Werneth Low (; ) is a hill in

Greater Manchester Greater Manchester is a ceremonial county in North West England. It borders Lancashire to the north, Derbyshire and West Yorkshire to the east, Cheshire to the south, and Merseyside to the west. Its largest settlement is the city of Manchester. ...

, England, and a part of the

Pennines The Pennines (), also known as the Pennine Chain or Pennine Hills, are a range of highland, uplands mainly located in Northern England. Commonly described as the "Vertebral column, backbone of England" because of its length and position, the ra ...

. It is located on the border of

Stockport Stockport is a town in Greater Manchester, England, south-east of Manchester, south-west of Ashton-under-Lyne and north of Macclesfield. The River Goyt, Rivers Goyt and River Tame, Greater Manchester, Tame merge to create the River Mersey he ...

and

Tameside Tameside is a metropolitan borough of Greater Manchester, England, named after the River Tame, Greater Manchester, River Tame, which flows through it, and includes the towns of Ashton-under-Lyne, Audenshaw, Denton, Greater Manchester, Denton, D ...

, rising to a height of . The villages of Woodley, Greave,

Gee Cross Gee Cross is a village and suburb of Hyde within Tameside Metropolitan Borough, in Greater Manchester, England. History Gee Cross village centre dates back to the times of the Domesday Book. Originally, Gee Cross was the larger village in t ...

Mottram Mottram is a surname. Notable people with the surname include: * Buster Mottram, former British tennis player, son of Tony Mottram * Craig Mottram, Australian distance runner * Don Mottram, English flavour chemist * Eric Mottram, English poet * H ...

and

Romiley Romiley is a village in the Metropolitan Borough of Stockport, Greater Manchester, England. Historic counties of England, Historically part of Cheshire, it borders Marple, Greater Manchester, Marple, Bredbury and Woodley, Greater Manchester, Wood ...

lie on the sides of the low. The term "low" does not refer to any lack of altitude, it being a northern English word for hill. Werneth Low offers panoramic views over the Greater Manchester Urban Area and, in clear weather, the

Winter Hill transmitting station The Winter Hill transmitting station is a broadcasting and telecommunications site on Winter Hill, at the south eastern boundary of the Borough of Chorley, Lancashire, England, and above Bolton. It is owned and operated by Arqiva. Height The o ...

can be seen from here. To the south,

town centre, part of

Wythenshawe Wythenshawe () is an area of Manchester, England. Historically part of Cheshire, in 1931 Wythenshawe was transferred to the City of Manchester, which had begun building a large housing estate there in the 1920s. With an area of approximately , ...

in south Manchester and the Welsh mountains can be viewed in clear weather. The majority of Werneth Low is administered jointly by Hyde War Memorial Trust and Tameside Council. The trust organises the Remembrance and Peace day services. It was established to be the guardian of Werneth Low, to keep it "For the people of Hyde" and provide a lasting monument to the 710 men of Hyde who perished in World War I. Various landmarks can be seen from the top of Werneth Low, including: Manchester's

Deansgate Square Deansgate Square, formerly known as Owen Street, is a residential skyscraper cluster on the southern edge of Manchester City Centre, England, consisting of four towers, the tallest of which is . The site is just south of Deansgate railway stat ...

, Beetham Tower, the

Oldham Civic Centre Oldham Civic Centre is a municipal building in West Street, Oldham, England. History The low-level western section of the Civic Centre was originally built as offices for the housing and social services departments as well as the Regional Healt ...

and

Jodrell Bank Observatory Jodrell Bank Observatory ( ) in Cheshire, England hosts a number of radio telescopes as part of the Jodrell Bank Centre for Astrophysics at the University of Manchester. The observatory was established in 1945 by Bernard Lovell, a radio as ...

's radio telescope (visible from the south-western end of the hilltop).

History

A flint knife and a

Bronze Age The Bronze Age () was a historical period characterised principally by the use of bronze tools and the development of complex urban societies, as well as the adoption of writing in some areas. The Bronze Age is the middle principal period of ...

stone mace head have been discovered on Werneth Low. Hangingbank is the site of a possible

Iron Age The Iron Age () is the final epoch of the three historical Metal Ages, after the Chalcolithic and Bronze Age. It has also been considered as the final age of the three-age division starting with prehistory (before recorded history) and progre ...

farmstead dating to the first millennium BC, enclosed by a double ditch and featuring crop marks. A

Roman road Roman roads ( ; singular: ; meaning "Roman way") were physical infrastructure vital to the maintenance and development of the Roman state, built from about 300 BC through the expansion and consolidation of the Roman Republic and the Roman Em ...

from Melandra to Astbury probably crosses the hill, however the exact course has not been identified. The site covers .Nevell (1992), p. 68. There is also evidence of

Romano-British The Romano-British culture arose in Britain under the Roman Empire following the Roman conquest in AD 43 and the creation of the province of Britannia. It arose as a fusion of the imported Roman culture with that of the indigenous Britons, ...

activity on Werneth Low; a sherd of Roman pottery dating to the 2nd century AD was discovered in the material filling one of the ditches at Hangingbank, indicating that was when the site fell out of use. There is a possible temporary Roman camp and excavations have recovered a

posthole This page is a glossary of archaeology, the study of the human past from material remains. A B C D E F ...

. The name Werneth derives from the Welsh ''verno'' for

alder Alders are trees of the genus ''Alnus'' in the birch family Betulaceae. The genus includes about 35 species of monoecious trees and shrubs, a few reaching a large size, distributed throughout the north temperate zone with a few species ex ...

meaning 'the place where alders grow'. The Higham family owned the land from at least 1330 and it is from them that the upper and lower Higham Farms take their name. In 1920, Lower Higham Farm and all of its land was purchased by the War Memorial Committee of the Hyde Borough Council and, in 1921, Hyde's main war memorial was officially unveiled. Being dedicated to remembering and being diligent about the 710 men who lost their lives for Hyde's wellbeing. A

Royal Observer Corps The Royal Observer Corps (ROC) was a civil defence organisation intended for the visual detection, identification, tracking and reporting of aircraft over Great Britain. It operated in the United Kingdom between 29 October 1925 and 31 Decembe ...

monitoring post was active here from 1962 to 1968, which was intended to give warning of hostile aircraft and nuclear attacks on the United Kingdom. In the late 1980s,

Greater Manchester Council The Greater Manchester County Council (GMCC) was the top-tier local government administrative body for Greater Manchester from 1974 to 1986. A strategic authority, with responsibilities for roads, public transport, planning, emergency services ...

, Tameside Metropolitan Borough Council and the Hyde War Memorial Trust worked together to establish Werneth Low

country park A country park is a natural area designated for people to visit and enjoy recreation in a countryside environment. United Kingdom History In the United Kingdom, the term ''country park'' has a specific meaning. There are around 250 designated c ...

, which covers ; the park was officially opened in 1980.

Transport

Werneth Low was served by bus number 304 on Mondays, Wednesdays and Saturdays only. With effect from 31 January 2010,

GMPTE Greater Manchester Passenger Transport Executive (GMPTE) was the public body responsible for public transport in Greater Manchester between 1974 and 2011, when it became part of Transport for Greater Manchester. SELNEC PTE Until 1969, the con ...

diverted this bus onto routes on which other bus services run and, as a result, Werneth Low is no longer served by any form of public transport.

Gallery

File:Croft Field - geograph.org.uk - 1022774.jpg, Croft Field with Werneth Low's visitors' centre in the background File:Daffodils at Hanging Bank - geograph.org.uk - 1213985.jpg, Woodland near Hanging Bank File:Footpath to Gee Cross - geograph.org.uk - 972681.jpg, From Higham Lane looking north File:Footpath to Hanging Bank - geograph.org.uk - 1022787.jpg, Footpath to Hanging Bank File:Gate to Rye Field - geograph.org.uk - 972647.jpg, Gate to Rye Field File:Hanging Bank - geograph.org.uk - 1213973.jpg, Werneth Low's Hanging Bank File:Heading Up The Low - geograph.org.uk - 835000.jpg, Towards the top of Hacking Knife File:Mottram Church from Werneth Low - geograph.org.uk - 1515998.jpg, Looking east from Werneth Low towards

with the hills of the

Peak District The Peak District is an Highland, upland area in central-northern England, at the southern end of the Pennines. Mostly in Derbyshire, it extends into Cheshire, Greater Manchester, Staffordshire, West Yorkshire and South Yorkshire. It is subdivi ...

in the background File:Tameside Trail at Werneth Low - geograph.org.uk - 1007659.jpg, Looking west along the Low, with the Hyde Cenotaph in the background File:View from Werneth Low - geograph.org.uk - 1121709.jpg, Looking north from Werneth Low across

and

Oldham Oldham is a town in Greater Manchester, England. It lies amongst the Pennines on elevated ground between the rivers River Irk, Irk and River Medlock, Medlock, southeast of Rochdale, and northeast of Manchester. It is the administrative cent ...

File:View of the Greater Manchester County.jpg, Looking north-west from Werneth Low towards

Manchester Manchester () is a city and the metropolitan borough of Greater Manchester, England. It had an estimated population of in . Greater Manchester is the third-most populous metropolitan area in the United Kingdom, with a population of 2.92&nbs ...

city centre File:Werneth Low from near Windy Harbour.JPG, Looking north-west along the top of the Low File:Werneth Low Sunrise - geograph.org.uk - 952978.jpg, Sunrise from the top of Werneth Low

References

Bibliography

External links

{{commons category, Werneth Low
Werneth Low Country Park

Hyde War Memorial Trust
Mountains and hills of the Pennines Geography of Tameside Tourist attractions in Tameside Geography of the Metropolitan Borough of Stockport Tourist attractions in the Metropolitan Borough of Stockport Protected areas of Greater Manchester Country parks in Greater Manchester Hyde, Greater Manchester Mountains and hills of the United Kingdom with toposcopes