Disclaimer This cache is placed in a very lonely and
seldom walked area. I belive that a long time ago it was a much
more significant place than it is today and that is why its here
because I wan't to tell the story of the Blackrod to Horwich
railway. However the difficulty in places like these is that they
become very overgrown and at the height of summer you will have to
deal with the cachers nemisis. Nettles! Please remember you cache
at your own risk and its up to you if you want to bash the nettles
and attempt retreival. If you don't fancy it then just include a
photo of you/your gps at the cache site and you can log it. In the
same manner in Winter you may have to deal with ice/snow and in
Autumn lots of unpleasent smelly rotting fallen leaves. Spring
though should be absolutely fine. ;
This cache is at a lonely bridge on the edge of Horwich and
Blackrod. At the moment its quite overgrown but if you step back a
bit you can see that its quite big which is odd when you think that
it seems just to go from one side of a field to another! The track
going over it is now barely used but I think that in order for it
to have such a large bridge it must have once been a much busier
route into Adlington.
The bridge crosses the site of the Hindley to Horwich railway
line. This was built in 1868, although its highly likely that it
was an extension of one the many mineral railway lines which dotted
Blackrod in the 19th century. This railway line was closed in 1967,
so it almost lasted a century.
If you look up from the cache site you can see on the horizon
the Ramada Jarvis hotel. This was once the site of Blackrod's other
station, Hilton
House.
A picture on the above link shows what the station used to look
like. The area is almost unrecognizable now. In the early 1970's
the railway gap was filled in so much that there is no longer a
need for a bridge for the A6. The only thing unchanged is Hilton
House itself visible in the right of the picture, this is still
there today and if you use the recommended parking coordinates then
you will walk right past it (its the large white house). If you
fancy a bit of Urban Exploring you can walk along the disused track
and almost get under the A6!
