Ramsbottom

Edward Allington's sculpture "Tilted Vase" in the centre of Ramsbottom

Ramsbottom is a town and district in Lancashire, England. The name is generally thought to mean "the valley of wild garlic" deriving from ramson as wild garlic is often called. It is bounded to the south by Holcombe Brook & Summerseat, to the north by Edenfield & Irwell Vale, to the west by Holcombe and to the east by Turn Village and Deeply Vale. The total population of the area is approximately 18,000. For local government purposes it is split between the Metropolitan Borough of Bury and the Borough of Rossendale. The skyline over the town is dominated by the Peel Monument, a highly visible memorial to Sir Robert Peel, a 19th century British Prime Minister best remembered as the creator of the modern British Police Force, who was born at neighbouring Bury. The Tower itself stands 128 feet tall and was completed in 1852 at a cost of almost £1,000. This cost was met from public subscriptions by a people greatful for Peel's role in the repeal of The Corn Laws - legislation which placed a heavy tax on corn, driving up the price of bread for the working masses. The best way to visit Ramsbottom is via the East Lancashire Railway during weekends and public holidays. This preserved historic railway runs diesel and steam services through the year with main stopping points at Rawtenstall, Ramsbottom, Summerseat, Bury and Heywood. The district straddles the A676, A56 and B6214 roads with its centre 4 miles north of Bury, 4 miles south of Rawtenstall and 6 miles north east of Bolton.

The area is characterised by its position in the Rossendale Valley and The West Pennine Moors. The high ground rises sharply on either side of the town with Holcombe Moor, Harcles Hill and Bull Hill to the west and Top O' Th' Hoof, Harden Moor, Scout Moor and Whittle Hill to the east. In the Market Place is the Grant Arms, which commemorates the 19th Century industrialists the Grant Brothers who settled in the area after leaving their native Scotland. Charles Dickens immortalised them as the 'Cheeryble 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 '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 north west, called Ramsons. Located at Market Place, all their food and drink is organic. A very steep but very pleasant walk, west up Carr Street, Tanners & Rawson's Rake leads to the lovely village of Holcombe 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 towards West Yorkshire, North Lancashire, Manchester, North Wales and the Lancashire Plain. Ramsbottom is also a station on the East Lancashire Railway, and has a football (soccer) club named Ramsbottom United, who share their ground with the Ramsbottom cricket team.

The Black Pudding Throwing World Championships are held annually at the Royal Oak pub on Bridge Street in the town centre. Participants have to toss the puddings in an attempt to dislodge a stack of Yorkshire Puddings placed on plinths on two levels (one for children, the other for adults). The winner is the one who dislodges more Yorkshire Puddings in three attempts. The competition was originally started at the now defunct Corner Pin pub in nearby Stubbins, but apocryphally it is said the contest stems from the War of the Roses in which opposing forces from Lancashire and Yorkshire are said to have hurled black puddings and Yorkshire puddings at each other when they ran out of ammunition.