# Lever Park, Abandoned Gardens



## base74 (Sep 4, 2010)

Enjoyable visit to the abandoned Lever Park, Rivington. Brief history:

'Lever Park on the east bank of the Lower Rivington reservoir is named after William Lever, Lord Leverhulme,who bought the estate in 1899 and gifted 360 acres land to the people of his native Bolton as a public park. The park opened in 1904 and contained a boating lake, a zoo, tree lined avenues and a network of footpaths a Japanese lake and pagoda, Italian-style gardens, a seven arched bridge and various buildings and structures. The site has been left abandoned since the 1920s, and now lies derelict covered in overgrown trees and shrubbery. 



































































Remains of 'Roynton Cottage' floor





Well worth a visit if your in the area


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## night crawler (Sep 4, 2010)

Awsome place what a place to explore. Nice one.


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## Labb (Sep 4, 2010)

Awesome place. Good fine. Sorry it is quite a long way from where I am staying.


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## UrbeX (Sep 4, 2010)

You know, I think I saw the first building up there briefly on a nature walks programme last night! It certainly looks interesting, I'd love to check this site out sometime!


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## scribble (Sep 4, 2010)

There's a "Friends of" website. I can't make up my mind whether somewhere like this should be restored to its original condition or left to its wonderful, desolate glory.


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## festcu (Sep 4, 2010)

It was one of the bits on that Secret Britain program on Sunday, might still be on the i-player


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## base74 (Sep 4, 2010)

Yes, your right, it was featured on the BBC's 'Secret Britain', this is one of the reasons I decided to visit, and i'm glad i did, I have absolutley fallen in love with the place. It is simply beautiful. Thanks for your comments


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## devonian42 (Sep 4, 2010)

*I've not seen Secret Britain episode yet, but nice pics.*

I remember going past this place when I went to watch the cross country cycling at the Commonwealth games. I never thought it had all those structures still intact.

Thanks for enlightening us on what's there. It's a pity its rather isolated from any towns as I'm sure it would have remained open otherwise. Were there any pictures taken in its full glory at all and are they published on the web somewhere?

Keep up the good work.


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## Foxylady (Sep 4, 2010)

What a fantastic find. Just the kind of place I could happily wander around all day.
How sad that it closed just 16yrs after opening. Amazing to see what's still there though...absolutely love the bridge and I love it's abandoned state.


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## chaoticreason (Sep 5, 2010)

Firstly great shots and great find.
What I can't understand is why the place fell into a state of dereliction in the first place? 
I would happily go see the follies of a generous rich man 'god lord that sounds awful' but you get what I mean when I ask 'why?'
Non comprende?


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## djrich (Sep 5, 2010)

Great pics, that bridge is amazing.


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## base74 (Sep 5, 2010)

Thanks for the interest guys. I've been researching this place quite a bit, but am struggling to come up with much in the way of archive pictures from when the park was in its heyday. However, theres a couple below that i've come across:














This is 'Roynton Cottage' that was built in the middle of the park and used by Lord Leverhulme as a holiday home. The only remaining features of which are various floor tiles (see below)
















This is the cottage garden and sundial






The remains of the sundial base

A couple more pics whilst im at it





















On top of the amazing bridge
















Japenese Gardens grotto and fountain pedestal











Japanese Gardens Boating Lake





















Hope you enjoy. Thanks again


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## Judderman62 (Sep 5, 2010)

Oooh I'm liking that


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## devonian42 (Sep 5, 2010)

Thanks for the update, that's just what I was seeking.

For those who don't know the area, the park itself is much bigger than just this derelict garden, which is in a more remote location.

See this site on Rivington, which shows pictures of the area of the park lower down which include buildings that are still used by the public today.


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## chaoticreason (Sep 6, 2010)

It is all very Romanesque. the arches? the arches,they give it all away.Those flattened looking bricks that the Romans did so well.
Very nice to see some original photos of the place as well as the addition of some more contemporary shots.
Wished I lived closer or petrol was cheaper.Preferably the later,as miles are nothing short of the steps of adventure.


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## klempner69 (Sep 6, 2010)

Excellant report and shots..I wondered if this man was anything to do with Lever brothers the soapsuds folk who built a village on the Wirral for their workers to live in


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## base74 (Sep 6, 2010)

klempner69 said:


> Excellant report and shots..I wondered if this man was anything to do with Lever brothers the soapsuds folk who built a village on the Wirral for their workers to live in



Spot on, This was built by William Lever (Lord Leverhulme) who originally found Lever bros, a soap manufacturing company in 1886 , which eventually became Unilever, and amassed him his great fortune. He went on to build the village of Port Sunlight on the Wirral for the workers of the Lever Borthers Soap Factory.


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## klempner69 (Sep 6, 2010)

Thanks for that one,I passed through Port Sunlight way back in the late 80`s on the train to Liverpool..it was and probably still is a very nicely kept place.


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## base74 (Sep 6, 2010)

klempner69 said:


> Thanks for that one,I passed through Port Sunlight way back in the late 80`s on the train to Liverpool..it was and probably still is a very nicely kept place.



Yeah, think i'm going to take a visit as its only half an hour away, maybe post some pics up if I can find anything interesting. Thanks


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## fluffy5518 (Sep 6, 2010)

Absolutely fantastic report !! Great photo's too.Like almost everybody else i saw this on Secret Britain too and will definately be taking a trip up North to view it.Thanks for the info on the place.Great work keep it up !!


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## oldscrote (Sep 7, 2010)

Great report, lovely unchaved spot,and glorious photos.One thought struck me was how many steps there are,old Lever must have been a well fit sort of chap.I take it the site is on a steep hillside.


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## krela (Sep 7, 2010)

oldscrote said:


> Great report, lovely unchaved spot,and glorious photos.One thought struck me was how many steps there are,old Lever must have been a well fit sort of chap.I take it the site is on a steep hillside.



That's part of the victorian health ethic though, a brisk walk in fresh air and pleasant surroundings was seen as an antidote to pretty much everything. Bearing in mind how dirty and polluted town air was at the time.


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## oldscrote (Sep 7, 2010)

krela said:


> That's part of the victorian health ethic though, a brisk walk in fresh air and pleasant surroundings was seen as an antidote to pretty much everything. Bearing in mind how dirty and polluted town air was at the time.



I agree entirely with you Krela.Driving round Bath its very noticeable that the further up the hills and away from the miasmas and slums and industry that lay close to the river the bigger and more ornate the houses become.


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## krela (Sep 7, 2010)

oldscrote said:


> I agree entirely with you Krela.Driving round Bath its very noticeable that the further up the hills and away from the miasmas and slums and industry that lay close to the river the bigger and more ornate the houses become.



It's also the reason why there are so many big victorian public parks in most of our major cities!


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## KooK. (Sep 7, 2010)

Nice photos, good job on the overlay.


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## Lady Grey (Sep 26, 2010)

What a beautiful place.


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## jonny_lomax (Oct 5, 2010)

Hi excellent pictures, I have only just signed up for this forum and it’s a bit of a coincidence as I was up there a few hours ago.

The Japanese gardens, Rivington is a wonderful place, I live about 10 minutes from there and I really should get up there more with my camera, it’s such a shame the way it has just been left to decay after lord Leverhulme gave the land to the ‘people of Bolton’ I went to school literally 5 minutes walk from the gardens and we did projects on lord lever and his estate so I as I saw some questions about the place I dug out my old work and thought I would share it with you.

Roynton cottage the first bungalow was built around 1900, for lord lever, in 1901 and major work went on changing the layout and gardens for some years. But in 1913 a supporter of the suffragette movement burnt the place down, from looking at the pictures there wasn’t much left apart from the chimneys as a lot of the house was built using wood. Within a year lord Leverhulme was back living in the bungalow. This time it was built out of stone and over the next 12 years lord Leverhulme altered the place on many occasions including adding a second story to the bungalow and in 1920 a ballroom. After his death in 1925 a man called john Magee bought the bungalow intending to use it as a weekend retreat for his family who lived in Bolton. He reduced the gardening staff to a mere 5 and the gardens were never restored fully, Eventually the family did use the bungalow much more than a weekend retreat but after john Magee’s death his son put it up for sale. Around 1939 the Liverpool waterworks corporation bought the land for £3000 and during the years of the war it was used to house soldiers, it seems that the soldiers left the place in such a mess that by 1947 the corporation decided to demolish the bungalow. It was no easy task, the ballroom ceiling didn’t even collapse through explosives so it had to be sledge hammered down! Once the building was demolished many of the plants and ornaments of the gardens were stolen and everything started to become overgrown. Anyone who has been there will be able to note where the bungalow was as you can still see the black and white tiles where the toilets once stood by the ballroom, you can also see many summer houses dotted around the grounds but they are all barred up now so you can’t go in them. 
As for the Japanese gardens there aren’t many words to describe what it used to look like apart from truly amazing!!! It is such a shame that they are in the rundown state they are today. As I said I think the whole area was given to the people of Bolton and I understand that there isn’t much money for looking after these sorts of places nowadays but it is so heartbreaking looking at pictures of the gardens in their former glory and comparing them to now. I have a book on the estate with some incredible pictures and you really wouldn’t believe the way the gardens looked. 

Check out some of my pictures from January in the snow

As devonian42 said the park is miles bigger than just the gardens and one place I would definitely recommend is the Liverpool castle which was also built by lord Leverhulme but when he died it was halted and now stands in ruins.

Here are some pictures of Liverpool castle 

Just realised I have really rambled on there hope this all interests you and let me know if you need any other information about the area


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