On Saturday, the Mayor of Horwich , Cllr Ian Aldcroft, will open the latest Horwich Heritage exhibition which will be celebrating 120 years of Lever Park, the wonderful local recreational area that has been enjoyed by millions of visitors since it opened in 1904. Here Stuart Whittle, chairman of Horwich Heritage takes a look at the history of this public ‘oasis’ Most people in the Borough of Bolton will be aware of Lord Leverhulme, the local man who made his fortune from selling soap but who never lost his love for his home town and did more than anyone to help to improve the living conditions of its citizens. During his lifetime he paid for the building of Blackburn Road Congregational Church (known locally as the ‘Iron Church’) and the restoration of Samuel Crompton’s birthplace, Hall i’the Wood, his bequest paid for the establishment of Bolton School and he donated the land for the creation of Leverhulme Park and Lever Park.
In fact, he would have done even more for the town if the then Borough Council had let him go ahead with his ambitious plans for the redevelopment of Bolton town centre. Lever Park from the air, 1989 (Picture: Newsquest) His plans for Lever Park came about after he had acquired the Manor of Rivington from the Crompton family for £60,000 in 1900. The Rivington Hall Estate extended to over 2,100 acres and included the manorial seat of Rivington Hall, a number of farmsteads, two Anglo-Saxon barns and Rivington Pike with its famous watchtower.
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