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Grain Pole Hill

Geography of ChorleyHills of the West Pennine MoorsLancashire geography stubsMountains and hills of Lancashire

Grain Pole Hill is a location on Anglezarke Moor, within the West Pennine Moors of Lancashire, England. Despite a modest height of 285 metres (935 ft), the summit provides excellent views towards the Irish Sea. It is located between Round Loaf and Pikestones, both of which are Neolithic remnants. Hurst Hill is less than half a mile away. It is uncertain as to when the hill gained its name.

Excerpt from the Wikipedia article Grain Pole Hill (License: CC BY-SA 3.0, Authors).

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Latitude Longitude
N 53.65713 ° E -2.57041 °
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Anglezarke


, Anglezarke
England, United Kingdom
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Pikestones
Pikestones

Pikestones is the remains of a Neolithic Burial Cairn, located on Anglezarke moor in Lancashire, England. The site is approximately 150 feet (45 metres) long and 60 feet (18 metres) across at its widest point. It consisted of one burial chamber constructed of large upright slabs, capped by two lintel slabs, forming a chamber of 15 feet (4.5 metres) long, 3 feet (0.9 metres) wide and 3 feet (0.9 metres) high, covered by a huge mound of stones and turves. The cairn was aligned almost exactly North-South, with the burial chamber under the wider northern end. At the northern edge of the cairn, a double wall could be made out, curving inwards to form an entrance to a forecourt. Today the cairn has been badly robbed and the main features are the five large gritstone slabs, the remains of the burial chamber. Surprisingly, evidence suggests that the bodies were not interred directly in the tomb, but were left outside, perhaps at the entrance to the cairn, for birds and wild animals to consume the flesh and then, probably after elaborate ceremonies, the bones were placed inside the chamber. Pikestones is the earliest man-made structure in the area and only one other chambered tomb has been found in Lancashire. The monument must have taken an immense amount of labour to construct and like most long barrows was erected in a prominent position, located on a ridge at a height of just over 900 feet (276 metres). This gave the neolithic builders excellent views, and made the structure visible from a wide area of the Lancashire plain, perhaps warning other people that the land belonged to the builders.

High Bullough Reservoir
High Bullough Reservoir

High Bullough Reservoir is the oldest of all the reservoirs in the Rivington chain, having been authorised by an Act of Parliament obtained in 1846 and completed in 1850. It was built for Chorley Waterworks by the engineer John Frederick Bateman, who had estimated the cost of the project while working for Edwin Chadwick's Towns Improvement Company, and had then acted as Engineer for the project. The outlet consisted of a pipe running through the dam, and supported by two masonry piers where it ran through the central clay puddle. The outlet valve was at the downstream end of the dam, and although this configuration is no longer thought to be good practice, there have been no serious issues with the reservoir throughout its operational life. The earth dam had a maximum height of 39 feet (12 m), was 988 feet (301 m) long and impounded 55 million imperial gallons (250 Ml) of water.Popular with walkers, it forms part of the Anglezarke trail, although it is also accessible from Manor House. It was originally named Chorley Reservoir. There are a number of websites that state that High Bullough Reservoir is no longer used to supply drinking water, but the reservoir was still contained in a list of reservoirs in the Rivington Chain when United Utilities issued an application for a drought permit to reduce compensation flows to the River Yarrow in mid-2018.A huge staircase, made from timber, was created between the reservoir and nearby Manor House. Known as Jacob's Ladder, the remains can be seen on the east side of the water.

Anglezarke Reservoir
Anglezarke Reservoir

Anglezarke Reservoir is the largest reservoir in the Rivington chain to the west of Anglezarke in Lancashire, England. Anglezarke Reservoir has three embankments: the Charnock Embankment, the longest, is 850 yards (777 m) long and 31 feet (9.45 m) high, the Knowsley Embankment is 240 yards (219.5 m) long and 45 feet (14 m) high and the Heapey Embankment is 280 feet (85.3 m) long and 32 feet (9.75 m) high. It is fed by the River Yarrow, which has been diverted from its original course which is now covered by the Knowsley Embankment. It served the city of Liverpool before its current status as a supply mainly for Wigan. The original `Rivington Pike Scheme' was undertaken by Thomas Hawksley between 1850 and 1857 for the Liverpool Corporation Waterworks. The scheme was to construct five reservoirs and a water treatment works at the south end of Lower Rivington with a 17-mile (27 km) pipeline to storage reservoirs at Prescot. Water from two higher level reservoirs, Rake Brook and Lower Roddlesworth, was carried south in `The Goit', a channel connecting them to the reservoirs.In November 1997, the reservoir was refilled after the 1997 summer heat wave. The water flow was so large that the reservoir required an emergency draw-down. With the water level at a temporary low, there was an opportunity to inspect the Heapey embankment on Moor Road, which had been leaking since the 1960s. The condition of the embankment and surrounding strata were such that a phased grouting operation was required to remedy the leakage. The reservoir was refilled, but was still leaking. After a second grouting and refill operation, the embankment was deemed leak-free. It appears that the original cause of the leak was an 18-inch cast iron draw-off pipe which supplied White Brook to the north of the embankment. The trench for the pipe was cut much deeper than needed, through a glacial meltwater channel. However, shutting the pipe off in the 1970s failed to remedy the situation. Waterman's Cottage was built by Liverpool Corporation on the west bank of the reservoir. The cottage is a Tudor-style structure also known as Heapey Cottage. It was occupied by Denis and Anne Oakden in the 1940s. Denis worked for the Water Authority and moved to the property after several years in Porch Cottages, White Coppice.To the east of the reservoir is the small High Bullough reservoir and the Anglezarke Moors, Upper Rivington Reservoir is to the south and Healey Nab to the north-west. The area is now a wildlife haven, with a Woodland Trail which links to High Bullough reservoir.

Yarrow Reservoir
Yarrow Reservoir

Yarrow Reservoir - named after the River Yarrow - is a reservoir in the Rivington chain in Anglezarke, Lancashire, England, and has a storage capacity second to Anglezarke Reservoir. Construction of the reservoir, designed by Liverpool Borough Engineer Thomas Duncan, began in 1867.In 2002, several tons of fish were transported to this reservoir when the Upper Rivington reservoir was completely drained for essential maintenance work.The construction of Yarrow Reservoir was described in Wm. Fergusson Irvine's book "A Short History Of The Township Of Rivington" : A suitable site for the embankment having been selected, a trench was excavated on the centre line of the intended work and carried down to the solid rock right across the valley. This was filled with clay deposited in layers of 9 inches, and carefully puddled so as to produce a homogeneous watertight material. This clay wall, having reached the natural surface of the ground, was continued through the embankment, which was also built in thin layers thoroughly rammed and consolidated on both sides of the clay centre. Before commencing the erection of the embankment all peat and unsound material were stripped from the site. The inner or water slopes of the embankment have been built to an angle of 3 to 1, and outer slopes to an angle of 2 to 1. The impermeability of the dam depends upon the wall of puddled clay in the heart of the dam tied into the solid rock at the bottom and sides of the valley. The clay wall has been carried up to a batter on each side of 1 inch to every foot vertical, the thickness at the top being 6 feet. The inner slopes of the bank are protected by 15-inch pitching, consisting of the millstone grit of the neighbourhood, laid on a bed of broken stone. The outer slopes have been soiled and grassed over. On the banks of the reservoir is a 'face in the wall' - an effigy carved into a large stone on top of the dry stone wall, which is said to depict an inspector who worked for the Liverpool Corporation and made workers' lives a misery.The construction of the reservoir meant that a small hamlet called Alance was flooded, centred on the rebuilt Alance Bridge, and a large dwelling was demolished - Turner's Farm - which lives on in current maps only in name as Turner's Embankment.