Shining Tor

Shining Tor
The trig point and former ladder stile at the summit of Shining Tor.
Highest point
Elevation	559 m (1,834 ft) [1]
Prominence	236 m [1]
Parent peak	Kinder Scout
Listing	Marilyn, County Top, Dewey
Coordinates	53°15′39″N 2°00′34″W / 53.2607°N 2.00949°W / 53.2607; -2.00949Coordinates: 53°15′39″N 2°00′34″W / 53.2607°N 2.00949°W / 53.2607; -2.00949
Geography
Shining Tor Shining Tor in Cheshire
Location	Cheshire, England
Parent range	Peak District
OS grid	SJ994737
Topo map	OS Landranger 118

Shining Tor is a hill in the Peak District of England, between the towns of Buxton and Macclesfield, lying on the border between Derbyshire and Cheshire. Its summit is the highest point in modern Cheshire, with Black Hill near Crowden being the historic county top of Cheshire. The word tor means a high rock, and is a loan word from Old Brythonic.

(There is another hill named Shining Tor, above Dovedale in Derbyshire, at grid reference SK145545.)

Ascent

The hill can be climbed by many routes, perhaps most commonly from the Goyt valley by Errwood reservoir, perhaps combined with a walk along the ridge north from Shining Tor over Cats Tor. It can also be gained with less climbing from the Cat and Fiddle Inn.

Views

As it is the highest point around (it is some 8 metres (26 ft) higher than the summit of Axe Edge Moor above Buxton), the views are pleasant, though the relatively flat uplands mean they are not extensive in all directions: the view to the southwest of the peak of Shutlingsloe above Wildboarclough is particularly notable, and in clear conditions Winter Hill near Bolton, the city of Manchester and much of the Cheshire Plain can be seen, including the radio telescopes at Jodrell Bank 20 kilometres (12 mi) to the west. In very clear but not unusual conditions North Wales and even Snowdonia can be seen.^[2]

Geology

The north–south ridge of Shining Tor including the summit itself is formed from the Chatsworth Grit, a thick sandstone of Namurian age which occurs widely across the Peak District. The beds dip moderately steeply to the east into a north–south-aligned syncline known as the Goyt Trough. Shining Tor is thought to have stood above the ice sheet during the last ice age and so is free from glacial deposits. The eastern dipslope and shallower parts of its western flanks are covered by peat up to several metres deep.^[3]

References

Peaks of the Peak District of England
Marilyns	Black Hill The Cloud Gun Kinder Scout Shining Tor
Other peaks	Abney Low Aleck Low Allman Well Hill Alport Height Axe Edge Moor Back Tor Beeley Moor Big Moor Birchen Edge Black Chew Head Black Edge Blake Low Blakelow Hill Bleaklow Bole Hill Bolehill Bosley Minn Britland Edge Hill Brittain's Plantation Brown Knoll Bunster Hill Burton Bole End Calver Peak Cheeks Hill Chinley Churn Chrome Hill The Cloud Combs Moss Croker Hill Crook Hill Dead Edge End Derwent Edge Durham Edge Eccles Pike Ecton Hill Eldon Hill Emlin Eyam Moor - Sir William Hill Featherbed Moss Featherbed Top Fin Cop Froggatt Edge Gardom's Edge Gautries Hill Gibraltar Rocks Gratton Hill Great Ridge Grindslow Knoll Gun Harborough Rocks Hare Edge Hill Harridge Pike Hartcliff Hill Haven Hill Hawks Low The Height Heights of Abraham Higger Tor High Field High Low High Neb High Wheeldon Higher Shelf Stones Hollins Cross Houndkirk Hill Lantern Pike Lees Moor Longstone Moor Lord's Seat Lose Hill Lost Lad Low Moor Mam Tor Margery Hill Merryton Low Middleton Moor Minninglow Hill Nelson's Monument Ossoms Hill Parkhouse Hill Pike Low Pikenaze Hill The Roaches Rock Hall Rushup Edge Sheen Hill Shutlingsloe Slipper Low Snailsden Pike End Snels Low Sponds Hill Stanage Edge Stanton Moor Tegg's Nose Thorpe Cloud Totley Moor Ughill Height Wardlow Hay Cop West Nab Wetton Hill Whaley Moor Wibben Hill Wild Bank Win Hill Windgather Rocks Wire Stone Wolfscote Hill
List of peaks of the Peak District