Moses Gate Country Park
Encyclopedia
Moses Gate Country Park also known as Crompton Lodges (National Grid Ref: SD 749063
) is a 300 hectare
(750 acre
) site situated at Moses Gate
in the Croal Irwell Valley 5 km (3 ml) south of Bolton
town centre on the A6053 road which connects Farnworth
to Little Lever
.
along the banks of the River Croal
. At Nob End, the Croal joins the Irwell
which then continues for about two miles into Clifton Country Park
. The name Moses Gate comes from the joining of two words, one a corruption of the word mosses meaning peat
y or marsh
y lands, and gate is from the Old English gata meaning a way across, so we have the way though the mosses (also as in Kearsley Moss
, Clifton Moss
, Linnyshaw Moss
, etc.). The alternate name of Crompton Lodges comes from the lakes which were mill ponds or lodges supplying water to Cromptons Paper Mills. The park lies on the Kingfisher Way which runs for 11 km (6.8 mi) from Clifton Country Park to Jumbles Reservoir
, north of Bolton. There are three lodges, one is reserved for fishing, one for water sports such as canoeing and the third is a nature reserve for migratory birds and other wildlife.
To the east of the lodges is one of the few sections of the Manchester, Bolton and Bury Canal
that is still in water. The land between is reclaimed from old mine workings, one of which was Farnworth Bridge Collieries. The weir was constructed in the River Croal to provide a water supply for Crompton's Paper Mill. Rock Hall is the visitor centre and the headquarters of the park's rangers.
was built by the Crompton family in Farnworth. The site at Farnworth was influential in the manufacture and the development of papermaking
, the first work being started by Robert Crompton (1667–1737). Crompton was the first in a line of men of paper. Thomas Bonsor could well be called the first papermaking tycoon and his mill at Farnworth became a showpiece for the craft, he died on 5 September 1858 and was buried in St. John's churchyard, Farnworth. The first steam weaving mill was opened in 1828 by James Rothwell Barnes, later becoming a spinning mill. At Nob End a chemical works was founded and the whole area is riddled with old coal mine workings from shallow pits to deep shafts which have all now been capped. The mill at Farnworth passed to William James Rideout who continued the tradition of making paper until the great depression of 1883 when the mill closed and paper manufacture ceased. In 1894, the mill was reopened as a bleach works by J.B. Champion but a few years later the mill once again stood empty. The area fell into ruin and it was not until the mill was finally demolished in 1972, that there was interest in the area as a place of recreation. Over the next decade the site was cleared and Rock Hall was transformed from a derelict building into the current visitor centre.
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was designated as a Site of Special Scientific Interest
(SSSI) (file designation SD70/2) in 1988, under Section 28 of the Wildlife and Countryside Act, 1981. and as a Local Nature Reserve
(LNR) in 2000. The contamination of the land from the old chemical works with waste from the Leblanc process
has resulted in an alkaline soil that now supports a variety of plants not found elsewhere in Greater Manchester, including many types of orchid, most notable amongst these are Fragrant orchid
Gymnadenia conopsea, the Northern Marsh orchid Dactylorhiza purpurella, the Early Marsh orchid Dactylorhiza incarnata and other species such as Common Broomrape
, Twayblade, Blue fleabane and Carline thistle. The reserve covers 8.8 hectares (21 acres).
British national grid reference system
The Ordnance Survey National Grid reference system is a system of geographic grid references used in Great Britain, different from using latitude and longitude....
) is a 300 hectare
Hectare
The hectare is a metric unit of area defined as 10,000 square metres , and primarily used in the measurement of land. In 1795, when the metric system was introduced, the are was defined as being 100 square metres and the hectare was thus 100 ares or 1/100 km2...
(750 acre
Acre
The acre is a unit of area in a number of different systems, including the imperial and U.S. customary systems. The most commonly used acres today are the international acre and, in the United States, the survey acre. The most common use of the acre is to measure tracts of land.The acre is related...
) site situated at Moses Gate
Moses Gate
Moses Gate is a small district of Farnworth, in the Metropolitan Borough of Bolton, Greater Manchester, England. It lies southeast of Bolton town centre and northwest of the city of Manchester.- Toponymy :...
in the Croal Irwell Valley 5 km (3 ml) south of Bolton
Bolton
Bolton is a town in Greater Manchester, in the North West of England. Close to the West Pennine Moors, it is north west of the city of Manchester. Bolton is surrounded by several smaller towns and villages which together form the Metropolitan Borough of Bolton, of which Bolton is the...
town centre on the A6053 road which connects Farnworth
Farnworth
Farnworth is within the Metropolitan Borough of Bolton in Greater Manchester, England. It is located southeast of Bolton, 6 miles south-west of Bury , and northwest of Manchester....
to Little Lever
Little Lever
Little Lever is a large village within the Metropolitan Borough of Bolton in Greater Manchester, England. Historically a part of Lancashire, it is southeast of Bolton, west of Radcliffe, and west-southwest of Bury....
.
Description
The park runs from the A6053 to Nob EndNob End
Nob End is the site of a former waste tip, and now a Site of Special Scientific Interest near Kearsley, Bolton, England.Standing at the confluence of the River Irwell and River Croal it was used around 1850-70 as a tip for alkaline waste from the production of sodium carbonate by the Leblanc...
along the banks of the River Croal
River Croal
The River Croal is a river located in Greater Manchester, England. It is a tributary of the River Irwell.Rising at the confluence of Middle Brook and Deane Church Brook, it flows eastwards through Bolton, collecting Gilnow Brook and the larger River Tonge at Darcy Lever...
. At Nob End, the Croal joins the Irwell
River Irwell
The River Irwell is a long river which flows through the Irwell Valley in the counties of Lancashire and Greater Manchester in North West England. The river's source is at Irwell Springs on Deerplay Moor, approximately north of Bacup, in the parish of Cliviger, Lancashire...
which then continues for about two miles into Clifton Country Park
Clifton Country Park
Clifton Country Park is a Local Nature Reserve in the Irwell Valley at Clifton, Salford, Greater Manchester, North-west England.The park comprises 48 hectares of wooded area, fields, and lakes. Industrial heritage is also a feature of the park, the remains of the Wet Earth Colliery can be found in...
. The name Moses Gate comes from the joining of two words, one a corruption of the word mosses meaning peat
Peat
Peat is an accumulation of partially decayed vegetation matter or histosol. Peat forms in wetland bogs, moors, muskegs, pocosins, mires, and peat swamp forests. Peat is harvested as an important source of fuel in certain parts of the world...
y or marsh
Marsh
In geography, a marsh, or morass, is a type of wetland that is subject to frequent or continuous flood. Typically the water is shallow and features grasses, rushes, reeds, typhas, sedges, other herbaceous plants, and moss....
y lands, and gate is from the Old English gata meaning a way across, so we have the way though the mosses (also as in Kearsley Moss
Kearsley
Kearsley is a town within the Metropolitan Borough of Bolton, in Greater Manchester, England. Historically within Lancashire, it lies about 7½ miles northwest of Manchester,5.5 miles south-west of Bury, and about 3¾ miles south of Bolton.It is bounded on the west by Walkden, the east by...
, Clifton Moss
Clifton, Greater Manchester
Clifton is a small town within the metropolitan borough of the City of Salford, in Greater Manchester, England. It lies in the Irwell Valley in the northern part of the City of Salford....
, Linnyshaw Moss
Linnyshaw
Linnyshaw is an area of Walkden, a town in the City of Salford district of Greater Manchester, England. Historically within Lancashire, it lies in the northeast of Walkden, immediately south of junction 2 of the M61 motorway. The area is predominantly moss and there is a very small population...
, etc.). The alternate name of Crompton Lodges comes from the lakes which were mill ponds or lodges supplying water to Cromptons Paper Mills. The park lies on the Kingfisher Way which runs for 11 km (6.8 mi) from Clifton Country Park to Jumbles Reservoir
Jumbles Reservoir
The Jumbles Reservoir is a heavily modified, high alkalinity, shallow reservoir in North West England. It lies in Jumbles Country Park, in the valley of Bradshaw Brook, partly in the Metropolitan Borough of Bolton, Greater Manchester, and partly in Blackburn with Darwen, Lancashire...
, north of Bolton. There are three lodges, one is reserved for fishing, one for water sports such as canoeing and the third is a nature reserve for migratory birds and other wildlife.
To the east of the lodges is one of the few sections of the Manchester, Bolton and Bury Canal
Manchester, Bolton and Bury Canal
The Manchester Bolton & Bury Canal is a disused canal in Greater Manchester, England, built to link Bolton and Bury with Manchester. The canal, when fully opened, was 15 miles 1 furlong long. It was accessed via a junction with the River Irwell in Salford...
that is still in water. The land between is reclaimed from old mine workings, one of which was Farnworth Bridge Collieries. The weir was constructed in the River Croal to provide a water supply for Crompton's Paper Mill. Rock Hall is the visitor centre and the headquarters of the park's rangers.
History
The area has seen several uses as an industrial site, at Moses Gate, one of the earliest paper mills in LancashireLancashire
Lancashire is a non-metropolitan county of historic origin in the North West of England. It takes its name from the city of Lancaster, and is sometimes known as the County of Lancaster. Although Lancaster is still considered to be the county town, Lancashire County Council is based in Preston...
was built by the Crompton family in Farnworth. The site at Farnworth was influential in the manufacture and the development of papermaking
Papermaking
Papermaking is the process of making paper, a substance which is used universally today for writing and packaging.In papermaking a dilute suspension of fibres in water is drained through a screen, so that a mat of randomly interwoven fibres is laid down. Water is removed from this mat of fibres by...
, the first work being started by Robert Crompton (1667–1737). Crompton was the first in a line of men of paper. Thomas Bonsor could well be called the first papermaking tycoon and his mill at Farnworth became a showpiece for the craft, he died on 5 September 1858 and was buried in St. John's churchyard, Farnworth. The first steam weaving mill was opened in 1828 by James Rothwell Barnes, later becoming a spinning mill. At Nob End a chemical works was founded and the whole area is riddled with old coal mine workings from shallow pits to deep shafts which have all now been capped. The mill at Farnworth passed to William James Rideout who continued the tradition of making paper until the great depression of 1883 when the mill closed and paper manufacture ceased. In 1894, the mill was reopened as a bleach works by J.B. Champion but a few years later the mill once again stood empty. The area fell into ruin and it was not until the mill was finally demolished in 1972, that there was interest in the area as a place of recreation. Over the next decade the site was cleared and Rock Hall was transformed from a derelict building into the current visitor centre.
Rock Hall
Rock Hall was built by Thomas Bonsor Compton's father John, who was granted the lease in 1805. John never lived in the house as he died at about the time the house was completed in 1807. Later it was occupied by the managers of the paper mill. On Thomas Bonsor's death the mill passed to his nephew W. J. Rideout, then after his death in 1876, the mills were offered for auction.Nob End
Nob EndNob End
Nob End is the site of a former waste tip, and now a Site of Special Scientific Interest near Kearsley, Bolton, England.Standing at the confluence of the River Irwell and River Croal it was used around 1850-70 as a tip for alkaline waste from the production of sodium carbonate by the Leblanc...
was designated as a Site of Special Scientific Interest
Site of Special Scientific Interest
A Site of Special Scientific Interest is a conservation designation denoting a protected area in the United Kingdom. SSSIs are the basic building block of site-based nature conservation legislation and most other legal nature/geological conservation designations in Great Britain are based upon...
(SSSI) (file designation SD70/2) in 1988, under Section 28 of the Wildlife and Countryside Act, 1981. and as a Local Nature Reserve
Local Nature Reserve
Local nature reserve or LNR is a designation for nature reserves in the United Kingdom. The designation has its origin in the recommendations of the Wild Life Conservation Special Committee which established the framework for nature conservation in the United Kingdom and suggested a national suite...
(LNR) in 2000. The contamination of the land from the old chemical works with waste from the Leblanc process
Leblanc process
The Leblanc process was the industrial process for the production of soda ash used throughout the 19th century, named after its inventor, Nicolas Leblanc. It involved two stages: Production of sodium sulfate from sodium chloride, followed by reaction of the sodium sulfate with coal and calcium...
has resulted in an alkaline soil that now supports a variety of plants not found elsewhere in Greater Manchester, including many types of orchid, most notable amongst these are Fragrant orchid
Fragrant orchid
Fragrant Orchid is an herbaceous plant belonging to the family Orchidaceae.-Etymology:The name of the genus Gymnodenia is formed from Greek words "gymnos" meaning "nude" and "adèn" meaning "gland" and refers to the characteristics of the organs for secreting nectar...
Gymnadenia conopsea, the Northern Marsh orchid Dactylorhiza purpurella, the Early Marsh orchid Dactylorhiza incarnata and other species such as Common Broomrape
Broomrape
Broomrape or Broom-rape is a genus of over 200 species of parasitic herbaceous plants in the family Orobanchaceae, mostly native to the temperate Northern Hemisphere. Some species formerly included in this genus are now referred to the genus Conopholis.The broomrape plant is small, from...
, Twayblade, Blue fleabane and Carline thistle. The reserve covers 8.8 hectares (21 acres).
External links
- Bolton MBC web site
- Wildlife Trust for Lancashire, Manchester and North Merseyside
- Croal Irwell Regional Park Project
- English Nature website with online searchable directory of all English SSSIs
- Moses Gate Park Flikr Group