Windy Hill in the

South Pennines The South Pennines is a region of moorland and hill country in northern England lying towards the southern end of the Pennines. In the west it includes the Rossendale Valley and the West Pennine Moors. It is bounded by the Greater Manchester co ...

within the

Metropolitan Borough of Rochdale The Metropolitan Borough of Rochdale is a metropolitan borough of Greater Manchester in North West England. It is named after its largest town, Rochdale, The borough covers other outlying towns and villages with a population of 206,500 at the ...

Greater Manchester Greater Manchester is a metropolitan county and combined authority, combined authority area in North West England, with a population of 2.8 million; comprising ten metropolitan boroughs: City of Manchester, Manchester, City of Salford, Salford ...

, England, rises to metres above sea level. The hill is located west of the A672 road and south west of Junction 22 on the

M62 motorway The M62 is a west–east trans-Pennine motorway in Northern England, connecting Liverpool and Hull via Manchester, Bradford, Leeds and Wakefield; of the route is shared with the M60 orbital motorway around Manchester. The road is part of ...

. Windy Hill cutting is up to deep and the longest on the M62. A pedestrian footbridge, long and above the carriageways, carries the

Pennine Way The Pennine Way is a National Trail in England, with a small section in Scotland. The trail stretches for from Edale, in the northern Derbyshire Peak District, north through the Yorkshire Dales and Northumberland National Park and ends at Kir ...

above Windy Hill cutting. Its

parabolic arch A parabolic arch is an arch in the shape of a parabola.Article about parabolic arch by The Free DictionaryParabolic arch , Article about parabolic arch by The Free Dictionary accessdate: March 2, 2017 In structures, their curve represents an effi ...

and splayed legs are designed to withstand wind speeds up to 120 mph. Snow lies on Windy Hill for an average of 35 days annually and the area is prone to fog or low cloud. The boundary stone between Greater Manchester and

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 ...

is in the cutting. The

Longden End Brook Longden End Brook is a watercourse in Greater Manchester. It rises near Windy Hill, and flows down Rakewood Valley and underneath the M62 motorway at Rakewood Viaduct, before arriving at Hollingworth Lake Hollingworth Lake is a reservoir a ...

rises between the hill and the motorway and the

Piethorne Brook Piethorne Brook is a watercourse in Greater Manchester. It is a tributary of the River Beal. Sources Piethorne Brook and its feeder streams originate on the area of high moorland at Windy Hill on the south side of the M62 motorway close to it ...

drains to reservoirs to the southwest. A radio transmitter is located to the east.

References

Bibliography *

External links

Geography of the Metropolitan Borough of Rochdale Mountains and hills of Greater Manchester Mountains and hills of the Peak District Mountains and hills of the Pennines Hills of West Yorkshire {{GreaterManchester-geo-stub