Lancashire or Greater Manchester? The battle for Rivington

Rivington Pike and the nearby small village of Rivington, nestled on the shores of the area’s scenic reservoirs, has long been hotly contested by Greater Manchester’s Horwich and Lancashire as to who can claim it.

Technically speaking, the pike, reservoir, and village all fall under Lancashire, but, thanks to social media, plenty of 'Horwichers' have been laying claim to the area.

The spat even led to one passionate defender of Rivington changing a Wikipedia article on the area to say: “Horwich has an obsession with claiming the pike belongs to them when in actual fact they have absolutely no rights.”

Rivington PikeWe visited the area to see what locals make of the dispute.

“It’s definitely not in Greater Manchester, Rivington has got ‘nowt’ to do with Greater Manchester,” one Rivington resident said.

The man didn’t wish to be named for fear angry Horwichers would "burn his house down" should he give away his identity.

He added: “If you want to come here from over there you should show your passport!”

Winston Fox, a staunched Horwich man, said: “It’s Horwich, always has been, it belongs to flipping Horwich.”

'It belongs to Horwich' according to Winston (Image: NQ) When asked what he thought of the previous passport comment he added: “Well I actually do have my passport on me, but it’s still in Horwich.”

Winston then chanted: “Horwich, Horwich, Horwich!”

On the other side of the debate, Chris Martin, a volunteer at the local parish in Rivington and resident of the village, is adamant Rivington belongs in Lancashire.

Chris Martin believes it's Lancashire (Image: NQ) He said: “It depends which way you look at it, and which side you’re driving in from, but it’s in Lancashire geographically, so that’s the end of it.”

Walkers Suzanne Holmes and Tracey Patterson believe the debate is outdated and differences should be put aside.

Tracey added: “The area is for everyone, it really doesn’t matter who it belongs to.

The hotly contested reservoir (Image: NQ) “It can be in either for all I care because it’s such a lovely place to be.

“People from both sides think it’s theirs, I’ve lived in both Chorley and Horwich and have thought it belonged to different ones depending on where I lived.

“You can see it from either town.”

Maxine Walker, another walker, agreed, she said: “As long as everyone enjoys the area why should it matter!”

The argument for Rivington belonging to Greater Manchester, despite the fact it geographically isn’t, stems from the fact Lord Leverhulme, who died in 1925, gifted the area to the people of Bolton.

Leverhulme was a prominent industrialist who was pivotal in setting Rivington up to be the tourism hotspot it is today.

Horwich lies within the borough of Bolton, which became part of Greater Manchester in 1974, having previously been a part of Lancashire.