Bleaklow

Bleaklow Head
The boggy "summit" of Bleaklow
Elevation	633 m (2,077 ft)
Prominence	c. 128 m
Parent peak	Kinder Scout
Listing	Hewitt, Nuttall
Location
Location	Derbyshire, England, UK
Range	Peak District
Coordinates	53.4600°N 1.8626°W / 53.4600; -1.8626
Topo map	OS Landranger 110
OS grid	SK093959

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

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 Bleaklow 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.

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

In exceptional weather conditions it is possible to see Snowdonia.

Picture gallery

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 on route from Scampton to Burtonwood. All 13 crewmembers 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.

Engine wreckage on Shelfstones

General view of the aircraft wreckage

Memorial plaque by the wreckage

Trig point on Shelf Stones

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.