Bleaklow

Bleaklow Head
The boggy "summit" of Bleaklow
Highest point
Elevation	633 m (2,077 ft) ^[1]
Prominence	128 m^[1]
Parent peak	Kinder Scout
Listing	Hewitt, Nuttall, HuMP
Coordinates	53°27′36″N 1°51′45″W / 53.4600°N 1.8626°W / 53.4600; -1.8626Coordinates: 53°27′36″N 1°51′45″W / 53.4600°N 1.8626°W / 53.4600; -1.8626
Geography
Location	Derbyshire, England, UK
Parent range	Peak District
OS grid	SK094960
Topo map	OS Landranger 110

Name	Grid ref	Height	Status
Listed summits of Bleaklow
Higher Shelf Stones	SK089948	621 m	Nuttall
Bleaklow Stones	SK116964	628 m

Bleaklow

Map showing the location of Bleaklow within Derbyshire

Bleaklow is a high, largely peat covered, gritstone moorland, just north of Kinder Scout, across the Snake Pass (A57), in the Derbyshire High Peak near the town of Glossop. Much of it is nearly 2,000 feet (610 m) above sea level and the shallow bowl of Swains Greave on its eastern side is the source of the River Derwent.

Bleaklow Head (633 m), marked by a huge cairn of stones, is the high point at the western side of the moor, is a Hewitt and is crossed by the Pennine Way. It is one of three summits on this plateau above 2,000 feet, the others being Bleaklow Stones, some 1.9 miles (3 km) to the east along an indefinite ridge, and Higher Shelf Stones, 0.9 miles (1.5 km) south of Bleaklow Head. At 633 metres (2,077 feet), Bleaklow is the second highest point in Derbyshire and the area includes the most easterly point in the British Isles over 2,000 feet, near Bleaklow Stones.

Description

Much of the main plateau of Bleaklow is a boggy peat moorland, seamed by 'groughs' (pronounced 'gruffs', water-eroded channels in the peat), and lacking strong changes in elevation – in poor conditions its traverse is probably the most navigationally challenging in the Peak District. ^[2]

Conservation

Bleaklow is part of the National Trust's High Peak Estate. There has been considerable investment of resources in recent years to block many of the eroded peat gulleys as part of major schemes to re-wet and restore healthy Sphagnum moss communities which are essential for peat formation, carbon-capture, and reduction in dissolved carbon which contaminates water supplies. Much of this work has been coordinated by the Moors for the Future project, funded by EU LIFE+ programme between 2010-2015. This involved laying 52 kilometres of geotextiles to stabilise eroded peat, creating 4,000 mini dams to retain water, introducing 150,000 moorland plants and spreading 807 million Sphagnum fragments across the whole Bleaklow Project site.^[3]

Views

The summit affords views across Manchester, Lancashire and Cheshire to the west and towards Holme Moss, Emley Moor and Yorkshire to the east. In exceptional weather conditions it is possible to see Snowdonia in North Wales.

Aircraft crash

On 3 November 1948, USAF Boeing RB-29A Superfortress 44-61999, of the 16th Photographic Reconnaissance Squadron, 91st Reconnaissance Group, 311th Air Division, Strategic Air Command; crashed at Higher Shelf Stones, Bleaklow, whilst en route from Scampton to Burtonwood. All 13 crew members were killed. A large amount of wreckage is still visible, as a memorial to the crash. Also, a proper memorial was erected at the site in 1988. There is public access to the area.

Gallery

Engine wreckage on Shelfstones	General view of the aircraft wreckage	Memorial plaque by the wreckage	Trig point on Shelf Stones	Descending eroded peat gully on east flank of Bleaklow.

References

1 2 Bleaklow Head at www.hill-bagging.co.uk. Retrieved 11 March 2016
↑ Pilton, Barry (1986). One Man and his Bog. Corgi Books. p. 26. ISBN 0-552-12796-5.
↑ "Moors for the Future - MoorLIFE Project Sites - Bleaklow". Retrieved 17 August 2015.

External links

Wikimedia Commons has media related to Bleaklow.

Peak District Information- Bleaklow
Computer-generated summit panorama Bleaklow index
Photographs and grid reference of RB-29 wreck site and other crash sites on Bleaklow aircrashsites.co.uk.
PeakDistrictAirCrashes.co.uk. Resources about the B-29 wreck and other air accidents in this region.

Peaks of the Peak District of England

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Other peaks	Abney Low Aleck Low Allman Well Hill Alport Height Axe Edge Moor Back Tor Beeley Moor Big Moor Birchen Edge Black Chew Head Blake Low Blakelow Hill Bleaklow Bole Hill Bolehill Bosley Minn Britland Edge Hill Brittain's Plantation Brown Knoll Bunster Hill Burton Bole End Calver Peak Cheeks Hill Chinley Churn Chrome Hill The Cloud Combs Moss Croker Hill Crook Hill Dead Edge End Derwent Edge Durham Edge Eccles Pike Ecton Hill Eldon Hill Emlin Eyam Moor - Sir William Hill Featherbed Moss Featherbed Top Fin Cop Froggatt Edge Gardom's Edge Gautries Hill Gibraltar Rocks Gratton Hill Great Ridge Grindslow Knoll Gun Harborough Rocks Hare Edge Hill Harridge Pike Hartcliff Hill Haven Hill Hawks Low The Height Heights of Abraham Higger Tor High Field High Low High Neb High Wheeldon Higher Shelf Stones Hollins Cross Houndkirk Hill Lantern Pike Lees Moor Longstone Moor Lord's Seat Lose Hill Lost Lad Low Moor Mam Tor Margery Hill Merryton Low Middleton Moor Minninglow Hill Nelson's Monument Ossoms Hill Parkhouse Hill Pike Low Pikenaze Hill The Roaches Rock Hall Rushup Edge Sheen Hill Shutlingsloe Slipper Low Snailsden Pike End Snels Low Sponds Hill Stanage Edge Stanton Moor Tegg's Nose Thorpe Cloud Totley Moor Ughill Height Wardlow Hay Cop West Nab Wetton Hill Whaley Moor Wibben Hill Wild Bank Win Hill Windgather Rocks Wire Stone Wolfscote Hill

List of peaks of the Peak District

This article is issued from Wikipedia - version of the Friday, March 11, 2016. The text is available under the Creative Commons Attribution/Share Alike but additional terms may apply for the media files.