Lever Castle

Lever Park was officially opened to the public on the 10th October, 1911, but construction of Lever Castle at Coblowe on the eastern side of the Lower Rivington Reservoir overlooking Cross’ Creek wasn’t begun until 1912. Only a small number of stonemasons and labourers worked on the site, and the build, slow in progress, was abandoned in 1925 after Lord Leverhulme’s death. Lever Castle appears to have been conceived as a ruin of the imagination, a soft-focus Gothic set-piece on the edge of the estate that heavily romanticised it’s version of Liverpool Castle which had lain since 1599 in utter ruin and “grate defacement” by the banks of the River Mersey until it’s final demolition in 1726.

It’s apparent from walking around Lever Castle that Leverhulme’s vision is a scaled-down replica with its tight, virtually impregnable corridors on the north side, though architecturally it is reasonably accurate to the researched plans drawn up by the 19th century local historian Edward Cox.

The main staircase of Lever Castle was a usuable spiral staircase until its collapse in the early 1980’s

Lever Castle Great Tower Wall Passage

If the prison tower lower passage is a secret passage, the great tower passage is an even greater secret.

The passages of Lever Castle seem to be scaled down as the rest of the structure and are as a result quite narrow. It would be extremely difficult to handle a bow in such a confined space.

The Great Tower passage is now unreachable since the collapse of the stairs to the upper portion of the great tower. The passage is stable and very well preserved, with dressed stone walls and stone flagged floor and roof.

The passage can be seen to follow the curve of the tower with an arrow slit looking towards the Prison Tower.

Danger Unsafe Building Do Not Climb the Walls. Lever Castle is in a ruinous state and has been declared unsafe by the authorities. The masonry of the walls could be unstable. People have lost their lives attempting to climb onto the castle walls. Most of the castle can be seen in relative safety, on ground level. You have been warned!

Created: 27  November  2016  Edited: 29  November  2023