River Roddlesworth

The River Roddlesworth (also known as Rocky Brook) is a river in Lancashire, England, a tributary of the River Darwen.

The source of the river is on the slopes of Great Hill, just above the ruins known as Pimm’s, where the infant river is known as Calf Hey Brook. Calf Hey Brook is joined by another stream occasionally termed Roddlesworth – which rises beneath Cartridge Hill and runs past the ruins of Hollinshead Hall – beneath Slipper Lowe.

From there, it follows a northerly course through Roddlesworth Plantations, around the two reservoirs fed by the river and past Red Lees. The river continues through the Stanworth Valley in Livesey, where it is met by Stockclough Brook, and under the M65 motorway and Leeds & Liverpool Canal. Stanworth Valley was the location for some of the No M65 Road Protest camps . This was the site of a 5-day eviction in 1995, between environmentalists and road builders. At stake was the ecologically valuable river system and diverse woodland. M65 motorway archive

Soon after this, the Roddlesworth enters a culvert close to the Star Paper Mill.

The Roddlesworth flows into the River Darwen at Moulden Brow. Between the confluence with Stockclough Brook and the Darwen, the river is known locally as Moulden (or Moulding) Water.

For virtually its entire course, the Roddlesworth marks the boundary between Chorley Borough and the unitary authority of Blackburn with Darwen.

This border was preceded by that between the Hundreds of Blackburn and Leyland.

The river also demarcated the eastern edge of the region of Gunolfesmores in the Middle Ages and, later, the Manor of Hoghton.[1]

The name is first recorded in about 1160 as Rodtholfeswrtha, suggesting a derivation meaning “the homestead of Hrothwulf”.[2]