R i v i n g t o n  C a s t le

(Liverpool Sham Castle)

&

T o w e r

(Best viewed in Full Screen F11)

 

 

Photographs and Text on this page submitted by David Tomlinson

 

Rivington Sham Castle is the greatest folly of Lord Leverhulme of Lever soaps fame built on the shores of Rivington reservoir in Rivington just outside Horwich in Bolton.

This building looks for all the world like one of many typical ruined Castles, built around a courtyard plan (such as Bolingbroke in Lincolnshire for instance). It stands in a commanding position over Rivington Reservoir and has thick walls and typically Castle-like features. Gwyn Headley explains in his book "Follies Grottoes and Garden Buildings" that this folly has so much more detail than a regular sham castle. It has little towers, corridors to explore, roofless rooms, a spiral staircase and "excitingly unsafe parapets".

This Sham Castle was started in 1916 by Lord Leverhulme, the architect of Port Sunlight on the Wirral and a great early 20th century industrialist. It is so convincing because it is an exact replica of Liverpool's genuine ruined Castle which was demolished in the 1720s to make way for easier traffic access to the City, at Derby Square.

 

Leverhulme, ever the philanthropist, wanted to add a bit of interest to the park he was laying out here for his employees. However, his enthusiasm must have waned because it was left unfinished on his death in 1925.
What does now remain is an impressively large testimony to Leverhulme's vision of an industrial utopia, where even history can be recreated if its original position proved too awkward for its own good. Sadly his vision, like his Castle, remains unfulfilled.

The second Lord Leverhulme wrote in 1927, "Already the newness is wearing off, the uninitiated will not know that the replica is not a genuine ruin. As a bold experiment in landscape design it has certainly succeeded. Future generations will be grateful for this careful reconstruction of a piece of bygone Liverpool."

Visiting:-

The grounds of Lever Park are still open to the public and make a wonderful place for a long ramble, and suddenly happening upon the replica of Liverpool's long-since dead Castle in the middle of the woods cannot cease to be a pleasant surprise. The park includes two tithebarns, two old chapels, a burial neolithic burial chamber and two towers which aren't strictly follies one being lord leverhulmes pidgeon loft the other the tower which sits on top of Rivington pike next to winter hill.

A Mr. Andrews built this little 20ft square tower on top of the pike. It is thought it may served as a shelter or a belvedere. It has very mild Gothic decorations and is visible for miles around. The plaque above the sealed door only carries the date of the tower's construction, 1735.

Co-ords - 362800, 413000 SD 628 130

 

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