Saddleworth Moor

Saddleworth Moor
Saddleworth Moor towards Dovestones Reservoir
Location
Saddleworth Moor Location of Saddleworth Moor in Greater Manchester
Location	Northern England
Range	South Pennines
Coordinates	53°32′36″N 1°57′21″W
Climbing
Easiest route	Pennine Way

Saddleworth Moor is an area of the South Pennines in northern England. It is a sparsely populated moorland and millstone grit divided between the metropolitan boroughs of Oldham and Kirklees, in Greater Manchester and West Yorkshire respectively.

Deep valleys cut into the landscape of Saddleworth Moor, traversed by A roads between the Greater Manchester Urban Area and the West Yorkshire Urban Area.

The moor takes its name from the settlement of Saddleworth to the west, historically in Yorkshire although on the western side of the Pennines, but in Greater Manchester since 1974. The parts of the moor east of the present county boundary are also known as Wessenden Moor and Wessenden Head Moor.

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 A635 road, known locally as the Isle of Skye road, passes across the moor. It takes its name from a public house which was sited at Wessenden Head before it was demolished after a fire.

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 found there. The body of Edward Evans was found at their house in Hattersley along with evidence that pointed to the moors being the burial site. In November 1986, Hindley and Brady confessed to murdering Pauline Reade and Keith Bennett and burying their bodies on the moors. Pauline Reade's body was found on 1 July 1987, but the body of Keith Bennett has yet to be recovered.