Walker Fold is an area on the South side of Winter Hill with many interesting features and a good place for easy walks, in fact it’s the site of the mass trespass of Winter Hill in 1896 that helped to give us the “right to roam” we have today, is just nearby.
Walker Fold image by munki-boy
A woodland trail following Dean Brook down the valley with excellent wildlife from lizards to wild deer.
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.
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.
