Musbury Tor is a flat topped hill in Helmshore

Helmshore

Helmshore is a village in the Rossendale Valley, Lancashire, England. It is situated south of Haslingden, broadly between the A56 and the B6235, approximately 16 miles north of Manchester.- Early history :...

, Rossendale

Rossendale

Rossendale is a local government district with borough status. It is made up of a number of small former mill towns in Lancashire, England centered around the valley of the River Irwell in the industrial North West...

, Lancashire

Lancashire

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...

, England

England

England is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Scotland to the north and Wales to the west; the Irish Sea is to the north west, the Celtic Sea to the south west, with the North Sea to the east and the English Channel to the south separating it from continental...

. It separates Alden Valley

Alden Valley

The Alden Valley is a small valley in the east Pennines, west of Helmshore in Rossendale, Lancashire. In 1840 it was home to about 20 farms; largely cattle rearing, although most inhabitants were also involved with the production of textiles...

 to its south and Musbury Valley

Musbury Valley

The Musbury Valley is a small valley in the east Pennines, west of Helmshore and Haslingden in Rossendale, Lancashire. The valley is very picturesque and includes a variety of landscapes, mostly sheep pasture and moors but there are some patches of beautiful woodland here and there.Most of the...

 to the north. It is a very popular walking spot and the views from the top are magnificent. It is on farmland and is mainly sheep pasture. It is one of the tallest hills (338m) in the Rossendale valley and can be seen from much of Helmshore. A panoramic view from the top is shown in Chris Aspin, Derek Pilkington and John Simpson's book of Helmshore.

Geology

The underlying solid geology

Geology

Geology is the science comprising the study of solid Earth, the rocks of which it is composed, and the processes by which it evolves. Geology gives insight into the history of the Earth, as it provides the primary evidence for plate tectonics, the evolutionary history of life, and past climates...

 of the Rossendale fells is largely formed by the Lower Coal Measure comprising bedded sandstones, shales

Shalës

Shalës is a municipality in the Elbasan District, Elbasan County, central Albania. The municipality consists of the villages Shalës, Licaj, Kurtalli, Xibrake, Xherie and Kodras....

 and mudstones. Rocks of the Millstone Grit series outcrop above the valley of the River Irwell and cap the hills. Musbury Tor is a perfect example of peneplanation

Peneplain

A peneplain is a low-relief plain representing the final stage of fluvial erosion during times of extended tectonic stability. The existence of peneplains, and peneplanation as a geomorphological process, is not without controversy, due to a lack of contemporary examples and uncertainty in...

 leaving an almost isolated flat-topped hill where the harder Millstone Grit protects the softer underlying shales, leaving the distinctive sharp topography of edges and ledges characteristic of the uplands above the Irwell Valley.

The other small scale topographic variations such as the undulating hummocky landforms are generally due to the former workings and stone quarries.

History

Musbury was a township in the hundred of Blackburn. It was divided into three portions - Musbury Park; Musden Head (to the south), and the Trippet of Ogden (in the north). It was once the centre of the Earl of Lincoln

Earl of Lincoln

Earl of Lincoln is a title that has been created eight times in the Peerage of England.-Earls of Lincoln, First Creation :*William d'Aubigny, 1st Earl of Lincoln and 1st Earl of Arundel Earl of Lincoln is a title that has been created eight times in the Peerage of England.-Earls of Lincoln, First...

's deer park

Medieval deer park

A medieval deer park was an enclosed area containing deer. It was bounded by a ditch and bank with a wooden park pale on top of the bank. The ditch was typically on the inside, thus allowing deer to enter the park but preventing them from leaving.-History:...

, which was fenced by 1304, and stretches of the ditch enclosures still remain in the Alden and Musbury valleys.

In 1894 Musbury ceased to be a township, and was transferred from Tottington

Tottington, Greater Manchester

Tottington is a town within the Metropolitan Borough of Bury, in Greater Manchester, England.Historically a part of Lancashire, Tottington's early history is marked by its status as an important Medieval fee, a type of Royal Manor which encompassed several townships...

 parish to the borough of Haslingden

Haslingden

Haslingden is a small town in Rossendale, Lancashire, England. It is north of Manchester. The name means 'valley of the hazels', though the town is in fact set on a high and windy hill. In the early 20th century Haslingden had the status of a municipal borough, but following local government...

.

World War II and after

"...to scan the skies for paratroops, four Home Guardsmen armed with one old rifle and six rounds of ammunition climbed each evening to the top of the Tor", says Chris Aspin in his memoirs. The guards apparently sheltered in a tiny hut, but they often "stumbled into bogs and old quarry workings". Chris Aspin also mentions American GIs practicing paratroop drops, and field exercises with live ammunition, before D-Day, setting up tents and a cookhouse by Great House on the Tor.

In 1949 the Great House Experimental Farm in Helmshore was established by the Ministry of Agriculture

Ministry of Agriculture

An agriculture ministry or department of agriculture is a ministry or other government agency charged with agriculture. The ministry is often headed by a minister for agriculture....

on the flat top and southern slopes of Musbury Tor. Important experiments, including many on high-level grain planting and animal husbandry, and the effects of acidity in rain, were carried out. Great House Experimental Farm was closed in 1982, broken up and sold off to private farmers and others.