Hole Bottom was a small hamlet, high on Winter Hill at the bottom end of the Sand Rock Mine outcrops where the coal is lost beyond a geological fault. I imagine this is the origin of the name Hole Bottom but I have no real idea.
Hole Bottom is passed by many walkers on their way up Winter Hill or via many of the footpaths that converge near here. Most people don’t take much notice of the area except for the noticeable remains of the Winter Hill Brick and Tile Works, the rest of the area is covered in much the same moorland grass as everywhere else. However, the brick and tile works are quite interesting and there’s a ton of other mining remains that can be found if you stop to have a look around.
Many years ago a small row of cottages stood at Hole Bottom on this flat area of ground, just beyond the bend in the road near Two Lads on Winter Hill. The cottages were owned by William Garbutt of the nearby Five Houses. William Garbutt seems to have run most of the small quarries, mines and the nearby fireclay concerns on this side of the hill. The cottages were probably built to house his workforce and their families.
You might be wondering how one would fit a single modern house into the tiny area in the photograph, but, the footprint of the small row of cottages is very similar to that of the Five Houses a bit further up the road and I can only assume that terrace contained five properties. There is a small stream running right next to the houses but it looks like the people made the short trek to a “spout” located at the site of the old Ouzel Hall to the east.
There is also a small reservoir or pond shown on the old maps behind the Hole Bottom houses, at the side of the little stream. Perhaps the stream water was polluted by the old coal pits higer up the hill, some of which were very close to the stream. The Ouzel Hall spout is an old well which would have drawn clean water from below ground, so perhaps that was the preferred source of water for the local community.
In 1849 Garbutt advertised a lease on his fireclay works and a few cottages adjacent and later we find a group of families and a boarder living in the cottages at Hole Bottom, many them state their occupation to be at the “Terra Cotta” works in the 1881 census. Dave Lane seems to have this as the occupants of the Five Houses but they are shown as uninhabited on that same census. So it must refer to people living at Hole Bottom and not the Five Houses.
Marker type: Mine
Historic coal and clay mining in the West Pennine Moors.
The remains of the buildings and kilns of the old Winter Hill Brick and Tile Works on Winter Hill
The highest point for miles and just short of a mountain, Winter Hill is a key part of the West Pennine Moors and a habitat for a huge range of wildlife. With evidence of occupation going back literally thousands of years there is plenty of history on and under the hill. Winter Hill was also the site of a historic mass trespass that gave us open access to much of the moorland today.
A secret reservoir high up on Winter Hill the former Reservoir of Dean Mills is a quiet spot that’s good for a visit on sunny days.
A mystery mound on the East of Winter Hill, possibly man-made prehistoric, possibly a glacial mound.
The site of an old coal mine or colliery on the slopes of Winter Hill above Horwich.
A series of old Pit Kilns alongside a path across Wildersmoor on the slopes of Winter Hill above Horwich.
A bit awkward to reach but great place for industrial archeaology, geology and fossil finding or just a splash about in the stream.
Ward’s Reservoir or The Blue Lagoon above the village of Belmont has an uncertain future but was one of the best.
An excellent area for walking and wildlife situated around a glacial valley with great scenery and plenty to explore from open moorland to mixed woodland trails.
Burnt Edge is a continuation of the valley of the Dean Brook as it rises to the higher slopes of Winter Hill. Featuring great moorland views out over Bolton and hills of Yorkshire and Derbyshire, together with tons of industrial archaeology.
High on the summit of the often foreboding Noon Hill is a Bronze Age round cairn topped by a more recent cairn of uncertain age. The round cairn was excavated in the 1950’s/60’s and yielded several cremations and funery ornaments now in the possesion of Bolton Museum. This site is rumoured to have been put to use in more recent times as a secret meeting place for persecuted Christians.
