Swales Moor

Situated on the high gritstone plateau near Fountainhead, this Pennine Tump offers an honest, windswept character. It serves as an elevated boundary between the urban fringes of Halifax and the open moors. The terrain is largely rough grazing, providing clear, far-reaching views across the Calder Valley and towards the higher Pennine ridges.

• •The name likely derives from the Old English 'swalg' or 'swale', denoting a marshy hollow or a place where water 'swallows' into the ground, a common feature of this boggy Pennine upland.
• •From the summit, the 330-metre concrete tower of Emley Moor is a prominent landmark to the southeast, while the gritstone obelisk of Stoodley Pike can be spotted on the western horizon.
• •The moor overlooks the Fountainhead settlement, an area historically significant as the site of the Webster’s Brewery, which utilised local spring water filtered through the surrounding gritstone hills.
• •It is one of the few hills where a walker can claim the solitude of a moor while remaining within earshot of a suburban lawnmower.