Hills of Britain and Ireland
OS Map of Winter Hill
Height: 457m / 1498ft • Prominence: 215m / 705ft • Summit : no feature: 12m NE of trig point • Trip reports (hill-bagging)
Icy proof that it was chilly!
The drips had frozen.
16-Feb-25 • Jackie & Dennis • flickr
shdrc rivington coachramble b1 54397469724
Our second stone - Smithills Estate
There are six. "My friends have this thought game. If you had a time machine, when and where would you go? Some would like to see an ancient military battle. Some would like to meet their long-departed mother and ask all the family stories they didn't pay attention to when she was around. I'd like to do those, but today I want to go back to the moors on Winter Hill at the beginning of the 19th century. I would see and smell the smoke and steam from the industries, the brick and tile works, and the coal pits and adits into the hillside. I would hear the sounds of picks and explosives in the many quarries extracting stones to make the building materials for the many houses there and down into Bolton for the expanding mills. Perhaps there would be the clattering of the last Hand-looms in Lancashire as old weavers tried hard to keep up with the vast mills down in the towns." Tony - Woodland Trust Volunteer So far we have found five of the six, and googling has revealed the sixth (for us) is at Walker Fold Car Park - which we visit quite often, so we will "bag" it at some time. Sited at where the Smithills Moor track leaves the access road near the masts on Winter Hill.
09-Feb-25 • Jackie & Dennis • flickr
shdrc b1 reccy rivington 54394757805
A benefit of an "oops" - frosted moss
The path from the Pike to Winter Hill was rather muddy at points, so I came off a bit to the left and and then a bit more. And whilst the frosted tufted long grass and moss was wonderful to look at, walking on it was a different matter. I wasn't lost as it was a wonderful sunny day and I wasn't that far from the main Winter hill mast, but it was very difficult to get over as I was tipping over every couple of steps. With each step I didn't know if I was going to go down a foot or more sometimes to water. It was at this point that I realised we would need to do a second reccy fr the B1 to avoid the moor crossing.
06-Feb-25 • Jackie & Dennis • flickr
shdrc rivington reccy 54392409265
OS Map
This is OS mapping. In some areas, OpenStreetMap shows more footpaths
Spatial NI has online OSNI mapping. Click "Basemap Gallery" (4 squares icon at the top).
Now would be a good time for a cup of tea.
GPX Editor
Record map clicks
Reload map
Photos
Please tag your photos and upload them to the British and Irish Mountains group on Flickr
The other photos have been geo-tagged as on or around the summit. For less busy mountains, it can be a little hit and miss.
Icy proof that it was chilly!
The drips had frozen.
16-Feb-25 • Jackie & Dennis • flickr
shdrc rivington coachramble b1 54397469724
Our second stone - Smithills Estate
There are six. "My friends have this thought game. If you had a time machine, when and where would you go? Some would like to see an ancient military battle. Some would like to meet their long-departed mother and ask all the family stories they didn't pay attention to when she was around. I'd like to do those, but today I want to go back to the moors on Winter Hill at the beginning of the 19th century. I would see and smell the smoke and steam from the industries, the brick and tile works, and the coal pits and adits into the hillside. I would hear the sounds of picks and explosives in the many quarries extracting stones to make the building materials for the many houses there and down into Bolton for the expanding mills. Perhaps there would be the clattering of the last Hand-looms in Lancashire as old weavers tried hard to keep up with the vast mills down in the towns." Tony - Woodland Trust Volunteer So far we have found five of the six, and googling has revealed the sixth (for us) is at Walker Fold Car Park - which we visit quite often, so we will "bag" it at some time. Sited at where the Smithills Moor track leaves the access road near the masts on Winter Hill.
09-Feb-25 • Jackie & Dennis • flickr
shdrc b1 reccy rivington 54394757805
A benefit of an "oops" - frosted moss
The path from the Pike to Winter Hill was rather muddy at points, so I came off a bit to the left and and then a bit more. And whilst the frosted tufted long grass and moss was wonderful to look at, walking on it was a different matter. I wasn't lost as it was a wonderful sunny day and I wasn't that far from the main Winter hill mast, but it was very difficult to get over as I was tipping over every couple of steps. With each step I didn't know if I was going to go down a foot or more sometimes to water. It was at this point that I realised we would need to do a second reccy fr the B1 to avoid the moor crossing.
06-Feb-25 • Jackie & Dennis • flickr
shdrc rivington reccy 54392409265
Dennis' shot - Winter Hill trig pillar
Ian, Dawn and D's shadow. The Winter name is thought to derive from Old Norse and means Wet. Wet Hill is pretty appropriate as a name...!
06-Feb-25 • Jackie & Dennis • flickr
shdrc rivington reccy 54392409270
Garden Birds
But not real ones. Seen on the outskirts of Belmont as we headed up onto the moors.
12-Nov-24 • ARG_Flickr • flickr
54157119855
Winter Hill: the summit
11-Oct-10 • johnabutler2 • flickr
england marilyn hill lancashire summit trig winterhill hill2819 5073364996
Winter Hill: the summit
11-Oct-10 • johnabutler2 • flickr
england marilyn hill lancashire summit trig winterhill hill2819 5073374460
Winter Hill: the summit
11-Oct-10 • johnabutler2 • flickr
england marilyn hill lancashire summit trig winterhill hill2819 5073371898
Videos
In challenging conditions we ascend five of the peaks of Winter Hill in Lancashire. Located between Liverpool and Manchester, ...
The mountain bike descent from Winter Hill in Lancashire to Belmont Road. Probably the best natural MTB downhill route in the ...
Narration of the 1958 Winter Hill air disaster during a flight to the crash location.
Angelzarke Amble 2024 | Winter Hill Trail Race Angelzarke Amble 2024 - The Winter Hill Trail Race My kite ( affiliated links - I ...
A walk up the lesser trodden northern side of Winter Hill with Wellington and Paddy. Located above Bolton on the edge of Greater ...
Notes
- Data: Database of British and Irish Hills v18.2
- Maps: We use OS mapping for England, Scotland, Wales, and the Isle of Man. Sadly, Channel Islands, Northern (OSNI) and Southern Ireland (OSI) mapping isn't available online, so we use Openstreetmap.