Rivington Rivington is a village and civil parish of the Borough of Chorley, Lancashire, England, occupying . It is about southeast of Chorley and about northwest of Bolton. Rivington is a rural area consisting primarily of agricultural grazing land, ...

in the

Borough of Chorley The Borough of Chorley is a local government district with borough status in Lancashire, England. The population of the Borough at the 2011 census was 107,155. It is named after its largest settlement, the town of Chorley. History The non-me ...

Lancashire Lancashire ( , ; abbreviated Lancs) is the name of a historic county, ceremonial county, and non-metropolitan county in North West England. The boundaries of these three areas differ significantly. The non-metropolitan county of Lancash ...

, is situated on the edge of the

West Pennine Moors The West Pennine Moors is an area of the Pennines covering approximately of moorland and reservoirs in Lancashire and Greater Manchester, England. It is a Site of Special Scientific Interest. The West Pennine Moors are separated from the main ...

, at the foot of Rivington Pike overlooking

reservoir A reservoir (; from French ''réservoir'' ) is an enlarged lake behind a dam. Such a dam may be either artificial, built to store fresh water or it may be a natural formation. Reservoirs can be created in a number of ways, including contro ...

s created for Liverpool Corporation Waterworks in the 19th century. There are twenty eight

listed buildings In the United Kingdom, a listed building or listed structure is one that has been placed on one of the four statutory lists maintained by Historic England in England, Historic Environment Scotland in Scotland, in Wales, and the Northern Irel ...

within Rivington, two are classified by

English Heritage English Heritage (officially the English Heritage Trust) is a charity that manages over 400 historic monuments, buildings and places. These include prehistoric sites, medieval castles, Roman forts and country houses. The charity states that i ...

as Grade II*, the rest as Grade II; Rivington has no Grade I Listed buildings. Rivington village is a conservation area, designated under section 69 of the

Planning (Listed Buildings and Conservation Areas) Act 1990 The Planning (Listed Buildings and Conservation Areas) Act 1990 is an Act of Parliament of the United Kingdom that altered the laws on granting of planning permission for building works, notably including those of the listed building system in En ...

; almost half the houses in the village centre have listed status. Rivington's buildings are varied, reflecting its rural and historic nature, and include former hand-loom weavers' cottages, the church, and the chapel. Locally sourced stone for walls and slate for roofs are the predominant building materials, used for places of worship, the school, houses (including many not listed), and boundary

dry stone Dry stone, sometimes called drystack or, in Scotland, drystane, is a building method by which structures are constructed from stones without any mortar to bind them together. Dry stone structures are stable because of their construction m ...

walls. An exception is Fisher House, a three-storey

Georgian Georgian may refer to: Common meanings * Anything related to, or originating from Georgia (country) ** Georgians, an indigenous Caucasian ethnic group ** Georgian language, a Kartvelian language spoken by Georgians **Georgian scripts, three scrip ...

rendered building. Rivington Hall, a former

manor house A manor house was historically the main residence of the lord of the manor. The house formed the administrative centre of a manor in the European feudal system; within its great hall were held the lord's manorial courts, communal meals w ...

with an imposing red brick Georgian frontage, is a short distance from the village centre. Its barn, and the barn at Great House Farm were renovated and converted by the architect Jonathan Simpson for

William Lever William Hesketh Lever, 1st Viscount Leverhulme , (, ; 19 September 1851 – 7 May 1925) was an English industrialist, philanthropist, and politician. Having been educated at a small private school until the age of nine, then at church schools ...

in 1904. The barns were used for catering for the early tourist industry, a function they retain today. Farmhouses and their barns scattered outside the village centre, also built in local gritstone, are also listed. Most of the remaining listed structures are in the listed historic landscape of Lever Park, a country park created for William Lever by

Thomas Mawson Thomas Hayton Mawson (5 May 1861 – 14 November 1933), known as T. H. Mawson, was a British garden designer, landscape architect, and town planner. Personal life Mawson was born in Nether Wyresdale, Lancashire, and left school at age 12. ...

in the early 20th century, the park includes Rivington Pike summit and the Pike tower, built in 1733 for Robert Andrews. . They include an unfinished replica of

Liverpool Castle Liverpool Castle was a castle in Liverpool, England, that stood from the early 13th century to the early 18th century (1237–1726). Construction The castle was probably erected in the 1230s, between 1232 and 1235, under the orders of William ...

, overlooking the

Lower Rivington Reservoir Lower Rivington Reservoir is at the end of the Rivington chain of reservoirs in Lancashire, England, with Upper Rivington Reservoir to the north, and Rivington Water Treatment Works to the south. The Rivington chain primarily supplies 70,000 hou ...

. Outside the park on the hillside are the terraced gardens, being the remains of Leverhulmes private gardens in his country retreat, once used for sport of shooting. The latter includes the Pigeon Tower, which is a large

folly In architecture, a folly is a building constructed primarily for decoration, but suggesting through its appearance some other purpose, or of such extravagant appearance that it transcends the range of usual garden buildings. Eighteenth-cent ...

and former

dovecote A dovecote or dovecot , doocot ( Scots) or columbarium is a structure intended to house pigeons or doves. Dovecotes may be free-standing structures in a variety of shapes, or built into the end of a house or barn. They generally contain pige ...

. The term "listed building", in the

United Kingdom The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland, commonly known as the United Kingdom (UK) or Britain, is a country in Europe, off the north-western coast of the European mainland, continental mainland. It comprises England, Scotlan ...

, refers to a building or structure designated as being of special architectural, historical, or cultural significance. They are categorised in three grades: Grade I consists of buildings of outstanding architectural or historical interest, Grade II* includes significant buildings of more than local interest and Grade II consists of buildings of special architectural or historical interest. Buildings in England are listed by the

Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport The secretary of state for digital, culture, media and sport, also referred to as the culture secretary, is a Secretary of State (United Kingdom), secretary of state in the Government of the United Kingdom, with overall responsibility for strateg ...

on recommendations provided by English Heritage, which also determines the grading.

Key

Listed buildings and structures

References

Bibliography *

Key

Listed buildings and structures

References

Further reading