Standedge () is a

moorland Moorland or moor is a type of Habitat (ecology), habitat found in upland (geology), upland areas in temperate grasslands, savannas, and shrublands and the biomes of montane grasslands and shrublands, characterised by low-growing vegetation on So ...

escarpment An escarpment is a steep slope or long cliff that forms as a result of faulting or erosion and separates two relatively level areas having different elevations. Due to the similarity, the term '' scarp'' may mistakenly be incorrectly used inte ...

in the Pennine Hills of northern England between

Marsden, West Yorkshire Marsden is a large village in the Colne Valley, in the metropolitan borough of Kirklees, West Yorkshire, England. It is in the South Pennines close to the Peak District which lies to the south. The village is west of Huddersfield at the conflu ...

and

Diggle, Greater Manchester Diggle is a village in the civil parish of the Saddleworth in Metropolitan Borough of Oldham, in Greater Manchester, England. The village is situated on the moorlands of the Pennine hills. Historically part of the West Riding of Yorkshire, i ...

. Standedge has been a major moorland crossing point since

Roman times In modern historiography, ancient Rome is the Roman civilisation from the founding of the Italian city of Rome in the 8th century BC to the collapse of the Western Roman Empire in the 5th century AD. It encompasses the Roman Kingd ...

and possibly earlier. From east to west, Standedge is crossed by five generations of road crossing, the earliest a

Roman road Roman roads ( ; singular: ; meaning "Roman way") were physical infrastructure vital to the maintenance and development of the Roman state, built from about 300 BC through the expansion and consolidation of the Roman Republic and the Roman Em ...

from

York York is a cathedral city in North Yorkshire, England, with Roman Britain, Roman origins, sited at the confluence of the rivers River Ouse, Yorkshire, Ouse and River Foss, Foss. It has many historic buildings and other structures, such as a Yor ...

Chester Chester is a cathedral city in Cheshire, England, on the River Dee, Wales, River Dee, close to the England–Wales border. With a built-up area population of 92,760 in 2021, it is the most populous settlement in the borough of Cheshire West an ...

and the latest the A62 road. The

Huddersfield Narrow Canal The Huddersfield Narrow Canal is an Navigability, inland waterway in northern England. It runs just under from Lock 1E at the rear of the University of Huddersfield campus, near Aspley, West Yorkshire, Aspley Basin in Huddersfield, to the ju ...

and the railway line from

Leeds Leeds is a city in West Yorkshire, England. It is the largest settlement in Yorkshire and the administrative centre of the City of Leeds Metropolitan Borough, which is the second most populous district in the United Kingdom. It is built aro ...

Manchester Manchester () is a city and the metropolitan borough of Greater Manchester, England. It had an estimated population of in . Greater Manchester is the third-most populous metropolitan area in the United Kingdom, with a population of 2.92&nbs ...

pass underground in the Standedge Tunnels. The

Pennine Way The Pennine Way is a National Trail in England, with a small section in Scotland. The trail stretches for from Edale, in the northern Derbyshire Peak District, north through the Yorkshire Dales and Northumberland National Park and ends at Kir ...

long-distance footpath passes through Standedge in a north–south direction along the Pennines. Much of Standedge is in the National Trust's Marsden Moor Estate. Administratively, Standedge is split between

Kirklees Kirklees is a metropolitan borough of West Yorkshire, England. The borough comprises the ten towns of Batley, Birstall, West Yorkshire, Birstall, Cleckheaton, Dewsbury, Heckmondwike, Holmfirth, Huddersfield, Meltham, Mirfield and Slaithwaite. It ...

and

Oldham Oldham is a town in Greater Manchester, England. It lies amongst the Pennines on elevated ground between the rivers River Irk, Irk and River Medlock, Medlock, southeast of Rochdale, and northeast of Manchester. It is the administrative cent ...

Surface crossings

The earliest known crossing of Standedge is the

connecting the Roman forts at Slack and Castleshaw, on the way from York to Chester. The road is believed to have been built in AD 80. Its course was identified in 1969 to the north-east of Castleshaw fort, climbing Standedge Ridge by means of a graded terraceway. It was originally more than 22 feet (6.7 m) wide but has been considerably eroded. After the Roman road fell into disuse, travel across the moors was restricted to tracks, used by

packhorse A packhorse, pack horse, or sumpter refers to a horse, mule, donkey, or pony used to carry goods on its back, usually in sidebags or panniers. Typically packhorses are used to cross difficult terrain, where the absence of roads prevents the use of ...

s. One crossed from Marsden to

Rochdale Rochdale ( ) is a town in Greater Manchester, England, and the administrative centre of the Metropolitan Borough of Rochdale. In the United Kingdom 2021 Census, 2021 Census, the town had a population of 111,261, compared to 223,773 for the wid ...

. Narrow and

packhorse bridge A packhorse bridge is a bridge intended to carry packhorses (horses loaded with sidebags or panniers) across a river or stream. Typically a packhorse bridge consists of one or more narrow (one horse wide) masonry arches, and has low Parapet#Bridg ...

s can be found in several places on the moors, including the ''Close Gate Bridge'' near Marsden. The first metalled road between Huddersfield to Manchester was built in 1760. It was followed by another road, known locally as ''the coach road'', built by John Metcalf (Blind Jack of

Knaresborough Knaresborough ( ) is a market and spa town and civil parish on the River Nidd in North Yorkshire, England. It is east of Harrogate and was in the Borough of Harrogate until April 2023. History The Knaresborough Hoard, the largest hoard of ...

) in 1791. It crossed the Pennine ridge south of the present Standedge cutting. In 1839 the coach road was replaced by a new turnpike road, the ''Wakefield and Austerlands Toll Road''. Trenches were cut in the coach road, to prevent it being used as a free alternative. This route is used today by the A62 road, crossing the summit of Standedge in a cutting. The

M62 motorway The M62 is a west–east Pennines, trans-Pennine motorway in Northern England, connecting Liverpool and Kingston upon Hull, Hull via Manchester, Bradford, Leeds and Wakefield; of the route Concurrency (road), is shared with the M60 motorway, ...

now carries most cross-Pennine road traffic on a different route to the north of Standedge.

Tunnel crossings

Four parallel tunnels run under Standedge between Diggle and Marsden. The single

canal Canals or artificial waterways are waterways or engineered channels built for drainage management (e.g. flood control and irrigation) or for conveyancing water transport vehicles (e.g. water taxi). They carry free, calm surface ...

tunnel on the Huddersfield Narrow Canal is the oldest, having been opened in 1811, and is still in use. Three railway tunnels were opened, the first in 1848, and in 1871 and 1894, but only the 1894 tunnel still carries rail traffic. The four tunnels are linked by cross-tunnels or

adit An adit (from Latin ''aditus'', entrance) or stulm is a horizontal or nearly horizontal passage to an underground mine. Miners can use adits for access, drainage, ventilation, and extracting minerals at the lowest convenient level. Adits are a ...

s at strategic intervals inside the tunnels, and the 1848 rail tunnel has been made accessible to road vehicles for use as an emergency access and evacuation route for the other tunnels.

Standedge

Standedge is a sparsely populated area, although it does have two former

public house A pub (short for public house) is in several countries a drinking establishment licensed to serve alcoholic drinks for consumption Licensing laws of the United Kingdom#On-licence, on the premises. The term first appeared in England in the ...

s – the Carriage House and the Great Western – within a few hundred metres of each other on the A62 road. There are two reservoirs and pathways for hikers. Standedge can be accessed by bus on the

184 __NOTOC__ Year 184 ( CLXXXIV) was a leap year starting on Wednesday of the Julian calendar. At the time, it was known as the Year of the Consulship of Eggius and Aelianus (or, less frequently, year 937 ''Ab urbe condita''). The denomination 18 ...

service between Huddersfield and Manchester via

. The service is run by

First Greater Manchester First Greater Manchester is a bus operator in Greater Manchester. It is a subsidiary of the FirstGroup, operating franchised Bee Network bus services on contract to Transport for Greater Manchester (TfGM). The operator was once dominant in the n ...

and there are bus stops on each side of the road near the summit of Standedge (at the crossing of the

and Pennine Bridleway). The buses are hourly Monday to Saturday daytime and run every two hours on Sunday daytimes.

References

{{coord, 53, 34, 59.51, N, 01, 58, 8.51, W, region:GB_type:landmark, display=title Geography of Kirklees Geography of the Metropolitan Borough of Oldham Mountains and hills of the Peak District Hills of West Yorkshire Mountains and hills of Greater Manchester Escarpments of England Mountains and hills of the Pennines