GREAT HARWOOD

Harwood Moor

The hills to the west of Great Harwood including Dean Clough were common land until 1762 when Sir Thomas Hesketh and Alexander Nowell applied to parliament for permission to enclose the moor allowing them to divide the land into farms and erect buildings for the first time.

Although housing is encroaching the moor still looms large over Great Harwood.

Not the wildest of moors but here from the Lidgett Brook it rises some 250 ft in half a mile which may not seem much but it's tough walking.
That's something like 75 to 80 metres in 0.75km I think.

Smallshaw Hey is on the rise and Belmont Farm is near the crest.

The moor was also quarried and the rough grasses, gorse and bracken on the spoil heaps and disused workings perhaps give some idea of what the moor looked like before the land was improved.

Entrance to Smalley Delph right and spoil heaps below.