Withnell Fold

 Withnell Fold is a delightful village on the Leeds-Liverpool Canal, between Chorley and Blackburn, though not on a through road. I visited it as part of a loop that started from Higher Wheelton, and included the canal and the River Lostock.

From Higher Wheelton I headed northeast on the A674, which runs some way up the side of the valley, and has some pretty cottages along it.

I wonder if this farmer is a Newcastle fan.

After about 800 m I reached the turn for Withnell Fold to the left. The land on the right here appears to belong to the local manor, Withnell Fold Hall, which seems to be privately owned, and sold recently for around £5m, as described here. It is not possible to see the house from the road, but you can see the gates and lodge.

Next door is a Methodist chapel, built 1852.

And shortly after we get into Withnell Fold itself. In was built as a "model village" in 1843 to serve the mill, built the same year. As you can see, they keep the place very neat.

Many of the houses are original, and have been kept in good condition; it is almost like walking through an open-air museum. There are two rows of terraced housing, I guess dating from 1843.

And other buildings, such as the Old Reading Room, shown below and built 1890. All seem now to be housing.

The village still has a pillory! Behind it in the image below is the Thirlmere Aqueduct, which we will see more of later.

Just beyond, still on the right is the Memorial Garden, notable as it was previously a reservoir serving the mill.

The road forks at this point, the right heading to the canal, past the old mill, which is still there, but not in great condition.

The mill was sited here to be next to the canal, and manufactured paper from 1843 to 1967. I would guess if it had been built a few years later it would have been by a railway, rather than here. It expanded to cover quite an area.

I headed north along the canal a short way. The path here is actually a road for a short way that curves away after a while, before coming to a gate, at which point there is a footpath to the left, leading the short distance to the bottom of the valley.

You cannot see it terribly well, but the valley wides out dramatically just beyond the trees, and it feel like the river should be flowing that way; I actually had to drop a trig in the water to confirm it is flowing right to left, as I had expected from looking at maps earlier.

This point is the start of the River Lostock, which has been mentioned in other pages as it goes through Whittle-le-Woods, Cuerden Park, Bamber Bridge and Lostock Hall. It is fed from Slack Brook and Whave's Brook, so kind of arbitrary that is starts here and not at the other end of one them.

The path goes up the other side of the valley. I hoped it might then allow me to come back along the valley, but apparently not, so I returned to the canal.

This was the last part of the canal from Liverpool to Leeds to be completed, in 1816. The bridge, number 88, is the one I crossed earlier.

Beyond the bridge, there is a path to the right that leads down into Withnell Fold nature reserve. Got to be honest, it is pretty small and there is not much there.

There are two ponds, which look to be artificial, but I do not think can be anything to do with the mill, being the wrong side of the canal, and much lower. There appear on maps between 1845 and 1892, but with no indication of use.

The River Lostock flows through the nature reserve as well. The walk through it brings you back to the canal.

The canal is cut into the side of the valley, with a steep upwards slope up on the left and downwards on the right. This bridge, number 87, is consequently built with quite a slope.

Just after the bridge, a valley joins this one, the high bank on the left dropping away - which makes me wonder why they did not site bridge 87 a little bit to the south.

The point of interest here is the brick structure partly obscured by the trees. This is the Thirlmere Aqueduct mentioned earlier. What you can see here is just a tiny section of the aqueduct, which runs for nearly 96 miles from Thirlmere, a reservoir in the Lake Distinct, to Manchester, opened in 1894. At its destination, it passes under junction 10 of the M60, before heading east into Manchester skirting the Trafford Centre.

Bridge 86 is very similar to bridge 87, but is notable as the point where I left the canal, back to Higher Wheelton.

Although this is a public footpath, it does feel at one point like you are walking along the drive of a house. The short road back to the A674 does not have much to recommend it...