Saddleworth Moor is an area of the
South PenninesSouth Pennines is a region of moorland and hill country in northern England lying towards the southern end of the Pennines. It is bounded to the west by the Forest of Rossendale and the Yorkshire Dales to the north...
in
northern EnglandNorthern England, also known as the North of England, the North or the North Country, is a cultural region of England. It is not an official government region, but rather an informal amalgamation of counties. The southern extent of the region is roughly the River Trent, while the North is bordered...
. It is a sparsely populated
moorlandMoorland or moor is a type of habitat, in the temperate grasslands, savannas, and shrublands biome, found in upland areas, characterised by low-growing vegetation on acidic soils and heavy fog...
and millstone grit divided between the metropolitan boroughs of
OldhamThe Metropolitan Borough of Oldham is a metropolitan borough of Greater Manchester, England. It has a population of 219,600, and spans . The borough is named after its largest town, Oldham, but also includes the outlying towns of Chadderton, Failsworth, Royton and Shaw and Crompton, the village of...
and
KirkleesThe Metropolitan Borough of Kirklees is a metropolitan borough of West Yorkshire, England. It has a population of 401,000 and includes the settlements of Batley, Birstall, Cleckheaton, Denby Dale, Dewsbury, Heckmondwike, Holmfirth, Huddersfield, Kirkburton, Marsden, Meltham, Mirfield and Slaithwaite...
, in
Greater ManchesterGreater Manchester is a metropolitan county in North West England, with a population of 2.6 million. It encompasses one of the largest metropolitan areas in the United Kingdom and comprises ten metropolitan boroughs: Bolton, Bury, Oldham, Rochdale, Stockport, Tameside, Trafford, Wigan, and the...
and
West YorkshireWest Yorkshire is a metropolitan county within the Yorkshire and the Humber region of England with a population of 2.2 million. West Yorkshire came into existence as a metropolitan county in 1974 after the passage of the Local Government Act 1972....
respectively.
Deep valleys cut into the landscape of Saddleworth Moor, traversed by A roads between the
Greater Manchester Urban AreaThe Greater Manchester Urban Area is an area of land defined by the Office for National Statistics consisting of the large conurbation that encompasses the city of Manchester and the continuous metropolitan area that spreads outwards from it, forming much of Greater Manchester in North West England...
and the
West Yorkshire Urban AreaThe West Yorkshire Urban Area is a term used by the Office for National Statistics to refer to a conurbation in West Yorkshire, England, based around the cities of Leeds, Bradford and Wakefield, and the large town of Huddersfield...
.
The moor takes its name from the settlement of
SaddleworthSaddleworth is a civil parish of the Metropolitan Borough of Oldham in Greater Manchester, England. It comprises several villages and hamlets amongst the west side of the Pennine hills: Uppermill, Greenfield, Dobcross, Delph, Diggle and others...
to the west, historically in
YorkshireYorkshire is a historic county of northern England and the largest in the United Kingdom. Because of its great size in comparison to other English counties, functions have been increasingly undertaken over time by its subdivisions, which have also been subject to periodic reform...
although on the western side of the
PenninesThe Pennines are a low-rising mountain range, separating the North West of England from Yorkshire and the North East.Often described as the "backbone of England", they form a more-or-less continuous range stretching from the Peak District in Derbyshire, around the northern and eastern edges of...
, 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 WayThe Pennine Way is a National Trail in England. The trail runs from Edale, in the northern Derbyshire Peak District, north through the Yorkshire Dales and the Northumberland National Park and ends at Kirk Yetholm, just inside the Scottish border. The path runs along the Pennine hills, sometimes...
arrives from the
Wessenden valleyThe Wessenden Valley is a moorland valley nestled amidst the Dark Peak, immediately south of the large village of Marsden in the English county of West Yorkshire...
to the north and crosses the moor on its ascent to
Black HillBlack Hill is a hill in the Peak District, England.It used to be the highest point in Cheshire, but now lies on the border between the boroughs of Kirklees in West Yorkshire and High Peak in Derbyshire, reaching above sea level....
on
Holme MossHolme Moss is a moor in the south Pennines of England, on the border between the High Peak District of Derbyshire and the West Yorkshire district of Kirklees. It is just inside the boundary of the Peak District National Park....
to the south.
The
A635 roadThe A635 is a main road that runs between Manchester and Doncaster running east–west through Stalybridge, Saddleworth Moor, Holmfirth and Barnsley....
, known locally as the Isle of Skye road, passes across the moor. It takes its name from a
public houseA public house, informally known as a pub, is a drinking establishment fundamental to the culture of Britain, Ireland, Australia and New Zealand. There are approximately 53,500 public houses in the United Kingdom. This number has been declining every year, so that nearly half of the smaller...
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 murderersThe Moors murders were carried out by Ian Brady and Myra Hindley between July 1963 and October 1965, in and around what is now Greater Manchester, England. The victims were five children aged between 10 and 17—Pauline Reade, John Kilbride, Keith Bennett, Lesley Ann Downey and Edward Evans—at least...
. In October 1965 the bodies of Lesley Ann Downey and John Kilbride were found there. The body of
Edward EvansEdward Evans may refer to:*Edward Evans *Edward Evans * Edward Evans , victim of the Moors murders in England* Edward Evans, 1st Baron Mountevans , British naval officer and Antarctic explorer...
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.