Winter Hill - the clue is in the name... a suggested etymology... 

Aerial View of Winter Hill (source: Dave Lane’s Winter Hill Scrapbook)

Winter Hill is likely to have held religious significance among the prehistoric inhabitants of the North West of England, and I believe that the evidence of this is written into the modern name of Winter Hill itself...

Maps from 1610 and 1724 give the name as “Egberden Hill”, and Owen in his booklet “Rivington & District before 1066 AD” notes that the name Egberden Hill is:

“supposed to have arisen from one of the early kings who hunted in the surrounding forest. The most likely candidate is – Egbert, king of Wessex 800 to 836 AD who by 828 AD had included Northumbria, and therefore Lancashire, in his kingdom”.

However, the name Egberden Hill is not the oldest known name on record.  Earlier documents from the 13th Century indicate that Winter Hill was called "Wintyrhold" and / or "Wintyrheld", with the meaning suggested to be from the Old English word “wynter” meaning “winter” and “hyll” meaning “hill”.


Local tales describe how the hill got its name.  Specifically, that the weather on the hill is harsh and its landscape barren, making it always like winter up there!  Or, that there is a certain cotton-grass that grows with a white-tufty blossom and flowers between April and June, making the hill look white from afar, as if covered by snow, even in summer!

When you take a closer look at these local tales, they don't appear to make sense... firstly (for those who have never been up Winter Hill), I can vouch for the fact that it isn't always like winter up there!  Sure, in winter it gets pretty rough, but no more so than any of the other hills in the vicinity (and those hills are not given the same cold reputation).  Indeed, for large parts of the summer months it is most pleasant.  Also, for those who have never seen Winter Hill, it rarely appears to be snow covered and white in the summer!  Finally, as noted on page 20 in Dave Lane’s Winter Hill Scrapbook:

“Winter Hill – and the surrounding upland areas – have not always been as bare and empty as they now appear. At one time they were forested… The process of deforestation started as soon as human settlements began in the area… One pollen analysis investigation of Winter Hill showed a clearly defined woodland clearance of the area in the Norse period… followed by considerable woodland regeneration thought to be through the Middle Ages”

The Middle Ages spanned from the 5^th to 15^th Centuries, and the Norse period of Britain spanned over the 8^th and 9^th centuries within that period, meaning that the forest would have regenerated considerably by the 13^th century (the period when the hill is referred to as "Wintyrhold").   With Winter Hill covered in trees, it would not be as barren and windswept as it is in modern times, making it even less likely to have been given the name "Winter" back then, in reference to its environment; in fact, it is more likely to have been a place of refuge during winter, where people could seek shelter, with the trees as protection.  

Let’s look to find a more logical meaning by studying those older names in more detail...

The suggested Old English word “wynter” is slightly different from the historically recorded name “wintyr” - lets analyse the two components of this word, being "win” and “tyr”:

Firstly, looking at the "win" component, it would appear to be a corruption of "wyn", which is an Old Welsh mutation of the Welsh word "gwyn”, which means "white", "shining, or literally "visible", and also "blessed".  The Welsh language evolved from the Common Brittonic language, being the ancient Celtic language spoken throughout Britain; accordingly, the most ancient element of the name of the hill may be “Gwyn”, ultimately meaning "Blessed".  

The association of the name to the colour white is an extremely interesting find.  This links nicely to the local tale of the hill appearing to look white from afar, even in summer (which it simply doesn't!) - this may be an example of folklore remembering the place being associated in some way to the Old Welsh word for white, being the blessed colour of purity... 

The element "tyr", has two potential etymological meanings.  Firstly, coming from a corruption of "tor", from “tŵr” in Old Welsh meaning "hill", "look out" or "tower"– this certainly fits certain theories of the hill being used as a signaling point or look-out by the Romans - giving the hill the possible Old Welsh name of "Gwyn-Tŵr" or "Blessed Hill". Alternatively, "tyr" could derive from the Old Norse word “Týr”, which is a Norse God associated with law and heroic glory, cognisant with “Thor”, but more generally “God” - this results in the hill possibly having a culturally-layered Old Welsh and Old Norse name of “Gwyn-Týr” (meaning "Blessed God").

Evidence of the layering of place names is prevalent throughout the British Isles, with waves of successive cultures re-naming places by placing an epithet to its existing indigenous name, a method of cultural invasion and a way to subjugate the local peoples and claiming the land.  The Vikings were prevalent in the North West of England during the Viking Age (aka the Norse Period - 793 AD to 1066 AD).  They may have noted that the indigenous peoples revered the hill as "Blessed", and so renamed it by adding their word "God" to it, recognising their own god of victory (perhaps even honoring the specific victory when the hill was won in battle!?!).

Now considering “hold" or "held”, it is suggested that this is a later adage that comes from the Old English “hyld" or "hield”, which means “incline", "slope" or "hill”.  However, another suggestion is that this also comes from the Old Norse word “hlif” meaning “shield", "shelter" or "protector”; potentially suggesting the survival significance of the hill, linking it again to it's trees providing protection from the harsh weather in winter (as noted above).

So, the name “Winter Hill” in modern English, comes from “Wintyrhold” in Old English, which has its root etymology either:

1. from Old Welsh, being “Gwyn-Tŵr” meaning “Blessed Hill” (possibly it's original name);
2. from Old Welsh and Old English, being "Gwyn-Tŵr-Hield" meaning “Blessed Hill Hill”;
3. from Old Welsh and Old Norse, being “Gwyn-Týr-Hilf” meaning “Blessed God Protector” (possibly it's name during the Norse Period); or
4. from Old Welsh, Old Norse and Old English, being "Gwyn-Týr-Hield" meaning “Blessed God Hill” (possibly its name in the post-Nordic period).

I think that you will agree that all of these etymological origins have very similar meanings - it would appear that Winter Hill has been worshiped throughout pre-history, by successive inhabitants of the land - I personally favour the name "Gwyn-Týr-Hield" meaning “Blessed God Hill”... being a marvelous example of the layering of Old Welsh, Old Norse and Old English onto a place of great historical importance in the North West of England.

I hope you found this interesting??? Please don't be shy, let me know what you are thinking in the comments below...

P.S. For those who are interested, an excellent source of information regarding Winter Hill is Dave Lane’s Winter Hill Scrapbook – I have been trying to contact Dave Lane by email over the past year with no luck; if anyone knows him, or has his contact details, please feel free to connect us.

Concerning Winter Hill...

Winter Hill is a 456 metre high hill in Lancashire, England, on the border of the boroughs of Chorley, Blackburn with Darwen and Bolton.  A part of the West Pennine Moors, it is most Westerly point of the Penines.


View North to Winter Hill, from Two Lads (SD65521329)

This hill is special! 

Winter Hill dominates the landscape across the whole Lancashire Plain - it can be clearly seen from afar.  On a clear day the hill is visible from the South Lakes, Lancaster, the Fylde, Liverpool, North Wales, Anglesey, Snowdonia, Cheshire, the Peak District, and Manchester - the TV transmitting station on its summit (known locally as the "Mast") makes it light-up like a Christmas tree at night, and therefore easily identifiable in relation to the other hills in the area.

So much has happened here over the years - from pre-historic landmarks, old folklore tales of ghosts, medieval and modern mining activity,  brutal murders, aeroplane disasters and even UFO sightings; this hill has always been a hotbed of human activity.

Where did my fascination come from?

I was born and raised in Doffcocker, Bolton in the early 80's.  From a very young age I remember looking out of my window and seeing Winter Hill, with the Mast on full display - this view both excited and terrified me...

Walking up the hill was a typical family outing on a hot Summer's day - we would walk from our house on Chorley Old Road, passing through Moss Bank Park and Barrow Bridge.  We would head by Coal Pit Lane, reaching the summit via Green Nook Reservoir and Counting Hill - a real adventure with nothing but a bottle of pop and a tuna sandwich!

However, I also had nightmares about the hill as a child.  Specifically, I would dream that the mast would fall over and come crashing down onto my house!  Of course, we lived much too far away for this to actually happen - the mast is 309 m tall and my house was 4,820 m away as the crow flies - but to my child's mind the threat was very real!  I used to think that "evil things" lived up there on the harsh hill... it scared me to think that it was so close to where I lived, I felt like it was a savage and brutal place, a foreboding place that captivated my imagination.

In the mid 90's my family moved to Horwich (a small town at the Southern base of the hill).  I spent a lot of time exploring Winter Hill from there, learning about its landscape and history - as I grew older I became more interested in its pre-historic past.  It fascinated me to think that pre-historic man stood on the very spot where my feet walked and probably felt the same affinity to this sacred place as I did.  The hill is littered with ancient sites, including bronze-age burial mounds, stone cairns, beacon hills, and carved stones... a treasure trove of landmarks.

Linda Server, in her book titled Lancashire's Sacred Landscape (2010), notes that the words "sacred landscape" are not normally associated with Lancashire!  Those words are more likely to conjure images of Glastonbury Tor, Stone Henge or the Pyramids of Giza.  However, anybody who has been to Winter Hill will agree with me that that the place has a certain sacredness about it.  A feeling that draws people to it, perhaps as like a moth to a flame?

If you don't understand what I am talking about, you simply need to climb atop of the Pike on Easter Sunday with the thronging masses, or track the sunset from Noon Hill Slack as it falls into the streams of the Irish Sea on the Summer Solstice, or perch and watch the fireworks over the Lancashire Plain from the Two Lads on Bonfire Night - then you will understand.

So, what am I going to blog about?

Do the ancient landmarks on Winter Hill hide a secret?  Do local legends and folklore contain clues as to the un-written past of the hill and its community?  I believe they do!

I have identified that Winter Hill (if that is its real name!?! to be discussed on a future blog...) may have played a crucial role in the pre-historic development of the surrounding conurbations - specifically, I have found what I believe to be potential alignments of the landmarks on and around Winter Hill, including an alignment that stretches more than 50 km and passes through some local places of interest (again, I will explain all in a future blog...).

I am not looking to re-write any history books here -  I am not an historian, nor an archaeologist - nor am I a new-age nut looking for lines of energy in the Earth or something!  By profession, I am a Forensic Accountant and so am used to identifying relevant facts from investigation and research, and applying them to a theory with assumptions that builds a picture of what might have been - Hampson explained something very eloquently in his book, History of Rivington (1893), that captures my intent in writing this blog:

"History cannot be written, it can be only copied... there must remain the original bust, and though cloaked by traditions, and surrounded by the "folklore" of a bye-gone age... we may perchance... find some pristine gem, unveil some lost sign, and in loch, wood, hill and glen, discover some calligraphic sign that guide our investigations, or some hieroglyphic that may lead to success..."

I hope you enjoy reading... please let me know what you think!