| Winter Hill | |
|---|---|
Winter Hill from Blackrod. The mast can be seen for many miles around |
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| Elevation | 456 m (1,496 ft) [1] |
| Prominence | 218 m (715 ft) |
| Parent peak | Hail Storm Hill |
| Listing | Marilyn |
| Location | |
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Winter Hill
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| Location | North West England |
| Topo map | OS Landranger 109 |
| OS grid | SD659149 |
Winter Hill is a hill on the border of the boroughs of Chorley, Blackburn with Darwen and Bolton, in North West England. It is located on Rivington Moor, Chorley and is 456 metres (1,496 ft) high. Part of the West Pennine Moors, it is a popular walking area, and has been the setting for mining activity, aeroplane disasters and murders.
Its prominent position made it the ideal site for the Winter Hill TV Mast, transmitting to a large part of North West England. There are also a number of other telecommunication masts and towers around the summit and side of the hill for mobile phones, Professional Mobile Radio users and emergency services. Lancashire Constabulary was the first to use the site for one of their base stations in 1950; they had to build the road and it is said to have been built by policemen.[2]
Paths to the summit lead from Belmont & Rivington in Chorley Borough, as well as Horwich and Blackrod in Bolton Borough. The summit can be reached via a short walk from the top of a road pass 2 km west of Belmont. The hill is a distinctive feature on the skyline for most of the Borough of Chorley and further afield due to its unusual shape.
It offers views over the Greater Manchester Urban Area, including Manchester city centre, the Civic Centre in Oldham, Salford, Werneth Low, Wigan and Bolton. In clear weather conditions, it also offers views of Blackpool Tower, Jodrell Bank Observatory, Snaefell in the Isle of Man, the Cumbrian mountains, Snowdonia in North Wales, Liverpool, Southport, the Irish Sea, Peak District, the Pennines and much of the North West of England. Almost uniquely in the United Kingdom, on a clear day the summit offers a view of four national parks - The Lake District, Yorkshire Dales, Peak District and Snowdonia.
The Rivington area contains remains of Lever Park and the private gardens constructed for William Lever, 1st Viscount Leverhulme in which several listed structures remain today.[3]
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The top of the hill has not always been bare as it is today. It was once covered by woodland that may have been destroyed by fire[4] and it is thought that the hill was inhabited, though no remains have been found.[5] There is a Bronze Age round cairn dating from 1600–1400 BC on the hill.[6] A stone axe dating from 2500BC has also been found in the area in the River Douglas in Tigers Clough.[7] A flint knife and two arrowheads were also discovered.[7]
Two burial mounds are located near the peak of the hill, dating from the Bronze Age. On March 24, 1957, two men discovered "curved lines of stones" sticking out of the peat that formed a two feet high wall. The wall surrounded a raised area located in the middle of it.[7] In July 1958, a group from the University of Manchester excavated the central mound only to find it had been excavated 250 years earlier.[7] The site was thought to have originated from 1500BC in the Middle Bronze Age.[7]
The second mound was found higher up than the previous mound, on the southern edge of Noon Hill. The site was excavated in August 1958 by the Bolton & District Archaeological Society, revealing two lines of stones and two piles of human remains.[8]
Two memorial cairns on the hill are known as Wilder Lads or Two Lads. There are differing opinions on why they were erected. Details of the site were recorded in 1776 and 1883. Thomas Hampson in 1883 described 'Two Lads' as the graves of two children of a Saxon king, Edgar and recorded that Winter Hill was previously known as Edgar Hill.[9] The cairns could mark the site on which two boys lost their way on the moor and died of exposure in a snowstorm.[10]
On 9 November 1838 George Henderson, a Scottish merchant walking over the hill from Bolton to Blackburn, was murdered by gunshot along the road directly opposite where the television station now stands. James Whittle, a 22-year-old collier from Belmont, was brought to court and found guilty of murder. However, he was found not guilty at a second trial in Lancaster. There is an iron post with a plaque on the hill in memory of the victim erected in 1912, replacing a tree that was earlier planted opposite the television station.[11] This is known as Scotsman's Stump.
On 27 February 1958, a Silver City Bristol 170 Freighter (G-AICS) travelling from the Isle of Man to Manchester crashed into Winter Hill several hundred yards away from the transmitter.[12] Thirty-five people died and seven were injured.[13] The weather that night (note: the ICAO report [14] states that the accident occurred at 9:15 in the morning) was so severe that none of the engineers working in the ITA transmitting station were aware of the crash.[15] Several feet of snow hampered rescue efforts, and a snow cat vehicle had to be diverted from the A6 to cut a path for emergency vehicles though the track had been cleared by people using spades by the time it arrived. A documentary was made about the disaster.[16]
There have been several other aircraft crashes around Winter Hill. A two seater aircraft crashed there in the 1920s.[17] During World War II an American Fairchild UC-61 Forwarder (41-54885) of 5th Air Depot Group crashed on 7 August 1942.[17] In the following year, on 12 November 1943, the crew of a Wellington Bomber (Z8799) from 28 Operational Training Unit, flying from Blackpool to Manchester, were killed when it crashed just to the North of Winter Hill, on Hurst Hill, Anglezarke Moor.[17] The following month, 24 December 1943, an Airspeed Oxford (BM837) of 410 Squadron crashed on the hill.[17] Other crashes have included several Spitfires, Hurricanes and a Gloster Meteor which crashed in 1953.[17] In September 1965 a RAF De Havilland Chipmunk flew into the hill in cloud, without serious injury to the crew.[17] The last crash occurred in October 1968 when a Cessna 172 force-landed between Winter Hill and Rivington Pike.[17]
UFOs have been reported on Winter Hill over the years. In 1950, one witness described seeing a "dark flat iron shaped object hovering close to the ground". He later described having an encounter with a being that later returned to a craft before disappearing.[18] In 1999, in what became later known as the "Murphy Incident", a farmer said he saw an object hovering over his cattle field. On investigation, the object moved away towards Preston and the farmer later reported the incident to the police.[19] The farmer returned to the field and discovered the object had reappeared. The farmer reported the incident to the Manchester Aerial Phenomena Investigation Team (MAPIT), who investigated the incident for several weeks.[19] While MAPIT was conducting an investigation, they alleged they were being followed by a man in a vehicle.[20] The farmer reported that he was warned by officials from the Ministry of Agriculture, Fisheries and Food. The farmer has not been traced since the incident, though the farm remains and the current owner has not spoken about the incident.[19]
The UK government first released previously classified information on UFO sightings in May 2006, one picture appeared to show an unidentified object over Winter Hill.[21][22]
The song "Winter Hill", appearing on A Certain Ratio's 1981 album "To Each...", consists of excessive drumming, occasional whistling and a low pitched drone which alternates between two notes a whole tone apart for the entire length of the song. A visit to Winter Hill in 1988 found a piece of electronic equipment on the top which made a high-pitched drone which also alternated between two notes a whole tone apart.
The song "Winter Hill," appearing on Doves' 2009 album Kingdom of Rust, also references the site.[23]
| Name | Locality | Elevation | OS grid reference |
|---|---|---|---|
| Winter Hill † | Rivington | 456 metres (1,496 ft) |
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| Counting Hill | Smithills/Belmont | 433 metres (1,421 ft) |
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| Two Lads Hill † | Horwich | 389 metres (1,276 ft) |
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| Noon Hill † | Rivington | 380 metres (1,247 ft) |
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| Crooked Edge Hill | Horwich | 375 metres (1,230 ft) |
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| Rivington Pike | Rivington | 363 metres (1,191 ft) |
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| Adam Hill | Horwich | 360 metres (1,181 ft) |
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| White Brow | Horwich | 358 metres (1,175 ft) |
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| Whimberry Hill | Belmont | 340 metres (1,115 ft) |
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| Egg Hillock | Belmont | 328 metres (1,076 ft) |
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| Brown Hill | Rivington | 325 metres (1,066 ft) |
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| Brown Lowe | Smithills | 325 metres (1,066 ft) |
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| Burnt Edge | Horwich | 325 metres (1,066 ft) |
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| † Denotes walker's cairn or similar.[24] | |||
Note (15/08/10) www.winterhill.org is not a valid domain.
