Additional information
Terrain
- Mostly clear tracks, well-marked paths
Landscape
- Managed woodlands, rougher moors and abandoned formal gardens
Dog friendliness
- Can mostly run free, but be careful crossing Rivington Lane and watch out for sheep on moors
Parking
- At Hall Barn, in Lever Park
Toilets en route
- Next to Great House Barn
About the walk
Born in 1851, the son of a Bolton grocer, William Hesketh Lever became one of the great entrepreneurs, industrialists and philanthropists of his age, making his fortune from the manufacture of soap. A self-made man Lever's rise to success was dramatic. He followed his father into the family... grocery business, but it wasn't until he was 34 that, with his brother James Darcy, he bought a small soap manufacturing business in Warrington. They joined forces with a Bolton chemist, William Hough Watson, who had created a household soap based on palm oil and glycerine rather than tallow, originally selling it through the family shop. First called Honey Soap, the name was soon changed to Sunlight and, as demand quickly outgrew the Warrington premises, they acquired a site beside the Mersey at Bromborough. Lever also built a model village for his workers, naming it Port Sunlight, which included a school, recreation and social facilities, a cottage hospital and an art gallery. His skill was in marketing and within 10 years, the company was selling soap in 134 countries, with the range expanded to include products such as Vim, Lux and Lifebuoy. A hillside garden Although he had houses in Thornton Hough, near Port Sunlight and London, he retained an affection for his home town, and in 1900 Lever bought part of the Rivington Estate. On the hillside above the old hall, he built a wooden bungalow as a weekend retreat, but it was burnt down in 1913 in an arson attack by Edith Rigby, a Suffragette activist. He rebuilt it in stone as his summer residence and developed garden terraces and a Japanese-style lake across the hillside. Although the house was demolished after the war, many of the landscape features remain, including a tall pigeon tower, which incorporated a sewing room from which his wife could look out across the countryside. Down by the reservoir, he replicated the ruins of Liverpool Castle as they then stood. He had intended to gift the park to Bolton, but a legal wrangle resulted in it ending up with Liverpool Corporation, who had constructed the reservoirs. Rivington Pike The park rises to Rivington Pike, a prominent hillock protruding from the flank of Winter Hill. On its summit is a stone tower, erected in 1733 as a lookout and hunting lodge. It occupies the site of a beacon tower, built in 1139 by the Earl of Chester to warn of Scottish raiders. It was still in use 400 years later when the Armada approached. The spot commands a superlative view across the Lancashire plain, with Liverpool and Blackpool Tower readily visible. More distant are the hills of Wales and the Lake District and reputedly, on a really good day, the Isle of Man can be seen. Each Easter the hill is the focus of an exciting fell race, run over 3.25 miles (5.3km) from the park gates and involving 700ft (213m) of ascent. The record up and down is an incredible 15 minutes 53 seconds, set in 1981 by John Wild.
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