Mid Cheshire Ridge
The Mid Cheshire Ridge is a range of low sandstone hills which stretch north to south through Cheshire. The ridge is discontinuous, with the hills forming two main blocks, north and south of the "Beeston Gap".
The main mass of those to the south are known as the Peckforton Hills. The larger group of hills to the north does not have a collective name.
Significant summits
The ridge attains its highest elevation at Raw Head in the Peckforton Hills, some 745 feet above sea level. Other significant summits are, from north to south:
| Hill | Height (feet) | Location |
|---|---|---|
| Beacon Hill | 492 | [SJ51867668 SJ51867668] (Frodsham) |
| Woodhouse Hill | 476 | [SJ50987576 SJ50987576] (Frodsham) |
| Helsby Hill | 459 | [SJ49097549 SJ49097549] (Helsby) |
| Alvanley Cliff | 443 | [SJ50947392 SJ50947392] (Alvanley) |
| Birch Hill | 518 | [SJ52117384 SJ52117384] (Manley) |
| Old Pale | 577 | [SJ54246966 SJ54246966] (Delamere) |
| Eddisbury Hill | 518 | [SJ55146946 SJ55146946] (Delamere) |
| Primrosehill | 518 | [SJ53556817 SJ53556817] (Delamere) |
| High Billinge | 574 | [SJ55386623 SJ55386623] (Utkinton) |
| Luddington Hill | 476 | [SJ56416462 SJ56416462] (Utkinton) |
| The Beeston Gap | ||
| Beeston Castle Hill | 509 | [SJ53605933 SJ53605933] (Beeston) |
| Stanner Nab | 656 | [SJ53045734 SJ53045734] (Peckforton) |
| Peckforton Hill | 666 | [SJ52945577 SJ52945577] (Peckforton) |
| Burwardsley Hill | 610 | [SJ52515560 SJ52515560] (Burwardsley) |
| Bulkeley Hill | 721 | [SJ52615530 SJ52615530] (Bulkeley) |
| Bickerton Hill Raw Head | 745 | [SJ50165352 SJ50165352] (Bickerton / Harthill) |
| Bickerton Hill south top | 633 | [SJ50045344 SJ50045344] (Bickerton) |
| Maiden Castle | 689 | [SJ49675293 SJ49675293] (Bickerton / Duckington) |
Geology
The hills are composed of a range of sandstones of Permian and Triassic age. North–south faulting is in part responsible for elevating harder-wearing strata above the general level of the Cheshire Plain. Typically the higher summits are formed from the Helsby Sandstone.
The ridge acted as something of a barrier to the passage of Irish Sea ice during the last ice age and its hills are etched with numerous glacial meltwater channels, many of which formed subglacially. Particularly spectacular examples are those at Urchin's Kitchen in Primrosehill Woods and at Holbitch Slack near Cotebrook.[1]
Hill forts
A series of Iron Age hill forts adorn the ridge from Woodhouse Hill and Helsby Hill in the north through Eddisbury and Kelsborrow Castle to Maiden Castle in the south.
Recreation
The ridge is traversed by the popular Sandstone Trail, a middle-distance recreational route originally established by the former council between Beacon Hill and Grindley Brook on the Shropshire border but now extended into Frodsham to the north and Whitchurch to the south. Sections of the Delamere Way, Longster Trail and Eddisbury Way also explore parts of the ridge.
Numerous of the woods along the ridge have been used for orienteering competitions over the years. Horseriding is also popular in the area, as it is traversed by a number of bridleways, byways and green lanes.
References
- ↑ British Geological Survey 1:50K map sheets 97, 109, 122