The moor, an elevated plateau with gritstone escarpments or edges and, around its margins, deeply incised v-shaped valleys or cloughs[a] with fast-flowing streams, straddles the metropolitan boroughs of Oldham in Greater Manchester and Kirklees in West Yorkshire.

The A635 is known locally as the Isle of Skye road, taking the name from a former public house at Wessenden Head, Upperthong that was demolished after a fire.

[4][5] The Pennine Way arrives from the Wessenden Valley to the north and crosses the moor on its ascent to Black Hill on Holme Moss to the south.

Scattered farmsteads, built of gritstone, and fields demarcated by dry stone walls are on the lower land and in the valleys where there is some coniferous woodland.

Spruce and pine plantations are found in the valley and broad-leaved trees have been introduced to provide a more diverse habitat.

[7] In August 1949, a BEA Douglas DC3 crashed into the hill at Wimberry Stones at the top of the Chew Valley killing 24 passengers and crew and leaving eight survivors.

In October 1965, following their arrest for the murder of Edward Evans in Hattersley, the bodies of Lesley Ann Downey and John Kilbride were discovered buried on the moors.

[9] On 30 September 2022 Greater Manchester Police searched for the body of Bennett after receiving information from amateur investigator and author Russell Edwards.

[11] In December 2015, the body of an unknown man was found beneath Rob's Rocks on the track between Chew and Dovestone Reservoirs.