Saddleworth Moor facts for kids
Quick facts for kids Saddleworth Moor |
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Saddleworth Moor towards Dovestone Reservoir
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| Geography | |
 Saddleworth Moor
Location in Greater Manchester
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| Location | Northern England |
| Parent range | Peak District |
| Geology | |
| Mountain type | Moorland |
| Climbing | |
| Easiest route | Pennine Way |
Saddleworth Moor is a moorland in North West England. Reaching more than 1,312 feet (400 m) above sea level, it is in the Dark Peak area of the Peak District National Park. It is crossed by the A635 road and the Pennine Way passes to its eastern side.
Contents
Geography
The moor takes its name from the parish of Saddleworth to the west, historically in the West Riding of Yorkshire, although it is on the western side of the Pennines and so has been part of Greater Manchester since 1974. The moor, an elevated plateau with gritstone escarpments or edges and, around its margins, deeply incised v-shaped valleys or cloughs with fast-flowing streams, straddles the metropolitan boroughs of Oldham in Greater Manchester and Kirklees in West Yorkshire. 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 and West Yorkshire Urban Areas. The A635 is known locally as the Isle of Skye road, taking the name from a former public house at Wessenden Head 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, 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 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 is the most dominant feature but sphagnum mosses are scarce. Heather, crowberry, bilberry and the rare cloudberry are also found. The peat formation is 9,000 years old but extensive areas contain bare peat from which the surface has eroded.
Reservoirs
Dovestone, Yeoman Hey, Greenfield and Chew Reservoirs east of Oldham, are accessed from the A635 road. They supply water to the surrounding area. The valley is surrounded by rocky outcrops and moorland. Spruce and pine 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 at 1,601 feet (488 m) 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.
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. On 30 June firefighters were still fighting the blaze. Greater Manchester Mayor Andy Burnham 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.
See also
In Spanish: Pradera de Saddleworth para niños
