The A635 is a main road that runs between

Manchester Manchester () is a city in Greater Manchester, England. It had a population of 552,000 in 2021. It is bordered by the Cheshire Plain to the south, the Pennines to the north and east, and the neighbouring city of Salford to the west. The t ...

and

Doncaster Doncaster (, ) is a city in South Yorkshire, England. Named after the River Don, it is the administrative centre of the larger City of Doncaster. It is the second largest settlement in South Yorkshire after Sheffield. Doncaster is situated in ...

running east–west through Stalybridge, Saddleworth Moor,

Holmfirth Holmfirth is a town in the Metropolitan Borough of Kirklees, West Yorkshire, England, on the A635 and A6024 in the Holme Valley, at the confluence of the River Holme and Ribble, south of Huddersfield and west of Barnsley. It mostly cons ...

, Barnsley and the

Dearne Valley The Dearne Valley is an area of South Yorkshire, England, along the River Dearne. It encompasses the towns of Wombwell, Wath-upon-Dearne, Swinton, Conisbrough and Mexborough, the large villages of Ardsley, Bolton on Dearne, Goldthorpe, T ...

. The section forming the eastern part of the

Mancunian Way The Mancunian Way is a two mile long grade separated elevated motorway in Manchester, England. It is officially made up of the A57(M) and A635(M) motorways, although the latter does not appear on road signs for practical reasons. It is also pa ...

is a motorway and is officially designated as the A635(M) though there is no road sign with this designation, and the signs at the entrance of Mancunian Way westbound show A57(M).

Saddleworth Moor

A635 Holmfirth to Greenfield Road - geograph

The section between Greenfield and

, which passes across Saddleworth Moor, is known locally as the Isle of Skye Road after a

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 ...

that was at Wessenden Head until it was demolished in the 1950s after a fire. It passes over treeless high moor top for about 4 miles: Saddleworth Moor west of the watershed and Wessenden Head Moor to the east. This section of the road is at high altitude and in winter months local snowfall usually results in closures of the road. In January 2010, as a result of the extreme winter, the road was closed for over a month, and other closures also occurred in the same winter.

Pennines

Unlike the other Pennine passes in the area such as the A57 Snake Pass (Manchester to Sheffield), the A62 (Manchester to Huddersfield and Leeds) and the A58 (Rochdale to Halifax and Leeds), the section of the A635 over the Pennines enjoys much quieter traffic since the A628 Woodhead pass is much more direct when travelling between Manchester and Barnsley, connecting directly to the M1 junction 37 and passing through the centre of Barnsley. In 2012, after an increase of car incident rates on the moors, a 50mph speed limit was put in place between Greenfield and the boundary with

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 includes ...

. In Barugh Green there's a small junction where the B6428 terminates. The road continues through Barnsley to Doncaster where it merges with the A638.

1960s Moors murders

The road became infamous because of its connection with the 1960s

Moors murders The Moors murders were carried out by Ian Brady and Myra Hindley between July 1963 and October 1965, in and around Manchester, England. The victims were five children—Pauline Reade, John Kilbride, Keith Bennett, Lesley Ann Downey, and Edward E ...

. The grave sites of victims are located adjacent to the road above Greenfield, close to an area called Hollin Brown Knoll, which overlooks the 3 reservoirs: Dovestone, Yeoman and Greenfield.

August 2015 road closure

A section of the road at the Manchester end had to be closed in August 2015 after it collapsed following unusually torrential rain.

References

External links

Pathetic Motorways - A635(M)
Roads in England Roads in Yorkshire Roads in Greater Manchester Transport in South Yorkshire Transport in West Yorkshire Holme Valley {{England-road-stub