Burnt Edge is a continuation of the valley of the Dean Brook as it rises to the higher slopes of Winter Hill, the area is right on the edge of the cultivated land and the open moors. The views are often excellent looking down the valley over Bolton and many of the surrounding towns and cities as far as the Peak District and Yorkshire.
The terrain is quite rocky in places and some of the paths are very much like a dry stream bed. The better paths are loop around the edges of the area, above Burnt Edge itself and round past Holden’s Farm, although that is often very wet in places. It’s fun if you’re into that kind of thing, maybe less so if you aren’t. Most of the accessible land is rough moorland grass and rushes but there is an incredible diversity of wildlife and plants to be found if you look.
The name Burnt Edge, or Brunt Edge as it used to be in the local dialect actually applies to the steep slope to the south of the area. I’m not sure where the name comes from but from late summer the hillside was once covered in dry, dark heather which is quite brown and burnt looking. Today there are a lot of rushes and Whimberry plants (Bilberry) and less heather. The moors around here catch fire a lot in hot, dry weather so it’s possible that happened in the past.
To the west, at the foot of Burnt Edge, the ruins of Burnt Edge Farm can be found along with a few trees, collapsed walls and what looks like to be the old garden gate posts. Close to the footpath there used to be a small mound of old cinder that also contained pottery and old bottles. It is probably the refuse from the farm, from before the plastic and card we have today, the cinders were probably remains from some industry and are fairly common in the area around old farms or inhabited areas. The mound seems to be gone now, the area is now covered with grass and looks quite different.
One of the old wall stones from the farm that is easy to spot has a face the shows the characteristic “slickensides”, that are caused by geological faults sliding rock faces across each other with great force. It would have been part of a huge sheet of rock and we can see by the linear grooves the direction in which the rock moved as the fault gave way. The whole area is crazed by many geological faults and a couple of places are known for having caused slickensides but not in the Burnt Edge area. Fragments of the local stone with slickensides can look a little bit like Saddle Quern stones, rocks that were used in prehistoric times to grind grains.
Saddle Querns are also worn in a linear fashion by repetitive use and are quite smooth, but slickensides are form by a geological fault action where pressure gradually builds up and two rock faces slide past each other before getting stuck again until enough pressure builds up to move them again. Slickensides rocks have sharp pits and protruding fragments of harder rock and are usually not quite smooth. Some of the rocks found in the Winter Hill area have been smoothed to some extent by being in a stream bed or rolling around in the soil for thousands of years, but the difference is still apparent if you’ve seen both.
I’m not sure about any ‘museum’ specimens but there’s at least one misidentified amateur find of a Saddle Quern that is actually a slickensides rock.
There was until a couple of years ago a rock along the footpath about half-way between Burnt Edge Farm and the gate at Walker Fold Woods with a simple, carved cross in it. The rock doesn’t seem to be visible on the surface anymore, I think since a ton of rocks moved down the path during the recent heavy rains in 2014/15. These carved crosses are found throughout the area and are said to mark the secret meeting places of persecuted Christians, during times of well, persecution. I’m not sure what sort of Christians they would be as they all seem to have persecuted each other depending on which monarch was in power at the time. A few of the old farm ruins have them, and a few of the prehistoric sites out on the moors. I suppose this might have gradually washed down the track from Burnt Edge Farm.
Burnt Edge image by munki-boy
The ruins of Burnt Edge Farm image by munki-boy
Fallen walls of Burnt Edge Farm image by munki-boy
The slickensides rock at Burnt Edge Farm image by munki-boy
The old stone cross rock in the path at Burnt Edge image by munki-boy
The stone cross carving at Burnt Edge image by munki-boy
The ruins and remains of an old coal mining colliery and brickworks on the moorland below Burnt Edge.
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.
The site of a small hamlet and fireclay works high on Winter Hill, once housing families employed in the local quarrying, mining and fireclay industries. Often passed by walkers on their way up the hill, there are a number of interesting industrial remains hidden in the moorland grass.
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.
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.
