Doffcocker is a mostly residential district of Bolton

Bolton

Bolton is a town in Greater Manchester, in the North West of England. Close to the West Pennine Moors, it is north west of the city of Manchester. Bolton is surrounded by several smaller towns and villages which together form the Metropolitan Borough of Bolton, of which Bolton is the...

, Greater Manchester

Greater Manchester

Greater Manchester is a metropolitan county in North West England, with a population of 2.6 million. It encompasses one of the largest metropolitan areas in the United Kingdom and comprises ten metropolitan boroughs: Bolton, Bury, Oldham, Rochdale, Stockport, Tameside, Trafford, Wigan, and the...

, lying about 3½ miles from the town centre on the northwest edge of the suburbs on the lower south facing slopes of the West Pennine Moors

West Pennine Moors

The West Pennine Moors cover an area of approximately of moorland and reservoirs in Lancashire and Greater Manchester, England.The West Pennine Moors are separated from the main Pennine range by the Irwell Valley. The moorland includes Withnell, Anglezarke and Rivington Moors in the extreme west,...

. Historically within Lancashire

Lancashire

Lancashire is a non-metropolitan county of historic origin in the North West of England. It takes its name from the city of Lancaster, and is sometimes known as the County of Lancaster. Although Lancaster is still considered to be the county town, Lancashire County Council is based in Preston...

, it is bounded by Markland Hill

Markland Hill

Markland Hill is a mostly residential district of Bolton, Greater Manchester, England. Historically within Lancashire, it is about 2.5 miles to the north west of the town centre. It lies on the lower south facing slopes of the West Pennine Moors. It is bounded by Lostock to the south, Doffcocker to...

 and Heaton

Heaton, Greater Manchester

Heaton is a mostly residential district and council ward of Bolton, Greater Manchester, England. It lies about two miles north west of Bolton town centre...

 to the south and Halliwell

Halliwell, Greater Manchester

Halliwell is predominantly a residential area of Bolton, Greater Manchester, England. It gives its name to an electoral ward of the wider Metropolitan Borough of Bolton. Halliwell lies about to the north west of Bolton town centre and is bounded by Tonge Moor to the east and Heaton to the south...

 to the east.

Coal was mined at Doffcocker Colliery in the 19th century from the thin Mountain Mine (seam) of the lower Coal Measures

Coal Measures

The Coal Measures is a lithostratigraphical term for the coal-bearing part of the Upper Carboniferous System. It represents the remains of fluvio-deltaic sediment, and consists mainly of clastic rocks interstratified with the beds of coal...

.

Its most prominent feature is Doffcocker Lodge, a former mill lodge

Mill lodge

In northern England, a mill lodge is a small reservoir of water for the use of a factory....

 (created in 1874) and now a Local Nature Reserve

Local Nature Reserve

Local nature reserve or LNR is a designation for nature reserves in the United Kingdom. The designation has its origin in the recommendations of the Wild Life Conservation Special Committee which established the framework for nature conservation in the United Kingdom and suggested a national suite...

 for wildfowl.

The history of the name is not certain but it is believed to be formed from the Celtic dubh meaning dark or black, and cocr meaning a winding stream, giving "dark winding stream", the stream that fed Doffcocker Lodge. Another version is that it was named after a Scotsman

Scotland

Scotland is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. Occupying the northern third of the island of Great Britain, it shares a border with England to the south and is bounded by the North Sea to the east, the Atlantic Ocean to the north and west, and the North Channel and Irish Sea to the...

 who was passing through the area and had to cross the stream. Its waters were exceptionally high following heavy rain, so to keep his stockings (cockers, as they were known in Scotland

Scotland

Scotland is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. Occupying the northern third of the island of Great Britain, it shares a border with England to the south and is bounded by the North Sea to the east, the Atlantic Ocean to the north and west, and the North Channel and Irish Sea to the...

) dry the man was obliged to "doff" them.

A similar version appears in an old book

COCKERS, or COGGERS, properly half-boots made of untanned leather, or other stiff materials, and strapped under the shoe; but old stockings without feet, used as gaiters by hedgers and ploughmen, are often so called. Cockers occurs in Bishop Hall's Satires. In Lancashire

Lancashire

Lancashire is a non-metropolitan county of historic origin in the North West of England. It takes its name from the city of Lancaster, and is sometimes known as the County of Lancaster. Although Lancaster is still considered to be the county town, Lancashire County Council is based in Preston...

the word is often used for stockings. There is a small place not far from Bolton, called Doff-Cocker, where, my friend, Mr. Turner, informs me, it used to be the fashion for the country people who came from church or market to pull off their stockings and walk barefoot home.