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Rivington

21 Comments

Rivington Pike
Rivington Pike
Photo: DTease
Views: 3,410
Item #: 30916
Rivington Pike Feb 1993.

Comment by: Albert on 28th January 2019 at 10:23

Did anyone ever go dancing ar Rivington Barn. It was always a packed venue.

Comment by: Jarvo on 28th January 2019 at 11:23

Great picture.

Comment by: Garry on 28th January 2019 at 21:08

You can see Blackpool tower on a clear day.

Comment by: Roy on 29th January 2019 at 00:25

GARRY, you can see Blackpool Tower from Coppull most days, never mind top ot' pike !!!

Comment by: Jarvo on 29th January 2019 at 05:30

Looks like it's been cleaned up, which kinda spoils it. I much preferred Billinge Lump and 'The Rolling Stones'.

Comment by: Sue on 29th January 2019 at 07:05

Good Friday 68/69 remember seeing a band called 'Just US'at Rivington Barn.

Comment by: Veronica on 29th January 2019 at 07:37

I remember going a couple of times to dances Albert in the late eighties. It was very enjoyable but not as good an experience as a 'proper' dance floor. More like a hoe- down! But it is a barn afterall. I used to go to the lower barn antique fairs quite a lot when I had a car - and for coffee. That's changed quite a lot as well.

Comment by: Poet on 29th January 2019 at 08:58

Amazing how tiny Manchester looks from up there. Like a few upright dominoes at the end of a snooker table.

Comment by: Albert. on 29th January 2019 at 10:14

The barn certainly existed for quite a long time Veronica. It was in the early fifties when I tripped the dance floor there.

Comment by: JJP on 29th January 2019 at 11:12

Does anyone know what the pike was actually built for ?. Was it perhaps some rich persons 'folly', anybody know.

Comment by: Barrie on 29th January 2019 at 11:34

Following the official opening of the Warrington -Preston section of the M6 on 29th July 1963, the contractors McAlpine/Fairclough consortium held a opening celebration party at the barn. Coaches were laid on from Wigan, Preston, Warrington with pickups at various locations. It was free as a thank you to the staff, clients and operatives for their 3 years of hard work. During the evening, to clear my head,I walked up to the Pike and back I think the "do" ended around 11pm. Work followed the following morning. Does anyone else remember the party?

Comment by: Poet on 29th January 2019 at 11:41

I think we need make a distinction between the pike and the tower JJP. The pike itself was always used as a beacon famously spreading news of the Armada. The tower was built in 1733 as a hunting lodge by a John Andrews of Rivington Hall.

Comment by: Albert. on 29th January 2019 at 16:42

Did the Pike originally have an entrance into it.. Is it completely secured on all four sides?.

Comment by: Ann Winstanley on 1st February 2019 at 22:32

My mum told me of going there with a group of friends early 1940's when the Pike was guarded by the Territorials, armed with rifles. She never knew why the soldiers were there!

Comment by: Rob on 2nd February 2019 at 11:26

Would most likely have been the Home guard and not territorials Ann.
My dad was in Home guard when he was waiting to join up and said they had them doing some daft things.

Comment by: Poet on 3rd February 2019 at 08:49

Sooner or later Pike and Dad's Army were sure to meet.

Comment by: Philip G. on 3rd February 2019 at 11:26

That's right Poet, and shades of The Lion Has Phones episode - "See that your bicycles are in good working order."

Comment by: Veronica on 3rd February 2019 at 12:56

There's Capt.Mainwaring surveying the scene with his arms akimbo looking for Godfrey. ( He's in he bushes attending to nature!) That stupid boy Pike - late as usual - his mother called him back, he'd forgotten his scarf! I believe they are having a picnic with sister Dollie's upside down cakes and Jonesy's sausages-just a cover really they are on the lookout for German planes landing!

Comment by: Jarvo on 4th February 2019 at 13:19

On a serious not, the Pike was a beacon used by German bomber pilots retuning home from raids over Liverpool. They'd swing right over Bootle and head for Rivington eventually picking up the eastcoast at Sca'brough. The Home Guard tried their best to detect the German undercover agents, but were hoplessly outwitted on ever single occasion. Fact.

Comment by: Poet on 5th February 2019 at 17:32

Jarvo's tale suggests shades of the ' The Deadly Attachment' episode.
" Don't tell him Pike".

Comment by: Veronica on 14th February 2019 at 15:44

My dad was stationed at Whitby near to Scarborough during the war and he told me of the terrible bombings that went on there. They were billeted up near the abbey - he never forgot that period ( and all those steps!)

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