Kinder Scout

About Kinder Scout

Rising steeply above Edale, this vast gritstone plateau is the Peak District’s highest ground. It is a wild landscape of labyrinthine peat hags and weather-sculpted rock formations. While the summit is a subtle point on a featureless moor, the dramatic edges and the plummeting Kinder Downfall provide the true character of this Hewitt.

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Did You Know?

• •The name likely derives from the Old Norse word skúti, meaning a high, overhanging rock or crag, which describes the gritstone edges perfectly. The first part, Kinder, is of much older, possibly Brythonic origin, though its exact meaning is lost to time, potentially referring to the 'water' or 'hill' in an ancient tongue.
• •It is famously the site of the 1932 Mass Trespass, where hundreds of walkers from Manchester and Sheffield deliberately trespassed on the moor to protest restricted access to the uplands. This act of civil disobedience was a primary catalyst for the creation of the UK’s National Parks and the eventual 'right to roam.'
• •The Pennine Way, Britain’s first long-distance footpath, begins its 268-mile journey north by ascending the southern flank of the plateau via Jacob’s Ladder—a steep, zig-zagging stone path that bypasses the old packhorse bridge over the River Noe.
• •On the western edge, the Kinder River plunges 30 metres off the plateau at Kinder Downfall. During strong westerly gales, the water is frequently blown back up the cliff in a spectacular cloud of spray that can be seen from miles away across the Cheshire Plain.
• •From the edges, the views are expansive and distinct; looking south, you can trace the entire length of the Great Ridge from Mam Tor to Lose Hill, while to the west, the skyline of Manchester and the Jodrell Bank telescope are clearly visible on a crisp day.
• •Locating the highest point of this Hewitt is less an exercise in mountaineering and more one of navigational persistence; the actual summit is a low mound of peat that is famously difficult to distinguish from the hundreds of identical peat hags surrounding it.