Penistone Hill Country Park facts for kids
Quick facts for kids Penistone Hill Country Park |
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The view north-west from the trig point in Penistone Hill Country Park
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| Type | Country Park |
| Location | West Yorkshire |
| Area | 72 hectares (180 acres) |
| Operated by | City of Bradford MDC Owned by Yorkshire Water |
| Open | All year (unrestricted access) |
| Status | Open |
Penistone Hill Country Park is a large open area of moorland in West Yorkshire, England. It's located about 0.5 kilometres (0.3 miles) west of Haworth and 1 kilometre (0.6 miles) north-west of Oxenhope. The highest point in the park has a special marker called a trig point, which is 1,030 feet (314 metres) above sea level. Since 1994, this park has been part of the South Pennine Moors, which is a protected area known as a SSSI.
The name Penistone Hill might come from an old gambling game called Gamepenny Stone. People used to gather here to play this game, especially in the old quarries. Sometimes, they even got into trouble with the local police for playing on public roads or on Sundays!
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Exploring Penistone Hill Country Park
Penistone Hill Country Park covers about 72 hectares (178 acres). It is surrounded by public roads on its western, northern, and eastern sides. You can find many paths to enter the park and there are eight car parks. Even though Yorkshire Water owns the land, the City of Bradford Metropolitan District Council helps manage and look after it.
This area used to be an industrial moorland where people dug for sandstone. Now, it's a beautiful park with amazing 360-degree views of the valleys and moorland around it. It's a popular starting point for many walks across the moors.
Nature and Landscape
The park is mostly open land covered in heather. In summer, you can find lots of bilberries growing here. Penistone Hill has many interesting rock formations and small ponds. These ponds were once used to drain the moorland when people were mining for coal. One large pond might even be a dip left by an old mine shaft. The coal found here wasn't very good quality, so when the railway arrived in the Worth Valley, better coal was brought in from other places.
Haworth Cemetery
Haworth Cemetery is also located within the park. It opened in 1893 because the graveyard next to St Michael and All Angels Church in Haworth became full. The cemetery is the resting place of Lily Cove, who was a stunt parachutist in the early 1900s. Sadly, in 1906, she fell to her death while preparing to jump from a balloon.
Memorials and Art
Over time, people started placing memorial plants and benches in the park. However, some of these plants were not native to the moorland and could harm the natural habitat. Because of this, a new memorial garden was created in Haworth for these items. Since 2003, Penistone Hill has been home to an art project called Literary Landscapes. This artwork features two sets of stone books partly buried in the moorland. It was inspired by the area's strong connections to literature and its history of quarrying.
Quarrying History
In the past, sandstone was dug out from quarries in the park. There were at least three main quarries: Dimples, Penistone, and West End.
Dimples Quarry
Dimples Quarry provided high-quality stone for buildings in the local area and for roads. People continued to quarry sandstone here until the late 1960s. The quarry, which was 25 metres (82 feet) deep, was filled in during 1973. The stone from these quarries was so good that it was used for almost all the buildings in the upper Worth Valleys. In 2012, a special trail was created to show the history of quarrying and the geology of the area.
Stone from Dimples Quarry was also used to build Lower Laithe Reservoir near Stanbury. The quarried stone was transported the short distance to the reservoir using a small railway.
West End Quarry
West End Quarry was active between 1840 and 1960. The sandstone found here is called Woodhouse Flags. The way they got the stone was quite unusual. Workers would push a bar into the bottom of a sandstone cliff. A lookout at the top of the quarry would shout when cracks appeared in the stone above. Everyone would then run to safety as the cliff face collapsed!
The Brontë Family Connection
The famous Brontë family used Penistone Hill Country Park to reach the moors west of Haworth. Today, the Brontë Way walking path crosses through the park. Both Charlotte and Emily Brontë were inspired by the moors near their home, the parsonage, and the wild lands towards Top Withens. Charlotte once wrote that Emily found freedom in the lonely, wild landscape.
In March 2016, a part of the country park was used to build a copy of the Parsonage in Haworth. This allowed the BBC to film outdoor scenes for a drama about the Brontë family called To Walk Invisible. Even though the building was only temporary, some people thought it looked out of place. However, one local council member said it was quite realistic because the actual parsonage is now surrounded by trees that weren't there when the Brontë family lived there.
In 2010, an application was made to UNESCO about Haworth village and the surrounding landscape. The application mentioned that the Brontës and their famous books were shaped by their unique home and the wild landscape around them. Their home, Haworth Parsonage, their isolated village, and the amazing, wild moorland scenery were very important to their stories.
Annual Fell Race
The park is the starting point for a 6-mile (9.7 km) fell race called the Auld Lang Syne race. This race began in 1994 and has been held every year on New Year's Eve. It is sponsored by Daleside Brewery. Famous athletes like Alistair and Jonny Brownlee have won this race in the past.
