park, Roddlesworth and to our countryside, not that you’ll find Clough Head, Haslingden Grane, many so-called authoritative texts on which also offer refreshment facilities. Above Anglezarke Reservoir (Walk 9) Darwen Tower (Walk 14) 8 9 WALKING ON THE WEST PENNINE MOORS GEOGRAPHY AND NATURAL HISTORY farming. Unlike other areas of moor- intricate network of footpaths, makes land in the north of England, the West the area an ideal place to begin a life- Pennine Moors are not managed for time of recreational walking and to grouse shooting (not for want of try- practice the necessary skills of map ing), and are characterised by rough reading and navigation. grassland and peat bog. This is one The main valleys are consumed of the reasons why the moors never by large reservoirs constructed in the suffered the same degree of ‘access mid- to late 19th century to supply aggravation’ that occurred further water for Lancashire’s urban popula- south, in the Peak District. tion. Evidence of this Victorian land- Providing useful habitat areas for scape is found in the form of mixed wildlife, the West Pennine Moors are woodlands, styles of architecture and bisected by a number of wooded val- dressed stone walls. Along the val- leys and cloughs, the largest being the leys, the landscape is characterised Roddlesworth valley, near Tockholes. by farmland pasture and meadows The summit of Cheetham Close (Walk 24) Although there are some small conif- enclosed by drystone walls, built from erous plantations, particularly around the sombre gritstone that pervades the reservoirs, the woodland cover great parts of the moorland area. For the walker, the area has much GEOGRAPHY AND overall is nominal, and it is a fine Species-rich grassland is restricted in to offer. This is gritstone country, and NATURAL HISTORY sense of openness that dominates both area and distribution, mostly to the landscape is often dark and som- Rising to a peak on Winter Hill here, and this, coupled with the steeper valleys or cloughs. bre as a result. And there is a clue in (456m/1496ft), the area is predomi- its use as a water catchment area; in nantly upland, with myriad well- Approaching White Coppice (Walk 6) all but the driest of climatic periods, trodden paths and areas of historical it is wet, boggy and invariably muddy. and geological significance. Although This might lead you to suppose that a large area of moorland became