Rivington
Rivington is a village and civil parish of the Borough of Chorley, Lancashire, England, occupying. It is about southeast of Chorley and about northwest of Bolton. Rivington is a rural area consisting primarily of agricultural grazing land, moorland, with hill summits including Rivington Pike and Winter Hill within the West Pennine Moors. The area has a thriving tourist industry centred around reservoirs created to serve Liverpool in the Victorian era and Lever Park created as a public park by William Lever at the turn of the 20th century, with two converted barns, a replica of Liverpool Castle and open countryside. Rivington and Blackrod High School is located here. Rivington and its village had a population of 109 at the 2011 Census.
History
Toponymy
The name Rivington is made up of three elements: riv is from the Old English hrēof meaning rough or rugged; ing is a place name forming suffix that seems to have crept in over the years; the last is the Old English tūn meaning a farmstead, estate or settlement. Together they indicate a farmstead or settlement at the rough or rugged place. Another suggestion is a place at the rowan trees.Rivington was recorded in many ways in earlier centuries, Rowinton, Rawinton, and Revington were used in 1202; Ruhwinton in 1212, Riuiton in 1226, Rowynton and Rouynton in 1278, Roynton in 1332, Rouyngton in 1400, Revyngton although rare, from the 14th until the 16th century the area was known as 'Rovington', being the name used on a royal charter in 1566 along with an alias of 'Ryvington'.
Early history
A Neolithic or Bronze Age stone, with a cup and ring mark dating from between 2000 and 3000 BC, was found near the Lower Rivington Reservoir in 1999. It is possible that settlements have existed in the area around Rivington since the Bronze Age. Arrowheads, a flint knife, scrapers and the remains of cremations were excavated from a Bronze Age cairn at Noon Hill in 1958 and 1963–64. In 2024 a neolithic axe head was found by a local man next to a footpath. It is possible that the name Coblowe on the eastern bank of the Lower Rivington Reservoir derives from the Old English hlaw, a hill, which denoted an ancient barrow or burial place. Evidence for the existence of a settlement here in Anglo-Saxon times is found in the Rivington and Coblowe names.Manor
Although the manor is not registered at the land registry, the manor has a long history with the majority share of seven-eighths originally held by the Pilkington family of Lancashire, which is recorded as early as 1212. This share had reduced to five-eighths at the sale of the manor in 1611 to their relations Robert Lever and Thomas Breres. Inheritance of the Pilkington share of the manor is assumed next to have passed by inheritance alongside Rivington hall thereafter. In 1729 John Andrews of Little Lever purchased the Breres' share of Hall and its associated land, and his property was inherited by the Cromptons by the nineteenth century. Other owners of the manor were by a quarter originally owned by the Lathoms and an eighth by the Shaws. In 1765 the Shaws and their relations the Roscoes inherited the one-eighth share. Leverhulme was the last owner of the 5/8 share, then a local man, now deceased held the 1/8 share transferred from the Cunliffe Shaws, and his records are held at Bolton archives. The 1/4 share owner is untraced. United Utilities claims that the Manor has been extinguished since 1902.Landmarks
The most prominent of all buildings in Rivington, on the skyline near the summit of Rivington Pike, is the tower, one of 28 listed buildings.Outside the village centre landmarks include Rivington Hall and its adjacent Hall Barn. At Lever Park on the bank of the Lower Rivington Reservoir is a replica of Liverpool Castle, Great House Barn: both barns were repurposed and altered to create tea rooms in the early 20th century. What was Lever Park Information centre at Great House Farm is now used by the Heritage Trust as a gift shop, the lower floors are public toilets and adjacent buildings used as storage.
At George's Lane, the road from Horwich to Rivington Pike, was the Sportsman's Arms, long-since closed, now the Pike Cottage, and adjacent is Pike Snack Shack with its commanding views across the hills and valley, the location featured in Sunday Times Good Walks.
On the hillside the former Bungalow Grounds contain 11 listed structures, being remains of its garden features, although the planting has long since gone or been drastically modified. This area is notable as being designed by TH Mawson. A feature visible on the skyline is the Pigeon Tower, now surrounded by a recent managed woodland, with many steps and paths of crazy paving with some remaining stone summer houses. Its former public toilet is now a cafe.
Within the village buildings with listed status are Wilkinson's and a cottage attached to right, Rivington School, Rivington Church and the Unitarian Chapel, the two latter being active places of worship. Fisher House operated as a school in the mid-Victorian period and later as a Temperance Hotel in that era – it is now a secluded private residence. The village stocks are a feature on Rivington village green, inscribed with "T W 1719" on the stone base.
Near Horrobin Embankment, Horrobin Lane, which passes between the Lower and Upper Rivington reservoirs, is a car park. This was the former site of the Black O'Moors Hotel and Bowling Green Public House, adjacent is Rivington Bowling Club, Bowling Green and Club House, operating as a tea room from 11am.
Social history
Rivington was once an arable farming and grazing agricultural-based area, transformed after 1850 by the Rivington Reservoir Scheme which led to new businesses providing for a large number of workers who arrived for what was a large-scale build. As the Lower Rivington Reservoir was completed the tourist industry was also born and has since been dominant alongside farming. Prior to this Rivington was a rural village built around what is now the village green. Its inhabitants were employed in agriculture on scattered local farms. The textile industry was a secondary form of income until the industrial revolution, alongside farming. Textile bleaching took place on the River Douglas at Knoll Wood which was closed to protect the water catchment of the reservoirs and demolished in 1868 by Liverpool Corporation, some remnants of its dam still remain. The cottage industry of Handloom weaving and use of the Putting-out system was common in the 18th to early 19th century, Samuel Oldknow was a prominent local figure, his family grave being at the Unitarian Chapel. Income was also generated from the quarries, coal mining was on a small scale at Rivington Moor. Rivington Moor Colliery employed two workers mining coal for local use.The house New Hall, opposite the chapel, until its demolition by Liverpool Corporation in 1905, operated a commercial slaughterhouse. The house had a date stone of 1642 and its barn, which survived demolition, built in the early 19th century, has since been converted into a house in 2015. New Hall was a dwelling of the Pilkington family for centuries. In 1544 reference is made to its adjacent field, Ferneley, possessed by the family from at least 1336. The house was sold in 1611 to George Aynesworth.
Water power
Prior to the reservoirs the valley of Rivington was mostly farmland, with little natural woodland, a small village with stone cottages, and a pub. The valley had a stream flowing through, crossed by packhorse bridges. Lester Mill was located near the upper reservoir and there was a mill utilising water power once located where now stands the village hall. The mill was used as a smithy in the 19th to early 20th century. A further water mill was located at Rivington Hall. In the 19th century, farming was reduced with the construction of reservoirs. The area of the Rivington Unitarian Chapel is named Mill Hill on the 1848 OS map and extended to Croft Bridge, crossing Hall Brook. The Victorian 'School Houses' became known as Mill Hill cottages. Mill Dam wood is at the rear of the Vicarage – a pond existed there prior to the reservoir construction. On the watercourse is a ruin that could be a former water wheel house.A water mill and kiln was mentioned in a deed of 1544 and in a sale agreement of Rivington Hall in 1611. Use of a kiln would have been part of the agricultural milling process. A water mill was once located in a small deep valley at the rear of the hall.
Water catchment
The Industrial Revolution ended the viability of cottage industries such as weaving, small mines closed and the long-term population decreased as the water authority cleared land in the Rivington Pike Scheme catchment area, that being the name of the plans for the building of the chain of reservoirs to supply Liverpool with clean water.The flooding of the valley for the reservoirs was at first met with significant opposition, but did boost the local economy. Plans required the demolition of some existing properties and the flooding of farmland. The original proposal was to demolish all buildings in the village, which was stopped by local opposition. Leverhulme, with his political influence, was instrumental in saving the village and seeing protections put in place in the Liverpool Corporation Act 1902. The building of the chain of reservoirs required a large labour force and during and after the build resulted in an unexpected influx of tourists.
In the early 20th century tourism had led to two hotels, busy public houses, tea rooms and many offshoot businesses including a wash house at Rivington Hall, supplied by Leverhulme's father James Lever. The tourist industry was further increased with the opening of Lever Park in 1904.