Rivington Terraced Gardens volunteers and the work they do

Volunteers have breathed new life into  the gardens and opened up the distinctive Pigeon Tower.

They can be found tending to the gardens which were once the pride and joy of  Lord Leverhulme, a wealthy industrialist.

The tower was built in the 1900s.

However, the land, including the tower and gardens surrounding it, was sold during WW2, becoming neglected and overgrown over the years. 

Volunteers at Rivington Terraced Gardens (Image: Newsquest)

As recently as six years ago, saplings and mud covered many of the stone walkways in the area, with woodland obscuring the sights of the gardens.

Now, the area has been brought back to life by volunteers at the Rivington Heritage Trust. 

Vanessa Ashworth, chair of Friends of Rivington Terraced Gardens, said: "At first we got a £3.4m Heritage Grant from the National Lottery to do the restoration. It helped us to restore the buildings, making them safe and opening previously fenced off areas.

Rivington Pigeon Tower (Image: Newsquest)

"Now, we need to make £170k a year to keep it going. We have an army of volunteers who turn out on the first Saturday of each month, and we also do volunteer sessions midweek. 

"We are getting it all ready for the Festival of Lights. Everyone here volunteers, apart from a couple of staff members.

"The Festival of Lights has sold out, it is our biggest fundraiser. As well as the work going on in the gardens, we have workshops at my house where volunteers come round to build all of the lanterns." 

When volunteers started, stone pathways such as these weren't visible, instead covered by dirt and saplings (Image: Newsquest)

Vanessa added: "We are going to have a 10-foot 'buffalo', as well as a fox and owls. We are just getting ready for it, but we need more volunteers.

"Lord Leverhulme apparently used to employ 130 people, full time, to tend to the garden, while we only have a few days a month.

"Before Covid, we were getting between 50-70 volunteers on these days, but now it's more like 30-40 people. We do need more volunteers."

Stephen Hodges, Project Manager at the Rivington Heritage Trust, said: "It is fantastic, this year has been really good. The restoration work was finished in 2020 and 2021, and we have won the Green Flag award this year.

Stairs inside the tower (Image: Newsquest)

"We have done a lot of work on the heritage of the site, but next year we want to focus on the wildlife and biodiversity of the area.

"This site can be lovely, we have had foxgloves, although the bracken has been thick this year. That biodiversity is going to become apparent in the next years.

"The volunteers are the workforce, without them we couldn't get it done."

Tickets for the Festival of Lights are now sold out, but to learn more about their work, visit Rivington Heritage Trust's website at: https://www.rivingtonterracedgardens.org.uk/about-us/rivington-heritage-trust/

Rivington Pigeon Tower is opened to the public on the first Saturday of each month.