Pennines

The Pennines, also called the Pennine Chain or Pennine Hills, are a group of high lands mainly found in Northern England. They are often called the "backbone of England" because they stretch far and sit in the middle part of the country. The Pennines start in Derbyshire and Staffordshire and go up to Northumberland in the north-east.

From the Tyne Gap in the north, the range goes south through the North Pennines, Yorkshire Dales, South Pennines, and the Peak District, ending near the River Trent. Some areas like the Border Moors and Cheviot Hills are also sometimes included.

The Pennines are split into two parts by the Aire Gap, a wide space made by river valleys. There are also smaller groups of hills, called spurs, that stretch west into places like Greater Manchester and Lancashire. These include the Rossendale Fells, West Pennine Moors, and Bowland Fells. The Howgill Fells and Orton Fells in Cumbria are sometimes thought of as part of the Pennines too.

Many parts of the Pennines are protected as special natural areas, such as national parks and national landscapes. These include the Northumberland National Park, Yorkshire Dales National Park, and Peak District National Park. One of the oldest long walking paths in Britain, the Pennine Way, runs through most of the Pennines.

Name

The name "Pennines" might come from an old Brittonic or Welsh word meaning "head" or "top." It became popular in the 18th century and could also be inspired by the Apennine Mountains in Italy.

Many places in the Pennines have names from old Celtic, Anglo-Saxon, and Norse languages. For example, words like gill (narrow valley), beck (small stream), fell (hill), and dale (valley) are still used in everyday speech in areas like Yorkshire, Teesdale, and Cumbria.

Geography

The Pennines, also called the Pennine Chain or Pennine Hills, are a range of high land mainly in Northern England. They run from Derbyshire and Staffordshire in the Midlands up to Northumberland in North East England. The range starts near the Tyne Gap in the north and goes south through areas like the North Pennines, Yorkshire Dales, South Pennines, and Peak District, ending near the River Trent.

The Pennines are surrounded by lowlands such as the Eden Valley, Vale of York, and Midland Plains. The landscape includes high moorlands and river valleys. The Peak District has hills and valleys, while the Yorkshire Dales and North Pennines are more mountainous with plateaus and fells. The highest point is Cross Fell at 2,930 feet.

Rivers flowing from the Pennines go to both the Irish Sea and the North Sea. The climate is cooler and wetter than surrounding areas, with more snow in winter. This weather helps create the area's special plants and animals, and many towns are built along the rivers that flow from the Pennines.

Geology

The Pennines were shaped from ancient rock layers that form a long curve running north to south. In the north, the rocks are part of the Alston Block, and in the area known as the Yorkshire Dales, they belong to the Askrigg Block. Further south, the Peak District looks like a flat-topped dome.

These rocks are made from Carboniferous limestone covered by Millstone Grit. The limestone appears on the surface in many places, creating big cave systems and rivers. Some of the deepest caves in England are found here, like Gaping Gill and Rowten Pot. Erosion has also formed special limestone pavements, such as those at Malham Cove.

Between these limestone areas lies a band of gritstone. Here, shales and sandstones create high, wild moorlands covered with bracken, peat, heather, and grasses. This higher ground is too rough for farming or even much grazing.

History

The Pennines have a long history. People lived there during the Bronze Age, and we can still see old stone circles and henges like Long Meg and Her Daughters from even earlier Neolithic times.

During Roman times, groups of tribes called the Brigantes lived there. Later, people from Anglo-Saxon times moved through the valleys. In the Dark Ages, different kingdoms controlled the area. During the time of the Vikings, people from Denmark and Norway settled there, influencing the names and culture of the region.

Demography

The Pennine region has fewer people living there compared to other parts of England. Bigger towns and cities are found around the edges of the southern Pennines, such as Barnsley, Chesterfield, Halifax, Huddersfield, Macclesfield, Oldham, Bury, Rochdale, Middleton, and Stockport. Cities like Bradford, Derby, Leeds, Manchester, Sheffield, Stoke-on-Trent, and Wakefield are also nearby. The highest village in the United Kingdom is Flash, sitting at 1,519 feet (463 m) tall, located near the southern end of the Pennines in Staffordshire.

Economy

The Pennines have many important jobs and activities. People there work in sheep farming, quarrying, finance, and tourism. In the Peak District, many people make their living by welcoming visitors. They also work in making things and digging up useful rocks like limestone for building roads and cement. There are also farms where people grow food.

In the South Pennines, people mostly work in factories making clothes, digging up minerals, and farming. The Forest of Bowland and Yorkshire Dales are beautiful places where people enjoy visiting, and many people work in farming or helping visitors. The North Pennines are quiet and rural, with jobs in tourism, farming, cutting timber, and small mining operations.

Transport

The Pennines have several important gaps that help people travel across them. Roads like the A69 road and Tyne Valley railway connect places such as Carlisle and Newcastle upon Tyne through the Tyne Gap. Other roads, such as the A66 road, follow old paths from Roman times, linking places like Scotch Corner and Penrith.

Three major canals were built a long time ago to help move goods across the Pennines. The Huddersfield Narrow Canal goes from Huddersfield to Manchester, passing under the hills through the Standedge Tunnel. The Rochdale Canal links Sowerby Bridge to Manchester, and the Leeds and Liverpool Canal is the longest, stretching from Leeds to Liverpool.

There are also important railways that go through the Pennines. The M62 motorway is the highest motorway in England. Trains travel through tunnels like the Woodhead Tunnels and the Settle-Carlisle Line, which goes through beautiful, remote areas.

The Trans Pennine Trail is a long path for cyclists, horse riders, and walkers. It stretches from Southport to Hornsea and crosses the famous Pennine Way at Crowden-in-Longdendale.

National Parks and AONBs

Many parts of the Pennines are kept safe as UK national parks and Areas of Outstanding Natural Beauty (AONBs). These special places get similar care to national parks. The Pennines have three main national parks: the Peak District National Park, the Yorkshire Dales National Park, and sometimes the Northumberland National Park.

There is also an AONB called the North Pennines north of the Yorkshire Dales. It is big and has some of the tallest mountains and quietest places in the Pennines. Other AONBs nearby are Nidderdale to the east and the Bowland Fells, which includes Pendle Hill, to the west of the Yorkshire Dales. The main area without protection is between Skipton and Marsden.

Language

In old times, people in the Pennines spoke a language called Common Brittonic. Later, during a time called the Early Middle Ages, a new language called Cumbric appeared. We don’t know much about Cumbric because there isn’t much evidence left.

During the time of the Anglo-Saxons, new people called Anglians came to live in the Pennines from places like Mercia and Northumbria. Even after they arrived, many people in the Pennines kept speaking Celtic speech longer than people in other parts of England. But slowly, the old Celtic language changed to early English as more Anglians and Vikings moved there.

When the Viking Age came, people from Scandinavia brought their language, called Old Norse. Mixing Norse with Old English helped create what we now call Middle English, which turned into the English we speak today. Some words from Old Norse are still used in places like Yorkshire.

Folklore and customs

The stories and traditions of the Pennines come from old Celtic, Anglo-Saxon, and Viking cultures. Many of these customs started as pagan traditions but were later changed to fit Christian beliefs. One special custom in the Peak District is called well dressing, which began as a pagan tradition and was later adapted to Christian ways.

Flora

The plants that grow in the higher parts of the Pennines are special because they are used to moorland and cold climates. You can find similar plants in other moorland areas of Northern Europe and even in tundra.

In some parts of the Pennines, the soil is very acidic, with a pH of 2 to 4. Only certain plants can grow there, like bracken, heather, sphagnum, and grasses such as cottongrass, purple moor grass, and heath rush.

Long ago, after the Ice age, trees began to grow again. The first trees were willow, birch, and juniper, followed by alder and pine. By around the year 6500 BC, warm temperatures allowed woodlands to cover most areas with trees like pine, elm, lime, and oak. Later, people cleared some of these woodlands to create more space for animals to graze.

Some parts of the Pennines have special limestone soil, and these areas, including the White Peak, Yorkshire Dales, and Upper Teesdale, are protected because they have important wildflowers. These places are cared for by the group Plantlife.

Fauna

The animals in the Pennines are much like those found in the rest of England and Wales, but some special ones live here. You can see deer all around, and there are a few animals that are rare elsewhere in England. For example, Arctic hares, which used to live all over Britain long ago, now only stay in colder, higher places like the Dark Peak area of the Peak District.

Large areas of wild land with plants called heather are used for activities where people hunt red grouse birds. You can still find black grouse in the northern Pennines, though they are becoming less common. Other birds that mostly live in the Pennines include golden plover, snipe, curlew, dunlin, merlin, short-eared owl, ring ouzel, and twite, although many of these birds are more often seen in Scotland.