When people in Lancashire speak about ‘going to Rivington’, they don’t mean the village of that name, but instead the area known as Lever Park. This huge country estate consists not only of the public section gifted to the people of Horwich and Bolton by Sir William Lever but also the once private terraced gardens of his countryside residence, cut into the moorland hillside. Sir William owned Lever Brothers, a huge soap-manufacturing company based at Port Sunlight on the Wirral, a business that earned him a large fortune. The company continues today as Unilever.
William Lever knew the area around Rivington well from his time courting his future wife Elizabeth Ellen Hulme, when the two would go up onto the moors from their homes in Bolton. The land was traditionally held by the lord of the manor of Rivington and Lever thought it would be a suitable place for a country retreat. He instructed his solicitors to negotiate on his behalf and was able to buy the land for £70,000 in 1899. An agreement was reached that the incumbent of Rivington Hall, John Crompton, could remain with his family at the hall until the time of his death. With the sale complete, William Lever became the Baron of Rivington Manor, owning an estate of 2100 acres.
Two years later, Lever wrote to the mayor of Bolton to offer 400 acres as a public park, which he would develop at his own expense. However, although this was to go ahead, Lever’s land ownership was very soon severely curtailed. Liverpool Water Corporation had previously declined an offer to buy the area for water catchment, but now changed its mind. The corporation used a compulsory purchase order to purchase the land, leaving Lever with (a mere) 45 acres as grounds for his planned residence.
The public park was officially opened on May 18th 1904. Mr. W.T. Mason, the former head teacher of Bolton High School for Boys, performed the opening ceremony at Rivington Hall Barn. This was followed by a large banquet for Lever’s guests. The park at this time was by no means complete and it would be added to continually up until the time of Lever’s death. A keen developer of roads and paths through the landscape, he had many trees planted alongside them. A great favourite with the public was his open air zoo. Buffalo, yak, moose, deer, black swans, zebra and a tiger cub were all set up in enclosures. Rivington Hall Barn and Great House Barn were converted to be used for refreshments. When the Crompton family departed Rivington Hall, this became an art gallery which anyone could visit free of charge.
The place Lever chose for his own residence was not a promising one. It would stand a thousand feet above sea level and be cut into the steep, windswept moor. The Portable Building Company of Manchester designed and constructed the building, which was mostly made from pitch pine. The materials for it were brought up by train to Horwich, and then hauled up to the site by horse and cart. Named ‘Roynton Cottage’, it consisted of a main hall, dining room, drawing room, sitting room, billiard room and six bedrooms for guests. The service section had a servants’ hall, butler’s pantry, housekeeper’s room and servants’ bedrooms. Lever’s main residence was at Thornton Manor on the Wirral and he also had a London home in Hampstead. Rivington would be his rural escape and Roynton Cottage was furnished sumptuously with tapestries, family portraits, pen and ink drawings and an array of valuable ornaments.
Lever wrote to Thomas Hayton Mawson from Scorton to ask him to develop Roynton Cottage gardens and the public park. He stated that he knew that Mawson never worked for anyone of lesser rank than a Duke. Lever declared himself to be a “poor indigent soap maker” but hoped that Mawson would not hold that against him. Lever’s false modesty not withstanding, Mawson drew up his designs, inspired by the hillside gardens of Viall d’Este near Rome, which he considered the finest Renaissance-style terraced gardens in the world. He took the ideas of large staircases, viewing platforms and garden buildings and incorporated them into the Lancashire landscape. Much of his handiwork, such as the Italian style summerhouses, loggias (buildings with an open side to a garden) and Pigeon Tower, still stands today. The lakes and pools that adorn the landscape were also part of his vision.
Due to the steep-sided nature of the site, the gardens had to be built in terraces. These were crossed by wide crazy-paved walkways and the levels connected by stone flights of steps. The routes would be used by Lever for vigorous walking as he was a keen fitness fanatic, who believed fresh air led to clear thinking. All the paths would eventually lead back to his residence.
To create the Great Lawn below Roynton Cottage, a huge amount of stone was removed, to a depth of seven feet. A large piece of rock was left in place so that it could be seen what a herculean task this was. A railway track was set up to cart the stone away. A smaller section of grass known as the Orchestra Lawn was intended to be used for dances, with musicians playing on the steps that connected it to Roynton Cottage. Mawson turfed the lawns with a hardy Scottish grass that could withstand the elements.
A large pool, known as the Italian Lake, was created so that Lever and his guests could boat upon it. This was fed from above by the smaller Neptune’s Pool which featured a statue of a boy and dolphins. A connecting series of cascades and pools would carry the water down the hill. Vantage points gave views out to the Lancashire Plain spreading out to the sea, with Snowdonia to the south and the hills of the Lake District to the north. Mawson was advised that little but heather would grow on the moorlands, but in the end proved his detractors wrong, overseeing the planting of 150,000 trees and shrubs throughout the estate. He knew for sure that pines and hollies would thrive, as would plants such as saxifrages that could grow in little soil and in adverse conditions. Many other species have also managed to survive well despite the altitude and inclement weather, giving a good mix of broad leaf and evergreen trees around the estate.
The tall, thin, finger-like Pigeon Tower was built for Lady Lever. She would often use it as a place to do her sewing and to play musical instruments. A wall that contained nesting boxes for doves was built alongside it. In a more practical capacity, an area was cut out of the hillside behind it to contain stables and heated garages, along with an electrical generator for Roynton Cottage.
Four lodge houses were constructed at the entrance points to Lever’s grounds, keeping his gardens private from the public park beneath. Each had a sitting room, kitchen, scullery, pantry, bathroom, toilet, two bedrooms, and a water supply from a spring near Winter Hill. They were named Bolton, Belmont, South and Stone House. Behind Stone House Lodge were constructed a series of heated greenhouses in bays to supply the Lever household with fruit and vegetables throughout the year. At the far end was a bothy used for storage and potting up of plants. This contained a potting shed, cart shed and a store room with a manure pit.
Lever was a keen builder of access roads throughout his estate. Over one of the larger roadways he wanted a distinctive bridge, consisting of seven arches crossing over it, and commissioned Edward Hart to construct it. Hart did not understand what Lever had in mind, and told him the road could be spanned with a single arch. Lever took him on an impromptu trip to Nigeria to see a bridge that crossed a narrow gorge, and Hart used the design to construct the bridge at Rivington.
The work on a replica of Liverpool Castle began in 1912 but proceeded very slowly, as only a few masons were contracted to work on it. This was unusual for Lever, as most other work he commissioned was promptly constructed, while this was never finished. For the full story and a guide to what is to be seen today, see our page here.
Fire and Renewal
On the 7th of July 1913, Edith Rigby burnt down Royton Cottage as part of the suffragette campaign for votes for women. For the full story of this shocking event and its aftermath see our page here. Just eleven days later, Lever’s wife Ellen died. He stated “Without her influence there would have been neither a Port Sunlight, nor a Lever Brothers as we know it today”. He would go on to commission the Lady Lever Art Gallery in Port Sunlight as a memorial to her.
In his grief, Lever threw himself into designing a replacement residence. Understandably, he opted for the non-flammable materials of stone and reinforced concrete. Whereas its predecessor faced the westerly winds, this one faced south, sitting on top of the place where Roynton Cottage had stood. It became known as the ‘Bungalow’, and the existing walled garden and pergolas were incorporated into the structure. Within a year of starting the project, Lever was living there. Like its predecessor, it had a multitude of rooms: an inner and outer hall, morning room, a dining room, study, library, four principal bedrooms and bathrooms, five servant bedrooms and bathrooms (of similar standard to those of the guests). The building also incorporated office rooms, an aviary, a ballroom and an observatory.
The Bungalow was clearly something that Lever lavished money upon. The main room had floors of polished oak, while the bathrooms and offices had mosaic tile coverings. The dining room ceiling was painted with stars of the northern constellations. The ballroom had a circular, sprung floor and a glass domed ceiling. All the principal rooms opened out onto the winter gardens.
Lever had a klaxon installed above his bed which would wake him at 5am. In later years he had become quite deaf, and the noise of it would rouse the rest of the household too. Every morning he would take a cold bath, ride a mechanical horse to shake himself dry and then spend 20 minutes exercising.
In 1919, Lever staged a series of open days, allowing the public into his own private gardens. All proceeds were donated to charity. Active up until the end of his life, he continued to add new features to the Bungalow and his gardens. This included two ambitious projects – the creation of the Ravine and the Japanese Lake and Gardens.
New Projects
A hundred men from the company of James Pullman & Sons laboured to construct the the Ravine. This consisted of a series of waterfalls and pools cut into the steep hillside. Thomas Mawson was once again the designer for this huge feature. Writing in later life, he described the process of construction: “We laid bare the natural sandstone rock which we quarried into rough receding ledges using all the stone thus excavated for the construction of a series of cascades”. Work began in 1921. Four pathways were created to run across the feature, one for each season. Caves were excavated with the intention that they could be used to grow rare ferns.
When it was found that the existing natural watercourse that had been diverted to create the waterfalls was not sufficient, it was decided that a feeder reservoir would be required above the Ravine. On his visit to Japan Lever had admired the gardens he had seen, which were also becoming fashionable in Britain. Accordingly, a Japanese lake was constructed to act as the water reserve. Thomas Mawson and his son Edward, who would go on to take over his father’s landscape business, worked on the design. Pullman & Sons again carried out the physical work. They dug out the bedrock to form the lake, and lined the base with concrete. Small rock islands were set up within the lake. Caves were excavated around it, and in one of these a boat was stored.
The area was designed as a ‘stroll garden’ where different views were revealed as a person walked through the grounds, admiring the Japanese plants. Three wooden pagodas served as tea houses for guests. These were lit by copper lamps and had traditional paper-covered windows.
In 1925, Lever made plans for a further reservoir to be constructed on the Great Lawn. This in turn would feed the Japanese Lake, making even more water available for the waterfalls in the Ravine below. However, although digging was begun, the project was never completed as Lever died of pneumonia that same year, aged 74.
The Decline
All work on his projects immediately stopped. His executors decided to sell off the estate, which meant laying off a hundred men still working on improvements to the grounds and the house. Lever’s domestic and personal staff were given three months of wages for each year of their service. The animals from Lever Park were donated to Belle Vue Zoo.
John Magee, the owner of Magee Marshall Brewery of Bolton, bought the estate at auction. A separate auction was held to sell off the contents of the Bungalow and of Rivington Hall and Magee bought most of these too. He used the estate as a weekend residence, but also as a place for his senior employees to enjoy. He kept on only five of the original gardeners, who solely worked in the kitchen gardens. His directors plundered plants to use in the brewery’s pub gardens and around their bowling greens.
When John Magee died, his son Thomas put the Bungalow on the market. There was an upswell of feeling that it should be bought for the public, so the seven local councils came together to launch a joint bid. However, Liverpool Water Corporation stated that the Bungalow was a dwelling and could not be used for any other purpose. With the Second World War starting, money became scarce and the councils could only get loans from the government for essential services. When Bolton Council suddenly withdrew its support, the future of the Bungalow and surrounding gardens was thrown into doubt. Ultimately, the other councils found that they could not raise the necessary money to complete the purchase. At this point, Liverpool Water Corporation stepped forward to buy both the Bungalow and the surrounding grounds.
During the Second World War, the military took over the use of Lever Park. Both of the Rivington barns were used to store rationed sugar and a row of Nissan huts was set up along the driveway to Rivington Hall. Troops were billeted in the Bungalow and, while there, inflicted a large amount of damage on it. When Liverpool Water Corporation took back use of the Bungalow in 1947, they stated it was too expensive to repair and that it was a threat to the water supply (a common reason given for getting rid of buildings on water authority land). Their preferred option all along would have probably been to demolish it and now they had the perfect excuse. Using sledgehammers and explosives, it was levelled. More plants were removed from the grounds along with the turf from the lawn and an irate letter to the newspaper accused locals of this theft.
A Fresh Start
In 1974, the huge reorganisation of Local Government saw the traditional county of Lancashire split into the three ‘modern’ regions of Lancashire, Greater Manchester and Merseyside. Liverpool Water Corporation became part of North West Water Authority (NWWA), a publicly owned body. NWWA were keen to restore the parkland for the public and commissioned the British Trust for Conservation Volunteers (BTCV) to clear the blocked pathways of vegetation and undertake some restoration of the gardens. So began a long term partnership between the two groups, with the BTCV setting up a residential base at Tan Pits Farm, from which the volunteers would focus much of their effort within Lever Park, the terraced gardens and the wider Rivington area. This involved managing the overgrown vegetation, building fences and repairing the dry stone walls.
Rivington became a hugely popular destination, especially at weekends. Although the Bungalow was long gone, many prominent features from Lever’s time survived, but were becoming unsafe. Renovations took place from time to time on some of them, but the ongoing fight with the overgrowth of rhododendrons was becoming difficult. There was some controversy over their removal as many locals valued them as long established plants, but the conservationists thought of them as an invasive species, lacking in wildlife value. When the rhododendrons contracted a disease that could spread to other plants, there was no option but to remove them.
In the 1990s, there was repair work done to the Pigeon Tower, but the summerhouses and loggias were becoming increasingly derelict and, in some instances, unsafe. Some paths were overgrown, blocked by vegetation growth. With the area still more popular than ever, the idea began to form for a wide scale restoration.
Recent Restoration
Funding for a huge series of restoration work was secured in 2016. A partnership was formed between United Utilities (formerly North West Water Authority), Rivington Heritage Trust and Groundwork Cheshire, Lancashire and Merseyside. Together they managed to secure £4.2 million to improve the gardens and associated buildings, if not to their original grandeur, at least to be a well-maintained and accessible area.
In 2018, the vegetation that covered the site of the Bungalow was cleared. The foundations were dug and the outline of the building was restored. Below it, the Orchestra Lawn was re-sown and its pathways restored. A new sundial was put in place where Lever had placed his original one, and the words once again were engraved: Live today, not regretting yesterday nor fearing tomorrow. For the first time in decades, the lawn was used for its original intention as being a place for visitors to be entertained, with a harpist playing to 120 people who took afternoon tea.
Both the summerhouses of the Great Lawn have been restored with new roofs, repaired stonework and handrails. Visitors can walk up onto the top of them with the roofs acting as viewing platforms, as originally intended. The encroaching plants on the Great Lawn have been cleared away by volunteers and contractors. The part of the Great Lawn that later became known as the Tennis Lawn (due to the fact that John Magee had installed a shale tennis court at the request of his niece) has been preserved in outline. The depression from where the unfinished reservoir had been dug to feed the Japanese Lake has now been filled in.
The Pigeon Tower now regularly opens for the first time in decades. Volunteers conduct tours of it whenever there is a volunteer day (usually the first Saturday of each month) or during special Event Days. The viewing platform in front of it has been made safe and restored, giving a great outlook over the park. Lever’s Bridge remains in excellent condition and is still used as a main route up to the Pigeon Tower. The crazy-paving of the garden terraces has been uncovered and is walkable again.
The Italian lake, the small Neptune’s Pool above it and the connecting waterfalls had all developed leaks over the years, as the puddled clay linings had developed cracks allowing water out. Draining, desilting and relaying concrete liners occurred in the 2018-19 period. Holly trees have been coppiced – cut to their bases – so that their regrowth will frame the water falls, restore the views and improve the wildlife habitat. The water supply channels from Winter Hill have been repaired to give good flow once more to the waterfalls.
While this remedial work has been successful for the pool and waterfalls, the Italian Lake continues to be a problem. At the time of writing (2023) it is failing to hold water due to a deficiency in its new liner and needs urgent repair. It is to be hoped that United Utilities, the owners of the site and maintainers of all the large drinking reservoirs for Lancashire, will soon turn their minds to rectifying the situation.
Restoration of the Ravine saw paths that were blocked by rampant vegetation or covered with mud being cleared by volunteers. The crazy paving was then lifted and relayed. Contractors made the bridges safe, replacing or resetting stonework and repointing the mortar. Fences were also repaired. 800 cubic metres of silt was removed from the Japanese lake. The cracked concrete liner was repaired, as was the lip of the waterfall and three of the islands. Japanese shrubs have been planted around the water in an effort to restore the look from Lever’s time.
Rivington Terraced Gardens are of national importance and are Grade II listed. The summerhouses, loggias, Pigeon Tower and Lever’s Bridge are all also Grade II. When, towards the end of his life, Thomas Mawson was asked which was his favourite design of all the many landscapes he had produced, he replied that none could compete with Rivington. He said: “The very reason is a human one. Everyone prophesied failure”.
Although much remains from Lever’s time, some features have vanished, but there are still traces of their existence. Aside from Lever’s residences, the four lodge houses are no more, demolished in the 1950s. However, the positions of each are depicted on the Rivington Terraced Garden map, available from the Great House Visitor Centre and on interpretation boards around the estate. The gate piers of Bolton, Belmont, and Stone Lodges still remain. The footprints of South Lodge and Stone Lodge can be viewed, giving an idea of their scale. The five bay kitchen gardens at Stone Lodge have been cleared out of rubble and overgrowth during the recent renovation work (although this is a constant battle as nature relentlessly returns to them). Volunteers have added new troughs for plants in one of the bays, while apple and pear trees flourish in another. The substantial ruins of the bothy, which stands at the end of the bays, have been made safe for visitors to explore.
With much of the contracted work now complete, a volunteer group thrives and meets regularly, coordinated by The Friends of Rivington Terraced Gardens. (To get involved as a volunteer follow this link here.) It is not just the immediate gardens and lawns the volunteers are working on. The woodland habitat is seeing the trees being thinned out by them. This selected felling will ensure that light can enter through the canopy to encourage growth of younger trees, giving over time a variety of ages of plants and shrubs within the woods. This boosts biodiversity, both of other plant species and of the animals within the habitat. General path improvement and drainage work remain a priority throughout the countryside estate.
The recent renovation and restoration work has been a huge undertaking, the largest of its kind since Lever passed away. There has never been a better time to visit Lever Park and Rivington Terraced Gardens, with so much to explore within the grounds. Routes also take walkers out on to the wider moorlands, where they can explore the wildlife, history and views associated with Rivington Pike and Winter Hill.
Site visited by A. and S. Bowden 2023
Access
Lever Park and Rivington Terraced Gardens are open everyday. There are numerous car parks, but these can get very full in good weather and at weekends, so go early. All of the above described historical features can be reached on foot from the car parks.
Great House Barn is open every day for food and drinks. See the link below for the history of this building.
Great House Visitor Centre opens most days (according to the Rivington Terraced Gardens website), but experience has shown the opening times can be somewhat erratic. It contains topical displays, a wealth of leaflets about the area and interesting gifts.
Rivington Hall is closed to the public and is used as a wedding venue. There are views of it through its gates and through the trees at its side in the Winter.
Rivington Hall Barn is also used for weddings, but occasionally opens to the public for special events.
The Lever Pillars are at the end of Lever Park Avenue. There is on-street parking close to them.
Nearby
The Suffragette Arson Attack at Rivington
References
Leverhulme’s Rivington, M.D. Smith (1998) Wyre Publishing. This excellent book is the definitive guide to the history of Lever Park and Rivington Terraced Gardens. It is well written and illustrated with numerous photographs and drawings throughout. The book is readily available second hand (as it is now out of print) and can easily be bought online.
The Art and Craft of Garden Making, Thomas Hayton Mawson (1912). Available for free online at archive.org. This book contains Mawson’s original plan for Lever’s estate and photographs of some of the first features built.
On site interpretation boards at Rivington Terraced Gardens
rivingtonterracedgardens.org.uk/what-to-see-and-do. This site contains archive photographs from Lever’s time.
Rivington Terraced Gardens: Explore Rivington Map. Available at Great House Visitor Centre.
Lord Leverhulme & Rivington (1993). Leaflet available at Great House Visitor Centre.
en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Villa_d%27Este
commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Rivington_Gardens_design.jpg
rivingtonterracedgardens.org.uk/get-involved/volunteering/
Lancashire Past 