Bold Loop By The Mersey Forest

by Keith Hollingsworth
4 years ago
Near St Helens, GB

54 views

St Helens Junction Railway Station, where this walk begins, was opened in 1833, three years after the world's first passenger line - the Liverpool to Manchester railway. The nearby Sutton Oak Pub (now converted into offices) used to be called The Boundary Vaults, because it was situated on the old St Helens County boundary.

Shortly after crossing the motorway for the first time, the walk passes through a woodland that was once called Ladies' Walk, because it was a popular walking out stretch for the ladies between Old Bold Hall and Bold Hall. This wood covers the old site of the manor house of Bold family. The family resided in the area before Edward the Confessor (1005-1066), and the earliest record of the manor dates back to a survey carried out in 1212. In 1404, John de Bold and his son Thomas Bold fought with Henry, the English Prince of Wales (later King Henry V) against Owen Glendower, his Welsh rival. In 1415, Thomas again fought with Henry's army against the French at Agincourt. Bold Hall was rebuilt in 1616, an imposing stone building complete with a moat, and was then redesigned in 1730 by Venetian architect Giacomo Leoni who used marble from the Roman villa of Emperor Hadrian in the construction of the fireplace.

The walk also includes a visit to Sutton Manor, the site of the Dream sculpture. At this point, if you make a detour to the top of the wooded hill to your left, you will get an excellent view of Dream by the Spanish sculptor Jaume Plensa. Dream is a 20m (66ft) high sculpture of a girl's head with eyes closed. People travel from far and wide to view this beautiful work of art.

Finally you will cross the former site of Clock Face Colliery, which opened in 1890 but was abandoned due to water problems and taken over in 1904 as a water pumping pit. It provided 700,000 gallons a day, 500,000 gallons being sold to St Helens Corporation. It improved in the 1930s and 1950s to produce 169,000 tons of coal, but closed in 1966. Now it's a country park.