Bleaklow

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Bleaklow

The boggy "summit" of Bleaklow
Elevation 633 m (2,077 ft)
Location Derbyshire, England, UK
Range Peak District
Prominence c. 128 m
Topo map OS Landranger 110
OS grid reference SK093959
Listing Hewitt, Nuttall
Listed summits of Bleaklow
Name Grid ref Height Status
Higher Shelf Stones SK089948 621 m Nuttall
Bleaklow Stones SK116964 628 m Nuttall

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 it is the source of the River Derwent.

Bleaklow Head, 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 Bleakow Head. Bleaklow includes the most easterly point in the British Isles over 2,000 feet, near Bleaklow Stones.

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.[1]

Bleaklow is part of the National Trust's High Peak Estate.

In exceptional weather conditions it is possible to see Snowdonia, and the 'Three Peaks' of the Yorkshire Dales: Ingleborough, Whernside and Pen-y-Ghent.


[edit] Picture Gallery

click on image to view full size

On 3 November 1948, Boeing RB-29A Superfortress 44-61999 of the 16th Photographic Reconnaissance Squadron, 91st Reconnaissance Group, 311th Air Division, Strategic Air Command, USAF crashed at Higher Shelf Stones whilst on route from Scampton to Burtonwood. A large amount of wreckage is still visible.


Engine wreckage on Shelfstones
Engine wreckage on Shelfstones
General view of the aircraft wreckage
General view of the aircraft wreckage
Memorial plaque by the wreckage
Memorial plaque by the wreckage
Trig point on Shelf Stones
Trig point on Shelf Stones


[edit] References

  1. ^ Pilton, Barry (1986). One Man and his Bog. Corgi Books, page 26. ISBN 0-552-12796-5. 

[edit] External links

  • Computer generated summit panorama Bleaklow index
  • There is a Dark Peak fieldwork website which includes a virtual tour of the Dark Peak area of the Peak District, and includes Bleaklow Dark Peak Co-authors are Cassandra Worman and Julia McMorrow (School of Geography, Manchester University). [link broken]
  • PeakDistrictAirCrashes.co.uk. Resources about the B-29 wreck and other air accidents in this region.