Moses Gate Country Park

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Moses Gate Country Park
Bolton MBC sign at Crompton Lodges
Type	public park and nature reserve
Location	Moses Gate, Farnworth, England
Coordinates	53°33′10″N 2°22′49″W / 53.552723, -2.380328Coordinates: 53°33′10″N 2°22′49″W / 53.552723, -2.380328
Size	300 hectares
Opened	1975
Operated by	Bolton MBC
Status	open all year

Moses Gate Country Park also known as Crompton Lodges ( National Grid Ref: SD 749063) is a 300 hectare (750 acre) site situated at Moses Gate in the Croal Irwell Valley 5km (3 ml) south of Bolton Centre on the A6053 which connects Farnworth to Little Lever.

1 Description
2 History
3 Rock Hall
4 Nob End
5 References
6 General references
7 External links

[edit] Description

The park runs from the A6053 to Nob End along the banks of the River Croal. At Nob End, the Croal joins the River Irwell which then continues for a few kilometres into the Clifton Country Park. The name Moses Gate comes from the joining of two words, one a corruption of the word mosses meaning peaty or marshy lands, and gate is from the Old English gata meaning a way across, so we have the way though the mosses (also as in Kearsley Moss, Clifton Moss, Linnyshaw Moss, etc).^[1]^[2] The alternate name of Crompton Lodges comes from the fact that the lakes were mill ponds or lodges supplying water to the adjacent Cromptons Paper Mills. The park lies on the Kingfisher Way^[3] which runs for 11km (7 miles) from Clifton Country Park to Jumbles Reservoir, north of Bolton. There are three lodges at Moses Gate, one is reserved for fishing, one for water sports such as canoeing and the third is kept as a nature reserve for migratory birds and other wildlife.
To the east of the lodges, is one of the few sections of the Manchester, Bolton and Bury Canal that is still in water. The land between is reclaimed from old mine workings, one of which was Farnworth Bridge Collieries. The weir was constructed in the River Croal to provide a plentiful water supply for Cromptons Paper Mill. There is one main building in the park, Rock Hall, which is the visitor centre and the headquarters of the Bolton Countryside Rangers.^[4]

View of the main lodges

[edit] History

The area has seen several uses as an industrial site, at Moses Gate, one of the earliest paper mills in Lancashire was built by the Crompton family in Farnworth^[5]. The site at Farnworth was influential in the manufacture and the development of papermaking, the first work being started by Robert Crompton (1667 - 1737). Crompton was the first in a line of men of paper. Thomas Bonsor could well be called the first papermaking tycoon and his mill at Farnworth became a showpiece for the craft, he died on 5th September 1858 and was buried in St. John's churchyard, Farnworth. The first steam weaving mill was opened in 1828 by James Rothwell Barnes, later becoming a spinning mill. At Nob End a chemical works was founded and the whole area is riddled with old coal mine workings from shallow pits to deep shafts which have all now been capped. The mill at Farnworth passed to William James Rideout who continued the tradition of making paper until the great depression of 1883 when the mill closed and paper manufacture ceased.^[6] In 1894, the mill was reopened as a bleach works by J.B Champion but a few years later the mill once again stood empty. The area fell into ruin and it was not until the mill was finally demolished in 1972, that there was interest in the area as a place of recreation. Over the next decade the site was cleared and Rock Hall was transformed from a derelict building into the current visitor centre.

[edit] Rock Hall

Rock Hall was built by Thomas Bonsor Compton's father John, who was granted the lease in 1805^[7]. John never lived in the house as he died at about the time the house was completed in 1807. Later it was occupied by the managers of the paper mill. On Thomas Bonsor's death the mill passed to his nephew W. J. Rideout then after his death in 1876 the mills were offered for auction.

Orchid at Nob End

[edit] Nob End

Nob End was designated as a Site of Special Scientific Interest (SSSI) (file designation SD70/2) in 1988, under Section 28 of the Wildlife and Countryside Act, 1981.^[8] and as a Local Nature Reserve (LNR) in 2000.^[9] The contamination of the land from the old chemical works with waste from the Leblanc process has resulted in an alkaline soil that now supports a variety of plants not found elsewhere in Greater Manchester, including many types of orchid, most notable amongst these are Fragrant orchid Gymnadenia conopsea, the Northern marsh orchid Dactylorhiza purpurella, the Early marsh orchid Dactylorhiza incarnata and other species such as Common Broomrape, Twayblade, Blue fleabane and Carline thistle.^[10] The reserve covers 8.8 hectares (21 acres).