SCENERY OF HUDDERSFIELD AND ITS SIGNIFICANCE
BY T.W. WOODHEAD Ph.D., M.Sc., F.L.S.

Page Two of Five

On the summit plateau, innumerable streams start their sluggish course and after meandering among the deep-peat hags, plunge in picturesque cascades down the cloughs and deans which they have cut into the hillsides.

The numerous tributaries of the Colne and Holme form an extensive series of fans, ranging from Buckstones in the north to Holme Moss in the south-east. On the precipitous slopes are exposed excellent sections of the beds of the Millstone Grit series, the marine bands of which, crowded with goniatites, have recently yielded results of considerable scientific interest. These streams give rise to the chief scenic features of the district and are separated by bold spurs, which in the western Millstone Grit area have gently sloping, plateau-like summits, due the uniform cap of Rough Rock.

The rainfall of the area has produced a marked effect on the development of life in the district. The mean annual rainfall of the highest part of the ridge is 56 inches, e.g. at Black Hill (1,909 ft.), and from here to Dewsbury the average falls to 26 inches, a difference of 30 inches in 15 miles. At Huddersfield (at 400 ft) the rainfall is 33 inches, a difference of 23 inches in 9 miles. Hence as we pass from north-east to south-west the rainfall rises steeply. There is also a corresponding difference in temperature. The years mean at the lower levels being 47-5°F., while that of the higher summits is 42°F.

In the cloughs and deans reservoirs are numerous and furnish a good supply of soft water well suited to the needs of a large manufacturing district. The deep peat, covering the gathering ground above, provides a useful sponge which steadies considerably the run off from the high moors.

Cotton-Grass Mosses and Bracken Slopes - Wessenden

In addition to the rocks forming the solid geology of the district there are three superficial deposits:-Boulder Clay, Alluvium and Peat.

Through the district is usually regarded as an unglaciated one, fairly extensive deposits of ice-bourne material occur. Owing to the narrowness of the valleys alluvial deposits are not very extensive, but they provide suitable sites for numerous local cricket, football and pleasure grounds.

A large part of the high gritstone plateau is covered by a deep bed of peat in the formation of which the cotton grass has played the predominant part. This however will be further considered with the Vegetation of the area.

These differences of rock material, altitude, aspect, rainfall, temperature and soils affect profoundly the plant life of the area, and have been the determining factors in its composition, development of distribution. Seeing that animal life is dependent on plants for food, it is clear that this, together with the above factors controlling it, have determined not only the distribution of the lower animals, but they have greatly influenced the distribution and activities of man himself.

The plant association of the Southern Pennines, have been studied by numerous ecologists and Bartholomew’s have issued a vegetation map of the district (“Geographical Distribution of the Vegetation of the Leeds and Halifax District” 1903). Maps and Sections illustrating studies of local geology and topography may be seen in rooms 1 and 2 (Geology) and of local vegetation in room 3 (Botany) of the Museum.

The main groups of plant associations recognized here are cultured, aquatic, woodland, grassland and moorland associations. All these are affected detrimentally by the smoke cloud from the manufacturing centers and houses in the neighbourhood; this is very noticeable among the cryptograms, especially the lichens.

The soils on the Coal Measures are more extensively cultivated than those on the Millstone Grits, even up to the highest levels, though the proportion of arable land is small. Much of the land ploughed up during the war has gone back to meadow and pasture, a natural result on the Pennine slopes and in proximity to populous industrial centers, for whose needs milk production is of first importance.

The field fences are a mixed type partly sandstone walls, partly hedges, the latter being more conspicuous where the shales are extensively developed. Here the trees in the hedgerows are more abundant, so that when seen from a distance give to the landscape the appearance of open woodland, another factor in the contrast between the scenery of the Coal Measures and that of Millstone Grits.

Some of the larger stretches of alluvium are utilized for market gardening, and allotments have increased considerably in number of recent years. An encouraging feature which is being carefully fostered by the local Agricultural Committee.

In the hilly districts aquatic associations are not extensive and are largely confined to artificial sheets of water such as reservoirs, dams, ornamental lakes and canals. The rapid rise and fall of the water level, together with the narrowness of the valleys, prevents the development of more than a meager marginal vegetation along the streams and wet banks. From the same causes Alder-Willow swamps are restricted in area. Locally, water of considerable hardness issues from the dripping shales of the clough sides, and the sites of these are strikingly picked out by the presence of species of lime-loving mosses, otherwise absent in the district.

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