Listed buildings in Rivington

Pigeon Tower, in Lever Park, Rivington

Rivington in the Borough of Chorley, Lancashire, is situated on the edge of the West Pennine Moors, at the foot of Rivington Pike overlooking reservoirs created by Liverpool Corporation water works in the 19th century.^[1] Of the twenty-one listed buildings in the village, two are classified by English Heritage as Grade II*, the rest as Grade II; Rivington has no Grade I Listed buildings.^[2][3]

Rivington village is a conservation area, designated under section 69 of the Planning (Listed Buildings and Conservation Areas) Act 1990; almost half the houses in the village centre have listed status.^[4] 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 walls. An exception is Fisher House, a three-storey Georgian rendered building.^[5]

Rivington Hall, a former manor house 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 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, created for William Lever by Thomas Mawson in the early 20th century or the country park.^[6] They include an unfinished replica of Liverpool Castle, overlooking the Lower Rivington Reservoir, and Rivington Gardens, the remains of Lever's private gardens, which include the Pigeon Tower, a large folly and former dovecote.^[7] The landmark tower built in 1733 for Robert Andrews is at the top of Rivington Pike.

The term "listed building", in the United Kingdom, 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 on recommendations provided by English Heritage, which also determines the grading.^[8]

Key

Grade	Criteria[8]
II*	Particularly important buildings of more than special interest.
II	Buildings of national importance and special interest.

Listed buildings and structures

Name and location	Photograph	Grade	Date	Notes
Rivington Church 53°37′31″N 2°34′07″W / 53.6252°N 2.5685°W		II	1. 1541 2. 1666 (rebuilt) 3. 19th century (restoration)	The church is built of irregularly coursed sandstone with quoins and a slate roof. It is a small plain building with a 19th-century gabled porch and an octagonal bell turret with a conical roof and weathervane.[9][10]
Bellhouse 53°37′31″N 2°34′08″W / 53.6252°N 2.5688°W		II	16th century	The bellhouse, close to the church, is a small, square, single-storey building with a basement and outside steps. It is built in sandstone with a stone slate roof. It is reputed to have been built to hold a large bell which is now missing.[11]
Great House Barn 53°37′13″N 2°33′46″W / 53.6202°N 2.5627°W		II	1.16th century 2. 1905 (restoration)	The barn is dated 1702, probably from a restoration or rebuilding. It was restored, altered, and enlarged in 1905. It has an exposed oak cruck frame, clad in squared sandstone and stone slate roof. The Tudor-style timber-framed porch and mullion windows are 20th-century additions.[12]
Rivington Hall Barn 53°37′32″N 2°33′22″W / 53.6256°N 2.5561°W		II	1.16th century 2. 1905 (restoration)	The barn is probably 16th century but restored, altered, and enlarged in 1905. It has an oak cruck frame that has been exposed inside. The walls are clad in coursed sandstone, and it has a stone slate roof and mullion windows.[13]
Hamer's Cottage 53°36′28″N 2°33′26″W / 53.6078°N 2.5573°W	—	II	1. 17th century or earlier 2. 18th century (altered)	This house is a former farmhouse built of sandstone with quoins and stone slate roof. Part of the house has cruck frame construction.[14]
Great House Farmhouse and Cottage 53°37′12″N 2°33′45″W / 53.6200°N 2.5625°W		II	1. 17th century farmhouse 2. 18th century cottage	The farmhouse, built from squared sandstone with quoins with a stone slate roof and mullion windows, dates from the 17th century. The cottage dates from the 18th century and is built in similar materials.[15] Great House Farm now houses an information centre.[16]
Wilcocks Farmhouse 53°38′07″N 2°33′28″W / 53.6353°N 2.5577°W		II	1. 1670 2. 19th century (extended)	Willcock's is a farmhouse built in coursed sandstone rubble with quoins at the corners, it has a tiled roof with two chimneys, mullion windows, and is dated on the door lintel.[17]
Bradley's Farmhouse 53°37′53″N 2°33′41″W / 53.6315°N 2.5614°W	—	II	1683	Bradley's is a two storey farmhouse built of sandstone with quoins and a stone slate roof, the date is on the door lintel, it has mullion windows to the second floor.[18]
Moses Cocker's Farmhouse 53°37′57″N 2°32′58″W / 53.6325°N 2.5494°W	—	II	1693	Moses Cocker's farmhouse is built of coursed rubble sandstone with quoins, a stone slate roof with gable coping and it is dated on the door lintel.[19]
Rivington Hall 53°37′31″N 2°33′22″W / 53.6252°N 2.5562°W		II*	1. 1694 2. 1700 3. 1774	Rivington Hall is an old manor house, the oldest part of which, at the rear, is dated 1694 and replaced a 15th-century timber-framed house. The front, rebuilt in 1774, has two storeys in classical Georgian style with five bays, a central doorway, sash windows, pediment and parapet. It is a private residence.[20]
Rivington Unitarian Chapel 53°37′33″N 2°33′56″W / 53.6259°N 2.5656°W		II*	1703	The chapel is a rectangular sandstone building with a hexagonal gable end bellcote and stone slate roof. Inside it retains its old box pews and has a five-sided pulpit.[21]
Rivington Pike Tower 53°37′10″N 2°32′29″W / 53.6194°N 2.5413°W		II	1733	The tower, built of gritstone, was probably constructed as a lookout or shelter on the summit of Rivington Pike, on the site of an ancient beacon. It is 5 by 7 metres (16 by 23 ft) square and 7 metres high. The building has a cellar, stone flagged floor, a fireplace and once had a chimney.[22]
Barn, East of Bradley's Farmhouse 53°37′54″N 2°33′39″W / 53.6317°N 2.5609°W	—	II	1737	The barn, which has a shippon or cow shed, is built in sandstone with a stone slate roof. There is an owl hole above the loading door to the loft.[23]
Mounting block in school yard 53°37′28″N 2°34′04″W / 53.6244°N 2.5679°W	—	II	18th century (possibly)	The mounting block is a circular sandstone platform, with a stone post in the centre and two steps. It is in the old Rivington Grammar School yard.[24]
Fisher House 53°37′31″N 2°33′54″W / 53.6253°N 2.5649°W	—	II	Late 18th century	A three-storey stucco on brick house with stone dressings and stone slate roof with gable chimneys, the door has a fanlight and the house has sash windows.[25]
Wilkinson's and attached cottage 53°37′30″N 2°33′55″W / 53.6249°N 2.5652°W		II	1. 1788 2. 19th century	The pair of cottages is built in sandstone with slate roofs, one has horizontal three light windows, the other has two higher storeys with sash windows.[26]
Loggia c. 70 metres west of Pigeon tower in Lord Leverhulme's Terraced Gardens 53°37′27″N 2°32′50″W / 53.6242°N 2.5473°W	—	II	1906	The remains of a loggia with arches overlooked a former boating lake in the private gardens designed by Thomas Mawson for William Lever.[27]
Two archways in Lord Leverhulme's Terraced Gardens 53°37′24″N 2°32′50″W / 53.6233°N 2.5471°W	—	II	1906	These archways are an intact element of the remains of private gardens designed by Thomas Mawson for Leverhulme's Rivington Bungalow.[28]
Pigeon Tower north east corner of Lord Leverhulme's Terraced Garden 53°37′27″N 2°32′47″W / 53.6243°N 2.5463°W		II	1910	The Pigeon Tower was built in gritstone with four storeys, each a single room. It has a steeply pitched roof and a corbelled chimney. On the west side is a semi-circular stair turret with a conical roof. The fourth storey, a sitting room, has four light mullioned windows on two sides. The second and third storeys are a dovecote. On the west wall are square pigeon holes with perching ledges.[29]
Seven Arch Bridge in Lord Leverhulme's Terraced Gardens 53°37′25″N 2°32′55″W / 53.6235°N 2.5485°W		II	1910	The bridge has random sandstone rubble walls and round stone slate arches and parapets. The large round archway is crossed by six small arches. It carries a footpath over an old roadway. It is reputed to be modelled on a similar bridge Lord Leverhulme saw in Nigeria.[30]
Rivington Castle 53°36′45″N 2°33′47″W / 53.6125°N 2.5630°W		II	1912 onwards	The replica ruin of Liverpool Castle is a folly built for Lord Leverhulme in gritstone close to the Lower Rivington Reservoir. It has a bailey, great hall and gatehouse but was never completed.[31]

References

1. Rivington Township Boundaries, GenUKI, retrieved 6 June 2010
2. Listed Buildings in Rivington, British Listed Buildings Online, retrieved 12 June 2010
3. Chorley Borough Council Listed Buildings, Chorley Council, retrieved 12 June 2010
4. Map of Conservation Area (PDF), Chorley Council, retrieved 7 June 2010
5. Rivington Conservation Area Appraisal and Management Proposals (PDF), Chorley Council, retrieved 17 June 2010
6. Waymark 2009, pp. 77–81
7. Area: Rivington Gardens, Parks and Gardens UK, retrieved 17 June 2010
8. "Listed Buildings". English Heritage. 2010. Retrieved 19 August 2011.
9. Historic England, "Church of the Holy Trinity (1164938)", National Heritage List for England, retrieved 25 June 2011
10. Rivington Church, GenUKI, retrieved 3 June 2010
11. Historic England, "Bellhouse circa 10 metres west of Church of Holy Trinity (1165054)", National Heritage List for England, retrieved 25 June 2011
12. Historic England, "Great House Barn (1362125)", National Heritage List for England, retrieved 25 June 2011
13. Historic England, "Rivington Hall Barn (1072510)", National Heritage List for England, retrieved 25 June 2011
14. Historic England, "Hamers Cottage (Marked on OS map as Hamers Farm) Rivington Lane (1165035)", National Heritage List for England, retrieved 25 June 2011
15. Historic England, "Great House Farmouse and Cottage (1072509)", National Heritage List for England, retrieved 25 June 2011
16. Rivington Information Centre, United Utilities, retrieved 20 June 2010
17. Historic England, "Wilcocks Farmhouse (1072507)", National Heritage List for England, retrieved 25 June 2011
18. Historic England, "Bradley's Farmhouse (1072511)", National Heritage List for England, retrieved 25 June 2011
19. Historic England, "Moses Cocker's Farmhouse (1164894)", National Heritage List for England, retrieved 25 June 2011
20. Historic England, "Rivington Hall (1165012)", National Heritage List for England, retrieved 25 June 2011
21. Historic England, "Unitarian Chapel (1362126)", National Heritage List for England, retrieved 25 June 2011
22. Historic England, "Rivington Pike Tower at SD 642 137 (1072505)", National Heritage List for England, retrieved 25 June 2011
23. Historic England, "Barn circa 50 metres east of Bradley's Farmhouse, Sheep House Lane (1317492)", National Heritage List for England, retrieved 25 June 2011
24. Historic England, "Mounting Block in School Yard circa 15 metres west of Rivington School (1362124)", National Heritage List for England, retrieved 25 June 2011
25. Historic England. "Fisher House (1072508)". National Heritage List for England. Retrieved 25 June 2011.
26. Historic England, "Wilkinson's and cottage attached to right (1164996)", National Heritage List for England, retrieved 25 June 2011
27. Historic England. "Loggia circa 70 metres west of Pigeon Tower in Lord Leverhulme's Terraced Gardens at SD 639 143 (1317582)". National Heritage List for England. Retrieved 25 June 2011.
28. Historic England, "Two archways and associated retaining walls to two stone staircases at north corner of tennis lawn in Leverhulme's Terraced Gardens at SD 639 142 (1362123)", National Heritage List for England, retrieved 25 June 2011
29. Historic England, "Pigeon Tower at north east corner of Lord Leverhulme's Terraced Gardens at SD 639 143 (1317613)", National Heritage List for England, retrieved 25 June 2011
30. Historic England, "Lever Bridge in Lord Leverhulme's Terraced Gardens at SD 638 142 (1072506)", National Heritage List for England, retrieved 25 June 2011
31. Historic England, "Rivington Castle (1164955)", National Heritage List for England, retrieved 25 June 2011

Bibliography

• Waymark, Janet (2009), Thomas Mawson: Life, Gardens and Landscapes, Frances Lincoln, ISBN 978-0-7112-2595-4

Further reading

• Hartwell, Clare; Pevsner, Nikolaus (2009) [1969], The Buildings of England. Lancashire: North, Yale University Press, pp. 576–580, ISBN 978-0-300-12667-9