The Roaches
| The Roaches | |
|---|---|
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| Elevation | 505 m (1,657 ft) |
| Prominence | c. 120 m (394 ft) |
| Parent peak | Shining Tor |
| Listing | Dewey |
| Location | |
| Location | Staffordshire,  England |
| Range | Peak District |
| Topo map | OS Landranger 119110 |
| OS grid | SK001638 |
The Roaches (from the French les roches - the rocks) is the name given to a prominent rocky ridge situated above Leek and Tittesworth Reservoir in the Peak District of England. The ridge with its spectacular rock formations rises steeply to 505 m (1,657 ft).
Along with Ramshaw Rocks and Hen Cloud they form a gritstone escarpment, which is very popular with hikers, rock climbers and freerunners. It is often very busy especially at weekends. The local mountain rescue team is a regular attendee to this popular crag.
The Roaches Estate which includes Hen Cloud was purchased by the Peak District National Park Authority in the 1980s to safeguard the area from adverse development. The British Mountaineering Council maintain a mountain hut named in memory of Don Whillans in the area.
In clear conditions, it is possible to see much of Cheshire and views stretching as far as Snowdon in Wales and Winter Hill in Lancashire.
The Roaches are the most prominent part of a curving ridge which extends for several miles from Hen Cloud in the south to Back Forest and Hangingstone in the northwest. Nearby are the broad hills of Gun and Mixon.
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[edit] Geology
The Roaches, Hen Cloud and Ramshaw Rocks are formed from a thick bed of coarse sandstone ('gritstone') of Namurian age - a subdivision of the NW European Carboniferous system from ca 315 to 326.4 Ma, which occurs widely across the Peak District and takes its name - the Roaches Grit - from this location. The nearby Five Clouds are formed from a thinner bed of similar sandstone known as the Five Clouds Sandstone. These sandstones originated as delta sands dropped by major rivers draining a mountainous landmass to the north. The sandstone beds of both The Roaches and Hen Cloud dip moderately steeply to the east into the north-south aligned syncline known as the Goyt Trough. The same beds at Ramshaw Rocks dip steeply to the northwest into the syncline. The southern end of the Roaches is defined by the presence of an east-west fault which runs through the col separating the Roaches from Hen Cloud.[1]
[edit] Wildlife
In the 1930s five Australian Bennett's wallabies were released into the wild from a private collection.[2] A small colony is believed to continue to live there.[3][4]
In 2008, a pair of Peregrine Falcons successfully bred on the Roaches, causing climbing on part of the rock face to be suspended for a period.[5]
[edit] References
- ^ British Geological Survey 1:50,000 map sheet 111 'Buxton' & associated memoir
- ^ Tozer, James (2009-07-09). "Return of the wallabies: Pictures prove that Aussie marsupials are still hopping around Peak District after fears they had died out". Daily Mail. http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-1198642/Return-wallabies-Pictures-prove-Aussie-marsupials-hopped-oblivion--Peak-District.html. Retrieved 2009-10-17.
- ^ "The Roaches". BBC Countryfile. http://www.bbccountryfilemagazine.com/route/roaches. Retrieved 2009-10-17.
- ^ Lester, Paula. "Mow your grass with a wallaby". Country Life. http://www.countrylife.co.uk/countryside/article/396607/Mow-your-grass-with-a-wallaby.html. Retrieved 2009-10-17.
- ^ "Peregrines breed successfully at the Roaches". BMC. 10 July 2008. http://www.thebmc.co.uk/News.aspx?id=2667. Retrieved 21 October 2011.
[edit] External links
- The Roaches Website
- Roaches Tea Rooms Information
- A page partly about the Roaches - from a website about the town of Leek, Staffordshire and the Staffordshire Moorlands
- another page about the Roaches from a different website about the Peak District
- Computer generated summit panorama The Roaches index
- Water colour of the Roaches seen from Hen Cloud
- A novice rock climber on a route called Prow corner at the Roaches
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