Two Lads Hill

From Blackwood's Edinburgh Magazine vol XLI, 1837 (p752).

"Upon the summit of Horwich Moor lie the Wilder Lads (ed: an alternative name for Two Lads), two rude piles of stone, so called from the popular tradition of the country, that they were erected in memory of two boys who were wildered (that is, bewildered), and lost in the snow at this place.

They may be seen at a considerable distance. They are undoubtedly of very high antiquity, and were originally united by a circular mound, above three quarters of which as yet remains visible. Their circumference is about twenty-six and a half feet, and the passage betwixt them six and a half feet."

From the excellent book Winter Hill Scrapbook by Dave Lane.

"There are many conflicting stories about the history of Two Lads and how it got its name. One tale has it that the cairn (an earlier one, not the present one) was built in remembrance of two boys who were lost in a snow storm some 400 years ago “their rigid bodies discovered frozen to each other in a final vain attempt for warmth". The other tale goes back a lot earlier to Saxon times (the name Rivington is believed to be of Saxon origin derived from “The Town of the Ravens”) when there was some sort of encampment on Two Lads. It is said that the two sons of a local Saxon “king” had the monument built for the funeral of their father.....

Just to confuse the issue, there is yet a third tradition of the story which has it that the two lads who perished in the snow were orphans of a Saxon King who was himself killed in battle. Another writer has suggested that the name Wilders Moor derives from the fact that the “two lads” became "wildered” (bewildered) or lost on the moor. Gladys Sellers in her book “Walks on the West Pennine Moors” says that “Two Lads Moor” used to have two Bronze Age burial mounds close to the track and not far from the top. In fact they gave the moor its name. They were excavated long ago and no records of their contents were ever made. Not even their sites can be seen today....

Although I’ve never found a thing on Two Lads, despite 30 years of searching, I understand that Mr John Winstanley carried out some excavations (date unknown) on Two Lads and “discovered items of pottery, tools and human remains some of which date back to pre-historic times”.

The present cairns on top of the hill are not the original ones. These were reputed to have been located in a slightly different spot but no remains of them now exist....

The hill is part encircled by a ditch. Some folk claim this was once part of the hills ancient defences, but others tell me this is a modern development, and is purely to do with water drainage. Still others say it’s a mixture of the two...."