Will Yo’ Come O’ Sunday Mornin’? The Winter Hill Mass Trespass of 1896
The stirring events of September 1896 were virtually forgotten for several decades. The ‘mass trespass’ was the biggest rights-of-way battle in British history (much larger than Kinder Scout) and mobilised 
thousands of Boltonians over three weeks in September 1896. The story of the ‘Winter Hill Mass Trespass’ was rediscovered in 1982 and celebrated with a march over the disputed road. The event was repeated in 1996 and again in 2021 (see below right). My book Moorlands, Memories and Reflections (2020) has a full chapter on the events of 1896 – more details in ‘publications’ and ‘buying my books’.
A facebook group has been formed to promote the memory of the 1896 events – please sign up to ‘Winter Hill 125’.
Later this year Neil Duffield’s play on the trespass will be eprformed at The Bolton Octagon