The Roaches

For the female vocal group, see The Roches.

The Roaches

Highest point
Elevation	505 m (1,657 ft)
Prominence	c. 120 m (394 ft)
Parent peak	Shining Tor
Listing	Dewey
Geography
Location	Staffordshire, England
Parent range	Peak District
OS grid	SK001638
Topo map	OS Landranger 119110

The Roaches (from the French les roches - the rocks) is the name given to a prominent rocky ridge situated above Leek and Tittesworth Reservoir in the Peak District of England. The ridge with its rock formations rises steeply to 505 m (1,657 ft).^[1]

Along with Ramshaw Rocks and Hen Cloud they form a gritstone escarpment, which is very popular with hikers, rock climbers and freerunners. It is often very busy especially at weekends. The local mountain rescue team is a regular attendee to this popular crag.

The Roaches Estate which includes Hen Cloud was purchased by the Peak District National Park Authority in the 1980s to safeguard the area from adverse development. From May 2013 Staffordshire Wildlife Trust will take on the management of the iconic Roaches Estate. The British Mountaineering Council maintain a mountain hut named in memory of Don Whillans in the area.

In clear conditions, it is possible to see much of Cheshire and views stretching as far as Snowdon in Wales and Winter Hill in Lancashire.

The Roaches are the most prominent part of a curving ridge which extends for several miles from Hen Cloud in the south to Back Forest and Hangingstone in the northwest. At the top there is a small pool called Doxey Pool that is, according to legend, inhabited by a water spirit. Nearby are the broad hills of Gun and Morridge.

Geology

Hen Cloud

The Roaches, Hen Cloud and Ramshaw Rocks are formed from a thick bed of coarse sandstone ('gritstone') of Namurian age, a subdivision of the NW European Carboniferous system from ca 315 to 326.4 Ma, which occurs widely across the Peak District and takes its name—the Roaches Grit—from this location. The nearby Five Clouds are formed from a thinner bed of similar sandstone known as the Five Clouds Sandstone. These sandstones originated as delta sands dropped by major rivers draining a mountainous landmass to the north. The sandstone beds of both The Roaches and Hen Cloud dip moderately steeply to the east into the north–south-aligned syncline known as the Goyt Trough. The same beds at Ramshaw Rocks dip steeply to the northwest into the syncline. The southern end of the Roaches is defined by the presence of an east–west fault that runs through the col separating the Roaches from Hen Cloud.^[2]

Wildlife

In the 1930s five Australian Bennett's wallabies were released into the wild from a private collection.^[3] A small colony is believed to continue to live there.^[4]^[5]

In 2008, a pair of peregrine falcons successfully bred on the Roaches, causing climbing on part of the rock face to be suspended for a period.^[6]

Doxey Pool

Climbers on Valkyrie at The Roaches

Doxey Pool is a small pool of water that measures about 15 by 10 metres (49 by 33 ft) and can be found along the top path of The Roaches at grid reference SK004628. It is not very deep but is still a distinctive feature when you find it. This area is great for walking but is also a popular climbing area.^[7]

Legend has it that this pool is inhabited by a mermaid called Jenny Greenteeth known as the blue nymph. The legend says that she fell in the pool on a foggy day whilst walking along the top of the Roaches. Ever since that day she has been enticing unsuspecting victims down to the pool and to their watery grave.^[8]

References

↑ Kent, Jeff, Staffordshire's 1,000-Foot Peaks, Witan Books, 2013, ISBN 978-0-9927505-0-3.
↑ British Geological Survey 1:50,000 map sheet 111 'Buxton' & associated memoir
↑ Tozer, James (2009-07-09). "Return of the wallabies: Pictures prove that Aussie marsupials are still hopping around Peak District after fears they had died out". Daily Mail. Retrieved 2009-10-17.
↑ "The Roaches". BBC Countryfile. Retrieved 2009-10-17.
↑ Lester, Paula. "Mow your grass with a wallaby". Country Life. Retrieved 2009-10-17.
↑ "Peregrines breed successfully at the Roaches". BMC. 10 July 2008. Retrieved 21 October 2011.
↑ The Peak District, White Peak Area. Ordnance Survey, 2005. (pg. 1)
↑ Smith, Roly; Andrew Bibby (2005). Peak District: Northern and Western Moors. Frances Lincoln. p. 137. ISBN 978-0-7112-2499-5.

External links

The Roaches Website
A page partly about the Roaches - from a website about the town of Leek, Staffordshire and the Staffordshire Moorlands
another page about the Roaches from a different website about the Peak District
Computer generated summit panorama The Roaches index

Peaks of the Peak District of England

Marilyns	Black Hill The Cloud Gun Kinder Scout Shining Tor

Other peaks	Abney Low Aleck Low Allman Well Hill Alport Height Axe Edge Moor Back Tor Beeley Moor Big Moor Birchen Edge Black Chew Head Black Edge Blake Low Blakelow Hill Bleaklow Bole Hill Bolehill Bosley Minn Britland Edge Hill Brittain's Plantation Brown Knoll Bunster Hill Burton Bole End Calver Peak Cheeks Hill Chinley Churn Chrome Hill The Cloud Combs Moss Croker Hill Crook Hill Dead Edge End Derwent Edge Durham Edge Eccles Pike Ecton Hill Eldon Hill Emlin Eyam Moor - Sir William Hill Featherbed Moss Featherbed Top Fin Cop Froggatt Edge Gardom's Edge Gautries Hill Gibraltar Rocks Gratton Hill Great Ridge Grindslow Knoll Gun Harborough Rocks Hare Edge Hill Harridge Pike Hartcliff Hill Haven Hill Hawks Low The Height Heights of Abraham Higger Tor High Field High Low High Neb High Wheeldon Higher Shelf Stones Hollins Cross Houndkirk Hill Lantern Pike Lees Moor Longstone Moor Lord's Seat Lose Hill Lost Lad Low Moor Mam Tor Margery Hill Merryton Low Middleton Moor Minninglow Hill Nelson's Monument Ossoms Hill Parkhouse Hill Pike Low Pikenaze Hill The Roaches Rock Hall Rushup Edge Sheen Hill Shutlingsloe Slipper Low Snailsden Pike End Snels Low Sponds Hill Stanage Edge Stanton Moor Tegg's Nose Thorpe Cloud Totley Moor Ughill Height Wardlow Hay Cop West Nab Wetton Hill Whaley Moor Wibben Hill Wild Bank Win Hill Windgather Rocks Wire Stone Wolfscote Hill

List of peaks of the Peak District

Climbing areas of the Peak District

Eastern Grit (north to south)	Wharncliffe Crags Rivelin Rocks Derwent Edge Stanage Edge Bamford Edge Froggatt Edge Curbar Edge Baslow Edge Gardoms Edge Birchen Edge Chatsworth Edge Black Rocks

Western Grit	The Roaches

Coordinates: 53°10′17″N 2°00′00″W / 53.17131°N 1.99996°W / 53.17131; -1.99996

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