Girish Mahajan (Editor)

Saddleworth Moor

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Location
  
Northern England

Easiest route
  
Pennine Way

Mountain type
  
Moorland

Parent range
  
South Pennines

Saddleworth Moor httpsuploadwikimediaorgwikipediacommonsthu

Similar
  
Dovestone Reservoir, Ashworth Hospital, Pennines, Greenfield Reservoir, Yeoman Hey Reservoir

Brady and hindley route to saddleworth moor


Saddleworth Moor is in the South Pennines in North West England. The moorland, reaching more than 1,312 feet (400 m) above sea level, 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

Map of Saddleworth Moor, Oldham, UK

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, but a 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 8 survivors.

The moor became infamous as the burial site of four victims of Ian Brady and Myra Hindley, the Moors murderers. In October 1965 the bodies of Lesley Ann Downey and John Kilbride were discovered, having been buried there during the previous two years. John Kilbride was murdered on the moors by Brady in the absence of Hindley, while Lesley Ann Downey was murdered at the couple's house in nearby Hattersley before being buried on the moors. After finding other evidence elsewhere connecting Brady and Hindley to the missing two children, the police were led to Saddleworth Moor by photographs found among Brady's possessions, and claims by Hindley's brother-in-law David Smith that Brady had boasted of committing several murders and burying the bodies on Saddleworth Moor.

The body of Pauline Reade, their first victim in July 1963, was recovered on 1 July 1987, almost a year after Brady and Hindley admitted murdering her. They also admitted murdering Keith Bennett in June 1964, but his body has never been found. Brady had killed his fifth victim, Edward Evans, at his house in Hattersley, but was arrested before he had chance to dispose of it.

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.

References

Saddleworth Moor Wikipedia