Cragg Vale or Blackstone Edge? nation's perfect hill imperfectly named

[Svendo]

This annoys me: Skyride Nation's perfect hill number 5 "Blackstone edge, Yorkshire...The six miles of descent" They clearly mean Cragg Vale, the Northerly descent from the junction of the B6138 and A58 which is 5.5 miles, ColinJ has a jpeg to prove it. It's known to cyclists and lots of others as Cragg Vale, and Blackstone Edge refers to the A58 from Littleborough to the same junction. The CTT hillclimbs are so named, West Pennine are reviving the Blackstone Edge event next year apparently.

</rant> and breath.........

 

[YahudaMoon]

Not really. The top is called 'Blackstone Edge Moor' The road from the top going down towards Mythomroyd is called 'Turvin Rd though the name changes before Cragg Vale'. The road is then called 'Blackstone Edge Road.

Cragg Vale is only a part of the route. Probably only 1/8 of it before it changes yet again into Mythomroyd.

The road from Littleborough is called Halifax road where it meets Turvin rd, Blackstone Edge Moor / Reservoir at top.

 

[classic33]

Not really. The top is called 'Blackstone Edge Moor' The road from the top going down towards Mythomroyd is called 'Turvin Rd though the name changes before Cragg Vale'. The road is then called 'Blackstone Edge Road.

Cragg Vale is only a part of the route. Probably only 1/8 of it before it changes yet again into Mythomroyd.

The road from Littleborough is called Halifax road where it meets Turvin rd, Blackstone Edge Moor / Reservoir at top.

Just checked on a paper map & it gives the top as being Soyland Moor. Blackstone Edge Moor would mean that you're(replaces your) on the A58

 

[snorri]

Skyride, that's that Rupert Murdoch. Probably got the name from a phonetap and didn't check it out on Googlemap.

 

[Globalti]

'Turvin Rd though the name changes before Cragg Vale'?

Bloomin' long name. No wonder they wanted to shorten it to Blackstone Edge.

Seriously though, Blackstone Edge is catchier and easier to remember and avoids the kind of controversy you see above that results when places and roads undergo many changes of name over the centuries.

There's good mountain biking along Blackstone Edge towards the M62 footbridge. It's cheeky, mind, being only a footpath.

Edit: Bizarre choice of hills though; I've just Googled Ralph Allen Drive in Bristol and for a hill that's supposedly so famous with cyclists there isn't a single picture on the web.

 

[Svendo]

Not really. The top is called 'Blackstone Edge Moor' The road from the top going down towards Mythomroyd is called 'Turvin Rd though the name changes before Cragg Vale'. The road is then called 'Blackstone Edge Road.

Cragg Vale is only a part of the route. Probably only 1/8 of it before it changes yet again into Mythomroyd.

The road from Littleborough is called Halifax road where it meets Turvin rd, Blackstone Edge Moor / Reservoir at top.

Your right of course, but I'm on about the names of the climbs, which don't necessarily follow the names of the roads that make them up. The A6024 from Holmfirth to the southwest is widely known as 'Holme Moss' not 'Woodhead Rd' when referred to in the context of riding up it on a bike.

These two climbs both have names well known in cycling, here's the routes on the CTT webiste: V9916 - Cragg Vale (B6138) and J9/11 - A58 - Blackstone Edge (although that doesn't give any actual course details, it is the hill climb route from Littleborough to the White House.) Here's the road sign at the bottom of Cragg Vale on google maps. Here's the Ragley frame named after the climb (see paragraph above the photo of the rear derailleur). Here's the homepage of the Transpennine CC who have organised the 'Over The Edge' charity ride for 11 years, so called because it goes up and over Blackstone Edge via the A58 (the gold route returns via the B6138 but they call it Cragg Vale.). Westpennine's references to Littleborough to White House here and here as Blackstone Edge.

There are places (e.g. Cumbrian cyclist) who refer to Cragg Vale as Blackstone Edge but I think they must have missed the sign at the bottom. The A58 route passes under and along blackstone edge for it's northerly stretch,from the Roman road to the turn towards the White House. Whereas the B6138 ends at the junction near Blackstone edge, you have to cross the raod and walk along the Pennine way a bit to reach the edge itself from there.

Skyride are wrong (or at the very least not as right as they bloody should be.)
And there I rest my case m'lud.

 

[Globalti]

It's not a Roman road.

 

[ColinJ]

It's not a Roman road.

I'm not quite sure which bit Svendo is referring to as the Roman Road. There are the remains of a Roman Road up there but it doesn't follow the A58 from Littleborough to the White House. It crosses the A58 on the other side of the hill near Baitings Reservoir. OS Map

20 years ago, I walked down (what I think was) the old Roman Road on the steep Blackstone Edge hillside. I wonder if the huge cobblestones are original, or laid down centuries later?

 

[Svendo]

I'm not quite sure which bit Svendo is referring to as the Roman Road. There are the remains of a Roman Road up there but it doesn't follow the A58 from Littleborough to the White House. It crosses the A58 on the other side of the hill near Baitings Reservoir. OS Map

20 years ago, I walked down (what I think was) the old Roman Road on the steep Blackstone Edge hillside. I wonder if the huge cobblestones are original, or laid down centuries later?

Sorry, not making myself clear enough.

I meant the continuation of that path labelled Roman Road on the OS map you link to that goes to the southern corner of the long left hand bend from the Aiggin stone, and has 'Rochdale Way printed next to it. It's known as 'The Roman Road' locally as it's straight and has paving stones with ruts on it.

FWIW the actual evidence for any of being Roman is, as Globalti writes, ropey whatever the OS says, however it's definitely an old pack horse and cart route.

 

[dan_bo]

Sorry, but "Blackstone Edge" just sounds cooler. Edges are much more northern and manly than vales.

Even if it's Cragg Vale? There's a certain Postlethwaite to it.

And, even better, it's t'blackstn edge round our end.

 

[Stephenite]

'Turvin Rd though the name changes before Cragg Vale'?

Bloomin' long name. No wonder they wanted to shorten it to Blackstone Edge.

Seriously though, Blackstone Edge is catchier and easier to remember and avoids the kind of controversy you see above that results when places and roads undergo many changes of name over the centuries.

There's good mountain biking along Blackstone Edge towards the M62 footbridge. It's cheeky, mind, being only a footpath.

Edit: Bizarre choice of hills though; I've just Googled Ralph Allen Drive in Bristol and for a hill that's supposedly so famous with cyclists there isn't a single picture on the web.

Aye, there is. I used to do a loop from Heywood, to Castleton, along the canal to Littleborough, up to Blackstone Edge, over M62, down to Piethorne Res. and back to Heywood.

Cheeky, perhaps, but i built sections of the footpath. Almost killed myself at one point when i turned over a dumper. A good thing i wasn't wearing a seat belt as i'd never had gotten clear in time. The seat was crushed when the thing, eventually, came to a standstill.

 

[DiddlyDodds]

20 years ago, I walked down (what I think was) the old Roman Road on the steep Blackstone Edge hillside. I wonder if the huge cobblestones are original, or laid down centuries later?

Its all the original road , went up last year and its almost covered now , just the last 300m or so at the top is still showing, level with the black-stone rocks or more commonly known in these parts as "Robin Hood Rocks", and i have no idea where the name came from.

Living in Littleborough its left at the lights and straight up blackstone edge, which is great to have it on your doorstep but it doesn't give the legs time to warm up.

 

[DiddlyDodds]

Whenever i see the road sign "Turvin Rd" it always makes me think of "Kevin Turvey" the Rick Mayall character with his mad poetry.

 

[DiddlyDodds]

Its all the original road ,

Asked my dad who's nearly 80 if he remembered the Romans ,sadly i cant print the reply, but what he did say is they don't know if its Roman or not, it has been going on for years now , some experts say it , some say its not.
After intensive research i can confirm my findings - It is most certainly older then the M62.