Introduction
by Jennifer Rushton
To the north of the busy industrial town
of Bolton in Lancashire lies an area of rugged upland,
culminating in the well-known mast-topped summit of Winter Hill,
which have long provided a recreational opportunity for the
citizens of the region. These hills, comprised geologically from
the Carboniferous coal measures, topped in places by remnants of
millstone grit, they represent the southern flanks of the Forest
of Rossendale. However they are today more commonly referred to
as the West Pennine Moors, and this name is found in the title
of the essential Ordnance Survey sheet in the 1:25,000 Explorer
series.
These hills are the source from which
arise brooks, the headwaters of the Rivers Tongue and Croal. The
valleys of these cut deep into the landscape, and are today
dominated by extensive reservoirs which provide crucial drinking
water supplies for the thirsty population of Bolton and beyond.
These green oases are home to the villages of Egerton and
Bromley Cross beside the infant River Croal, and of Belmont
astride the Eagley Brook – which lower down becomes the River
Tongue. All of these settlements are modern, in that they date
mainly from the period of the Industrial Revolution. From them
extend modern ‘A’ roads which cross the hills northwards towards
Blackburn and Preston. Edgeworth and the ancient settlement of
Turton on Bradshaw Brook lie further east, away from the modern
roads.
All of the areas described lie within a
six mile (c. 10km) radius of Smithills Hall, a Tudor manor house
on the outskirts of Bolton. This fact is significant in that it
brings them within the defined study and recording area of the
Bolton Field Naturalists’ Society – a century-old institution
which brings together the natural historians – the botanists,
ornithologists, geologists and zoologists of the district, and
of which the writer is a member.
It was for this reason that I first came
across the present journal, having it drawn to my attention at a
meeting of the society. I subsequently made contact with the
diarist, and discovered both the fascinating and well-observed
natural history records it contains, and the beautiful prose in
which it is recorded. The journal was commenced by a schoolgirl
who lived in an old farm in one of these valleys, and was kept
for a period of ten years or more, through her adolescence and
marriage until personal circumstances meant that she had to
leave the district. It highlights not only the natural history
of the district, but also the joys and problems of living in
what for many of us would be a rural and remote corner.
The author has requested that her
personal identity be kept private, in part because many of the
locations mentioned are on private land, and the present
landowners would not welcome incoming naturalists trespassing
upon their acres in search of elusive plants or birds. Nor
should this be necessary: much of the higher ground is now open
under right-to-roam legislation, and access is available to many
other botanising grounds and to the reservoir banks by public
footpaths and access agreements.
Where conservation measures are essential
to protect vulnerable eco-systems within the district then the
Wildlife Trust and other bodies do ensure that these are fully
recorded and open to scientific study. All readers are urged to
get out on foot and explore this fascinating area, but also to
respect the countryside code whilst doing so. Some diary entries
do record the collecting of plants and flowers, but these were
carried out in before modern conservation
practices and controls were established, and largely upon the
family’s own estates. They should and must not be read as
license or encouragement to do likewise. Please take only
photographs and leave only footprints.
The full and unedited diary has been studied by natural historians from Bolton Museums, and all records of wider importance extracted. Information on the local plantlife and wildlife is available in published format – see bibliography – from the museum, county trust and the Bolton Field Naturalists’ Society. Please do enjoy this journal, explore the countryside and share with the author the great and lasting pleasure that it provides.