'The Little Lake District' was born in the mid Victorian era when visitor numbers continued to increase, from working classes escaping the gloomy mills on days off to the middle classes aided by a new railway at Blackrod in 1841, close to Horwich Vale.
Visitor numbers further increased with a rapid increase in population at Horwich and with the arrival of the Horwich Railway Works and a railway station there, within walking distance.
The area attracted well known landscape artists.

The open countryside and moorland had become a public asset the working classes especially wanted to preserve access to and was the site of the Winter Hill mass trespass in 1896.
Leverhulme who in 1902 bought a significant amount of land at Rivington also supported open access to the fields and moorland.

Leverhulme was prompted to intervene in 1900 on learning the Cromptons, owners of Rivington Hall were to sell.
He was fond of the area that he got to know well as a boy and a place he and his wife frequently visited whilst courting, he had a keen interest in its history, he sponsored and contributed to the book titled 'A Short History of Rivington' published in 1904.
'The Little Lake District' was born in the mid Victorian era when visitor numbers continued to increase, from working classes escaping the gloomy mills on days off to the middle classes aided by a new railway at Blackrod in 1841, close to Horwich Vale. Visitor numbers further increased with a rapid increase in population at Horwich and with the arrival of the Horwich Railway Works and a railway station there, within walking distance. The area attracted well known landscape artists.
The open countryside and moorland had become a public asset the working classes especially wanted to preserve access to and was the site of the Winter Hill mass trespass in 1896. Leverhulme who in 1902 bought a significant amount of land at Rivington also supported open access to the fields and moorland.
Leverhulme was prompted to intervene in 1900 on learning the Cromptons, owners of Rivington Hall were to sell. He was fond of the area that he got to know well as a boy and a place he and his wife frequently visited whilst courting, he had a keen interest in its history, he sponsored and contributed to the book titled 'A Short History of Rivington' published in 1904.
Rivington