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Windgather Rocks

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Windgather Rocks from the south
Windgather Rocks from the south

The Windgather Rocks (416 metres/1,365 ft a.s.l.) is a gritstone crag on the Derbyshire–Cheshire border in England. It is in the Peak District National Park and is a popular site for learning the rudiments of rock climbing. As the name suggests the area is exposed to the prevailing westerly winds. The rocks lie above Taxal Edge and are part of a north–south ridge that starts between Kettleshulme and Whaley Bridge and culminates at Shining Tor. The crag was featured in the first guide to rock climbing in the Peak District, Some Gritstone Climbs, published in 1913 and written by John Laycock.

Excerpt from the Wikipedia article Windgather Rocks (License: CC BY-SA 3.0, Authors, Images).

Windgather Rocks
Side End Lane,

Geographical coordinates (GPS) Address Nearby Places
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Wikipedia: Windgather RocksContinue reading on Wikipedia

Geographical coordinates (GPS)

Latitude Longitude
N 53.30165 ° E -2.01046 °
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Address

Side End Lane

Side End Lane
SK23 7QX , Kettleshulme and Lyme Handley
England, United Kingdom
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Windgather Rocks from the south
Windgather Rocks from the south
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Nearby Places

Cats Tor
Cats Tor

Cats Tor is a Peak District hill on the border between Cheshire and Derbyshire, between the towns of Macclesfield and Buxton. The summit is 518 metres (1,699 ft) above sea level. Tor is an Old English word for a high, rocky hill.The higher peak of Shining Tor is about 2 km south along The Tors gritstone ridge. The ridge continues to the north past Windgather Rocks and Taxal Edge towards Whaley Bridge. On the west wide of the ridge, water drains into Todd Brook which feeds Toddbrook Reservoir. East of Cats Tor are views of the Goyt Valley, Foxlow Edge and Fernilee Reservoir.The moorland ridge on which Cats Tor lies is designated "Open Access" land for the public, following the Countryside and Rights of Way Act 2000. The closest access is from Pym Chair car park, from where a public footpath, laid on large stone slabs, runs south across Cats Tor and continues south along the ridge to Shining Tor. A local legend tells that Pym Chair is the spot where a highway man called Pym robbed passers by on the packhorse route. Another story is that Pym was a preacher who gave sermons there.The open gritstone moorlands of the Upper Goyt Valley (Wild Moor, Goyt's Moss, Burbage Edge, Shining Tor to Cats Tor ridge and Hop Moor) are a designated Site of Special Scientific Interest (SSSI). Heather is the main plant but the heathland is habitat for a variety of native grasses, rushes, sedges and shrubs including bilberry, crowberry, cowberry and cross-leaved heath. Hare’s-tail cottongrass and sphagnum moss are common along The Tors ridge. The area is important for upland breeding birds including a large population of golden plover, as well as red grouse, curlew, lapwing, whinchat, snipe, twite, ring ouzel and merlin.On 30 September 1943 two Republic P-47D Thunderbolt planes crashed on Cats Tor. Both pilots were killed. The USAAF aircraft were from the 2906th Observation Group. The planes were on a training flight from RAF Atcham. Both aircraft flew straight into the hillside in cloud in the mid-afternoon.Cats Tor is a popular location for paragliding, used by the Derbyshire Soaring Club and the Peak Soaring Association.Oldgate Nick, on the northern slope of Cats Tor, is a gritstone buttress with 15 graded rock climbing routes.

Toddbrook Reservoir
Toddbrook Reservoir

Toddbrook Reservoir, a feeder for the Peak Forest Canal, opened in 1838. It is above the town of Whaley Bridge in the High Peak area of Derbyshire, England. The reservoir is a Site of Special Scientific Interest (SSSI) providing habitats for herons, ducks and other animals and fish, while rare mosses and liverworts grow on its shores, particularly short-lived species that grow on seasonally exposed mud. The reservoir is used for sailing and angling. The Peak District Boundary Walk runs around the eastern end of the reservoir. The reservoir is owned by the Canal & River Trust and, like the nearby Combs Reservoir, is a feeder reservoir for the Peak Forest Canal. The feeder runs through Whaley Bridge, and with the Combs feed enters the canal system in a pool close to the transhipment shed at the Whaley Bridge canal basin. The reservoir is fed from the Todd Brook, a stream which has a catchment area of around 1,700 hectares (4,200 acres) including the moorland on Shining Tor and farmland around Kettleshulme village. Water enters the reservoir on its north bank via a small waterfall. The first several inches of water do not flow into the reservoir but flow down the reservoir's run-off into the River Goyt. The reservoir often receives little or no inflow during periods when rainfall does not allow the level to exceed the barrier, and this often affects the reservoir's water level, particularly in the summer months. The reservoir's dam is built from earth with a puddle clay core. The embankment is straight in plan and approximately 310m long. The average crest level is 187.3 metres (615 ft) AOD. In August 2019, concrete panels on its spillway were dislodged after heavy rain, triggering the evacuation of parts of Whaley Bridge and the surrounding area due to the possibility of the dam collapsing.