Saddleworth Moor is a
moorland
Moorland or moor is a type of habitat found in upland areas in temperate grasslands, savannas, and shrublands and montane grasslands and shrublands biomes, characterised by low-growing vegetation on acidic soils. Moorland, nowadays, generall ...
in
North West England
North West England is one of nine official regions of England and consists of the ceremonial counties of England, administrative counties of Cheshire, Cumbria, Greater Manchester, Lancashire and Merseyside. The North West had a population of ...
. Reaching more than above sea level, it is in the
Dark Peak area of the
Peak District National Park. It is crossed by the
A635 road
The A635 is a main road that runs between Manchester and Doncaster running east–west through Stalybridge, Saddleworth Moor, Holmfirth, Barnsley and the Dearne Valley.
The section forming the eastern part of the Mancunian Way is a motorway and ...
and the
Pennine Way passes to its eastern side.
Geography
The
moor takes its name from the parish of
Saddleworth to the west,
historically
History (derived ) is the systematic study and the documentation of the human activity. The time period of event before the invention of writing systems is considered prehistory. "History" is an umbrella term comprising past events as well ...
in the
West Riding of Yorkshire
The West Riding of Yorkshire is one of three historic subdivisions of Yorkshire, England. From 1889 to 1974 the administrative county County of York, West Riding (the area under the control of West Riding County Council), abbreviated County ...
, although it is on the western side of the Pennines and so has been part of
Greater Manchester
Greater Manchester is a metropolitan county and combined authority area in North West England, with a population of 2.8 million; comprising ten metropolitan boroughs: Manchester, Salford, Bolton, Bury, Oldham, Rochdale, Stockport, Tam ...
since 1974. The moor, an elevated
plateau
In geology and physical geography, a plateau (; ; ), also called a high plain or a tableland, is an area of a highland consisting of flat terrain that is raised sharply above the surrounding area on at least one side. Often one or more sides ...
with
gritstone
Gritstone or grit is a hard, coarse-grained, siliceous sandstone. This term is especially applied to such sandstones that are quarried for building material. British gritstone was used for millstones to mill flour, to grind wood into pulp for ...
escarpment
An escarpment is a steep slope or long cliff that forms as a result of faulting or erosion and separates two relatively level areas having different elevations.
The terms ''scarp'' and ''scarp face'' are often used interchangeably with ''esca ...
s or edges and, around its margins, deeply incised v-shaped valleys or cloughs with fast-flowing streams, straddles the metropolitan boroughs of
Oldham
Oldham is a large town in Greater Manchester, England, amid the Pennines and between the rivers Irk and Medlock, southeast of Rochdale and northeast of Manchester. It is the administrative centre of the Metropolitan Borough of Oldham, w ...
in Greater Manchester and
Kirklees
Kirklees is a local government district of West Yorkshire, England, governed by Kirklees Council with the status of a metropolitan borough. The largest town and administrative centre of Kirklees is Huddersfield, and the district also inclu ...
in
West Yorkshire
West Yorkshire is a metropolitan and ceremonial county in the Yorkshire and Humber Region of England. It is an inland and upland county having eastward-draining valleys while taking in the moors of the Pennines. West Yorkshire came into exi ...
. Moorland east of the county boundary with West Yorkshire is known as Wessenden Moor and Wessenden Head Moor. The moor is crossed by the
A635 between the
Greater Manchester
Greater Manchester is a metropolitan county and combined authority area in North West England, with a population of 2.8 million; comprising ten metropolitan boroughs: Manchester, Salford, Bolton, Bury, Oldham, Rochdale, Stockport, Tam ...
and
West Yorkshire Urban Area
The West Yorkshire Built-up Area, previously known as the West Yorkshire Urban Area is a term used by the Office for National Statistics (ONS) to refer to a conurbation in West Yorkshire, England, based on the cities of Leeds, Bradford and Wakefi ...
s. The A635 is known locally as the Isle of Skye road, taking the name from a former
public house
A pub (short for public house) is a kind of drinking establishment which is licensed to serve alcoholic drinks for consumption on the premises. The term ''public house'' first appeared in the United Kingdom in late 17th century, and wa ...
at Wessenden Head, Upperthong that was demolished after a fire. The Pennine Way arrives from the
Wessenden Valley to the north and crosses the moor on its ascent to
Black Hill on
Holme Moss to the south. The high moorland is sparsely inhabited. Scattered farmsteads, built of
gritstone
Gritstone or grit is a hard, coarse-grained, siliceous sandstone. This term is especially applied to such sandstones that are quarried for building material. British gritstone was used for millstones to mill flour, to grind wood into pulp for ...
, and fields demarcated by
dry stone walls are on the lower land and in the valleys where there is some coniferous woodland. The overlying
peat
Peat (), also known as turf (), is an accumulation of partially Decomposition, decayed vegetation or organic matter. It is unique to natural areas called peatlands, bogs, mires, Moorland, moors, or muskegs. The peatland ecosystem covers and ...
is cut by drainage channels or groughs. Much of the area is
open access land.
Vegetation
Blanket bog in the area is the most south-easterly occurrence in Europe.
Cottongrass
''Eriophorum'' (cottongrass, cotton-grass or cottonsedge) is a genus of flowering plants in the family Cyperaceae, the sedge family. They are found throughout the arctic, subarctic, and temperate portions of the Northern Hemisphere in acid bog h ...
is the most dominant feature but
sphagnum moss
''Sphagnum'' is a genus of approximately 380 accepted species of mosses, commonly known as sphagnum moss, peat moss, also bog moss and quacker moss (although that term is also sometimes used for peat). Accumulations of ''Sphagnum'' can store ...
es are scarce.
Heather,
crowberry
''Empetrum nigrum'', crowberry, black crowberry, or, in western Alaska, blackberry, is a flowering plant species in the heather family Ericaceae with a near circumboreal distribution in the Northern Hemisphere. It is usually dioecious, but ther ...
,
bilberry
Bilberries (), or sometimes European blueberries, are a primarily Eurasian species of low-growing shrubs in the genus '' Vaccinium'' (family Ericaceae), bearing edible, dark blue berries. The species most often referred to is ''Vaccinium myrti ...
and the rare
cloudberry
''Rubus chamaemorus'' is a species of flowering plant in the rose family Rosaceae, native to cool temperate regions, alpine and arctic tundra and boreal forest. This herbaceous perennial produces amber-colored edible fruit similar to the blackb ...
are also found. The
peat
Peat (), also known as turf (), is an accumulation of partially Decomposition, decayed vegetation or organic matter. It is unique to natural areas called peatlands, bogs, mires, Moorland, moors, or muskegs. The peatland ecosystem covers and ...
formation is 9,000 years old but extensive areas contain bare peat from which the surface has eroded.
Reservoirs
Dovestone,
Yeoman Hey,
Greenfield
Greenfield or Greenfields may refer to:
Engineering and Business
* Greenfield agreement, an employment agreement for a new organisation
* Greenfield investment, the investment in a structure in an area where no previous facilities exist
* Greenf ...
and
Chew Reservoirs east of
Oldham
Oldham is a large town in Greater Manchester, England, amid the Pennines and between the rivers Irk and Medlock, southeast of Rochdale and northeast of Manchester. It is the administrative centre of the Metropolitan Borough of Oldham, w ...
, are accessed from the A635 road. They supply water to the surrounding area. The valley is surrounded by rocky outcrops and moorland.
Spruce
A spruce is a tree of the genus ''Picea'' (), a genus of about 35 species of coniferous evergreen trees in the family Pinaceae, found in the northern temperate and boreal (taiga) regions of the Earth. ''Picea'' is the sole genus in the subfam ...
and
pine
A pine is any conifer tree or shrub in the genus ''Pinus'' () of the family (biology), family Pinaceae. ''Pinus'' is the sole genus in the subfamily Pinoideae. The World Flora Online created by the Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew and Missouri Botanic ...
plantations are found in the valley and
broad-leaved trees have been introduced to provide a more diverse habitat.
Yeoman Hey was built in 1880 and Chew Reservoir in 1914, and when built, was the highest reservoir in the
British Isles
The British Isles are a group of islands in the North Atlantic Ocean off the north-western coast of continental Europe, consisting of the islands of Great Britain, Ireland, the Isle of Man, the Inner and Outer Hebrides, the Northern Isl ...
at above sea level. The bed of a
tramway, built to aid its construction, remains visible. The area around the reservoir is used for recreation.
Events
In August 1949, a
BEA Douglas DC3 crashed into the hill at Wimberry Stones at the top of the
Chew Valley killing 24 passengers and crew and leaving eight survivors.
The moor was the burial site of at least four victims of Ian Brady and Myra Hindley, the
Moors murderers. In October 1965, following their arrest for the murder of Edward Evans in
Hattersley, the bodies of Lesley Ann Downey and John Kilbride were discovered buried on the moors. Kilbride had been murdered on the moors by Brady on 23 November 1963; Downey had been murdered, at the couple's house, on Boxing Day 1964, before being buried on the moor the next day. The police were led to Saddleworth Moor by photographs found among Brady's possessions, and claims by Hindley's brother-in-law that Brady had boasted of committing several murders and burying the bodies on the moor. The body of Pauline Reade, their first victim, who had been murdered in July 1963, was recovered on 1 July 1987, a year after the pair admitted the murder. They also admitted murdering Keith Bennett and burying his body on the moors in June 1964. On 30 September 2022,
Greater Manchester Police searched for human remains on the moor, which restarted the search for the body of Bennett, after receiving information from amateur investigator and author Russell Edwards. On 7 October the police announced they had ended their search without finding any sign of human remains.
In December 2015, the body of an unknown man was found beneath Rob's Rocks on the track between
Chew and
Dovestone Reservoirs. He had died of
strychnine poisoning. He was identified in January 2017 as
David Lytton who had flown from Pakistan two days before his body was found.
A wildfire broke out on the moor on 24 June 2018, resulting in mass evacuations and damage to a large area. Fifty homes were evacuated and about 150 people have been affected in
Carrbrook, near
Stalybridge
Stalybridge () is a town in Tameside, Greater Manchester, England, with a population of 23,731 at the 2011 Census.
Historically divided between Cheshire and Lancashire, it is east of Manchester city centre and north-west of Glossop.
When a ...
. On 30 June firefighters were still fighting the blaze. Greater Manchester Mayor
Andy Burnham
Andrew Murray Burnham (born 7 January 1970) is a British politician who has served as Mayor of Greater Manchester since 2017. He served in Gordon Brown's Cabinet as Chief Secretary to the Treasury from 2007 to 2008, Culture Secretary from 200 ...
said a "request to the military for extra support" was being prepared "so there is a back-up plan" to support firefighters and the military have been brought in. As a peat moor, the fire burns primarily underground before setting different parts of the moor alight, which makes it particularly hard to fight as well as releasing excessive smoke and reaching extremely high temperatures. It was predicted by fire chiefs that it could grow on for another few weeks after the fire first ignited.
Jonathan Reynolds said ministers would "need to look seriously at our capacity to deal with these kinds of fires in future, including military capacity we might have lost in recent years".
In February 2019, on the warmest winter day on record, a blaze, described by witnesses as "apocalyptic" occurred on the moor.
References
Notes
Citations
Bibliography
*
{{commons category, Saddleworth Moors
External links
Dove Stone Heritage
Mountains and hills of Greater Manchester
Tourist attractions in Kirklees
Tourist attractions in the Metropolitan Borough of Oldham
Mountains and hills of the Peak District
Protected areas of West Yorkshire
Protected areas of Greater Manchester
Moorlands of England
Peak District
Saddleworth