THE NW
CACHERS' JUNE MONTHLY MEET
TUESDAY 17th June 2008, 7.00pm
onwards
The
Ridgway Arms
Blackrod
Bolton, Lancashire, BL6
5JF
The Ridgway Arms is a great pub in my home
village of Blackrod. Its right next to the A6 and is also right
next door to Blackrod station (and my sidetracked cache!) so why
not come by train and have a proper drink? Its child friendly and
they've got baby changing facilities.
PLEASE LET ME KNOW
ASAP - NUMBERS AND FOOD (YES/NO). THANKS!
As well as the sidetracked cache there are a
few nearby caches, mostly placed by me because as far as I know I'm
the only one in the village. (geocacher)
For those of you are interested here are some fascinating facts
about Blackrod.
Blackrod once had a Roman fort known as Coccium which was built
by Agricola the Roman governer of Britain. It is thought that it
was in an area of the village known as Castlecroft (which overlooks
the pub.) The Ridgway Arms takes its name from the hill Blackrod
sits on. The Romans cleared the trees because it was and still is a
great vantage point. One possible origin of the name Blackrod is
from two old English words 'Bleak' and 'Rod' meaning wood
clearing.
Another possible explanation is from the Gentleman Usher of the
Black Rod who lets the MP's into the House of Lords before the
opening of parliament. Blackrod was the scene of a battle in the
English Civil war and its said that the victorious Parliamentarians
were led by the Black Rod of the time, and he renamed the village
after himself following victory. Im my Battle of Blackrod cache
page I stated that the battle was part of the Bolton Massacre
but I think I got that wrong. It was really part of the Battle of Wigan
Lane
Blackrod is historically part of Lancashire. In 1972 it was
theoretically shunted off to Greater Manchester, but its so close
to the border that most of its residents still consider themselves
part of Lancashire.
There is a legend that Blackrod is linked to Rivington Pike by a
tunnel. In the 19th century Blackrod was mined heavily and its
possible that if such a tunnel existed it was part of a mining
network.
Blackrod is divided from Horwich by the M61. This section was
openend in 1969 and contains Bolton West Services. This was where
local resident Peter Kay filmed the pilot for his first ever TV
show and he gave us the immortal line 'I'm not touching it its a
floater!'