Pigeon Tower and Rivington Pike

This is a walk I did with the family back in July. I was going to link to it in the post on Upper Rivington Reservoir, and found I had not written it yet...

We parked at Belmont Road car park, which, if I remember correctly, you have to pay for by text, but is only a pound or so.

There are a couple of paths from the car park, you want the steep one! It is almost a scramble in places so be warned.

This is the view looking back, towards Chorley. You can just see the very white "Preston England Temple" of the Mormons.


 It is about 400 m to Pigeon Tower, and does level out towards the end.


The tower was built by the local lord, supposedly for his wife to do sewing in, between 1905 and 1909.


We continued along the track to Rivington Pike Tower.


The views from the top are amazing. This is looking southsouthwest, towards Bolton, and you can see Wanders' stadium (what is it called nowadays?).


This is looking northwest, towards Chorley; you can see that church again. Preston is also visible, to the right and more distant.


We headed back to Pigeon Tower. The tower is at the top of Rivington Terraced Gardens, and it is a wonderful walk down from here. The gardens were built over a number of years in the early twentieth century for William Lever, later Viscount Leverhulme, who was one half of Lever Brothers, the soap manufacturers, which became UniLever.

Looking down...

Looking up...




Lever's Bridge


We continued heading downwards towards the reservoir, only getting slightly lost, eventually ending up at the Great House Barn for refreshments.

Then north to Rivington itself - a church and a handful of quaint houses.


Then up Sheep House Lane, with views of Pigeon Tower on the right.


And so back to the car park.









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