South Pennines

Peat soils and blanket bog on the moors store carbon while high rainfall fills many reservoirs supplying water to the adjacent conurbations.

The oldest of these are the limestones and associated mudstones which outcrop in the northernmost part of the region, though which are thought to underlie the entire area at depth.

Coal Measures rocks occur along the eastern and western margins of the region, on either side of the 'Pennine Anticline', and across much of the West Pennines.

[1] Settlements within the South Pennines include Addingham, Ilkley and Otley in the north, as well as Bingley, Keighley, Haworth and Oxenhope.

These also include Marsden, Slaithwaite and Meltham in the south-east, Darwen, Haslingden and Rawtenstall in Lancashire, and Greenfield, Horwich, Ramsbottom, Oldham, Rochdale, Wardle, and Littleborough in Greater Manchester.

Natural England describes the South Pennine moorlands as the Watershed Landscape where the area's high rainfall fills a multitude of reservoirs.

[8] Steep-sided valleys with fast flowing streams provided power and water for the area's early mills and factories.

The South Pennines Walk & Ride Festival which takes place annually in September is a two-week celebration of the area's landscape.