manchester tourist guide regional sightseeing
Friday, 25th July 2003
RamsbottomWhat's Ramsbottom like? Wet and windy. Traditional music hall joke about the town.
Valley of the wild garlic. The Anglo-Saxon origin of the town name.
Tourist information: 0161 253 5111
The best way to visit Ramsbottom is via the East Lancs Railway on a weekend. Take the Metrolink to Bury and walk the quarter of a mile to the Bolton Street terminus of the heritage railway. The town lies on the A676 four miles north of Bury.
Ramsbottom may be less than 25 miles (40 km) as the crow flies from Knutsford but it is totally opposite in character - apart from a shared affluence. This is a no-nonsense stone built Pennine hill town. The roads out of the town east and west are impossibly steep. In the Market Place is the Grant Arms, which commemorates the chief bigwigs of C19, the Grants, who Charles Dickens immortalised as the Cherryble brothers in Nicholas Nickleby. These generally philantrophic mill owners made sure of the profits of their pub by paying their workforce in tokens that they could only redeem in the Grant Arms, part of their wage had then to be redeemed in drink.
Ramsbottom is placed on the Irwell Sculpture Trail and in the Market Place is the wonderful Tilted Vase by Edward Allington. This two ton sculpture is classical in shape to reflect the surrounding buildings but also bolted together to reflect the old industries. The excellent fish and chip shop on Bridge Street is worth a visit as is Bailey's Tea Shop on the same street. The latter serves very genuine, very high quality traditional British food and old-fashioned but very tasty temperance drinks such as Dandelion and Burdock.
At the other end of the scale, this tiny town has one of the best independent restaurants in the region, called Ramsons. Located in the Market Place, all their food and drink is organic. A very steep but very pleasant walk, west up Tanners Street and then the Rake leads to lovely Holcombe Village and good food and drink at the Shoulder of Mutton pub. A further climb takes the visitor to the Peel Monument on Holcombe Moor. Even from the foot of the 39 metre tower there are spectacular views over Manchester to North Wales. Access to the tower is limited to certain days (call the Tourist Information). The tower was erected in 1852 in memory of Sir Robert Peel, the Bury-born PM, founder of the modern police force and repealer of the Corn Laws. Links within ManchesterOnline
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