Werneth Low
| Werneth Low | |
|---|---|
 Werneth Low, showing the cenotaph, and the Greater Manchester Urban Area in the background. | |
| Highest point | |
| Elevation | 279 m (915 ft) |
| Prominence | c. 112 m |
| Geography | |
  Werneth Low Location of Werneth Low in Greater Manchester | |
| Location | Greater Manchester, England |
| Parent range | Pennines |
| OS grid | SJ968930 |
| Topo map | OS Landranger 109 |
Werneth Low is a hill in Greater Manchester, England, and a part of the Pennines. It is located on the borders of Stockport and Tameside in the town of Hyde and rises to a height of 279 metres (915 ft). The villages of Woodley, Greave, Gee Cross, Mottram and Romiley lie on the sides of the low.
The term "low" does not refer to any lack of altitude, it being a North English word for hill.
Werneth Low offers panoramic views over the Greater Manchester Urban Area and in clear weather, the Winter Hill transmitting station can be seen from here. To the south, Stockport town centre, part of Wythenshawe in south Manchester and the Welsh Mountains can be viewed in clear weather.
The majority of Werneth Low is owned and administered jointly by Hyde War Memorial Trust (link below) and Tameside Council subject to an agreement of 1979 creating the Werneth Low Country Park joint committee, to run until April 2020, and until which date the two bodies are committed. The Trust itself is a creation of the Charity Commission dating from 1976 when the Commission were obliged to issue a judgement of maladministration against the former Hyde Urban District Council who had run the Trust as though it were for the benefit of the Council as owners, and not the Trust, and which had been brought to a head by a proposal for residential development of substantial proportions, which was entirely counter to the central aim of the Trust.
The Trust's main purpose states, inter alia "The gift of the farm to us was made with the intention that it should be held generally for the good of the inhabitants of the Borough of Hyde" that being now clarified as the boundaries of the Borough of Hyde as per the 1921 town map, a copy of which hangs in the Vistor Centre at Lower Higham, and further, "that part of it and particularly the parts known as the "Hacking Knife" should be open and unbuilt upon and be available at all times for the resort and use of the inhabitants of the said Borough subject to such conditions and regulations as may from time to time be imposed or made by us."
The relationship between the "new" Trust and its Council Counterparts to this day reflects this history and is best described as sensitive, and forever prepared to take a protective stance should political factors ever appear to run counter to the interests of the Trust, or the 1979 agreement, such as in times of spending cut backs when the Trust will look to their partners Tameside MBC to stand up to their obligations of 1979 without dilution or weakening of the separate and distinct existence of the WLJMC or HWMT, and in which respect the Trust puts much unseen support into the Joint Management Committee by way of expenditure and projects well beyond its own formal undertaking.
Principally the Trust still organises the Remembrance and Peace day services on the nearest Sunday to the 11th November in each year, and also the nearest Sunday to the 30th June each year - Peace Day, and the anniversary of the signing of the Treaty of Versailles, which for all its now debatable faults, formally ended World War One.
Although the trust was established to provide a lasting monument to the 710 men of Hyde that perished in World War I, it originally had more and wider aims, which have now lapsed, or were rolled into such as the NHS as was the case with the Aspland Maternity Hospital, another HWMT original creation, and thus the continuing resposibility is the unique stewardship of the Lower Higham Estate as the entire memorial, and the specific monument, the cenotaph, the cornish granite obelisk, erected by the Trust in 1924 and which stands proud on the crest of the Hacking Knife to this day, and which can be seen from so much of the North West, just as so much of the area is seen from its windy promotory.
Various landmarks can be seen from the top of Werneth Low. For example, Manchester's Beetham Tower; the Oldham Civic Centre; and Jodrell Bank Observatory's radio telescope (visible from the South Western End of the hilltop).
History
A flint knife and a Bronze Age stone mace head have been discovered on Werneth Low.[1] Hangingbank is the site of a possible Iron Age farmstead dating to the first millennium BC, enclosed by a double ditch and featuring crop marks.[2] A Roman road from Melandra to Astbury probably crosses the hill, however the exact course has not been identified.[3] The site covers 1.23 hectares (3.0 acres).[4] There is also evidence of Romano-British activity on Werneth Low, a sherd of Roman pottery dating to the 2nd century AD was discovered in the material filling one of the ditches at Hangingbank, indicating that was when the site fell out of use.[4] There is a possible temporary Roman camp and excavations have recovered a posthole.[5] The name Werneth derives from the Welsh verno for alder meaning 'the place where alders grow'.[6]
In 1920 Lower Higham Farm and all its land was purchased by the War Memorial Committee of the Hyde Borough Council in 1920, and in 1921 Hyde's main war memorial was officially unveiled.[7] A Royal Observer Corps monitoring post was active here from 1962 to 1968,[8] it was intended to give warning of hostile aircraft and nuclear attacks on the United Kingdom.[9] In the late 1980s, Greater Manchester Council, Tameside Metropolitan Borough Council and the Hyde War Memorial Trust worked together to establish Werneth Low country park which covers 80 hectares (200 acres); the park was officially opened in 1980.[7]
Transport
Werneth Low was served by bus number 304 on Mondays, Wednesdays and Saturdays only. Starting 31 January 2010, GMPTE decided to re route this bus via routes which have a already established bus routes, and as a result, Werneth Low is no longer be served by any form of public transport.
References
- ^ Nevell (1992), p. 38.
- ^ Nevell (1992), p. 51.
- ^ Nevell (1992), pp. 60-61.
- ^ a b Nevell (1992), p. 68.
- ^ "Monument no. 1085608". Pastscape.org.uk. Retrieved 2008-05-26.
- ^ Nevell (1992), p. 85.
- ^ a b "Werneth Low country park". Tameside.gov.uk. Retrieved 2008-05-25.
- ^ "Hyde". Subterranea Britannica. Retrieved 2008-05-25.
- ^ "Monument no. 1414423". Pastscape.org.uk. Retrieved 2008-05-26.
Bibliography
- Nevell, Mike (1992). Tameside Before 1066. Tameside Metropolitan Borough and University of Manchester Archaeological Unit. ISBN 1-871324-07-6.
External links
