Kinder Scout
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Kinder Scout is a plateau about 600 metres above sea level. It is located in Derbyshire (UK), roughly between the villages of Hayfield in the west, Edale to the southeast, and the town of Glossop to the northwest.
The underlying gritstone rock of the plateau is covered by a thick layer of peat, cut by a dense network of stream which flow radially off it. Principal amongst these is the eponymous Kinder River, which drops steeply off the Western edge at Kinder Downfall. Vegetation on the plateau is mainly heather, with some mosses, and bilberry, although the surrounding slopes have seen encroachment of bracken. The highest point is Kinder Low at 633m.
It can be approached from the southeast up a steep track called Jacobs Ladder. It is crossed by the 268 mile Pennine Way long distance footpath which starts in nearby Edale. Several sections of the path have been surfaced with large stone slabs in this area, to try to minimise environmental damage to the fragile moorland ecosystem by the large number of hikers it attracts all year round.
In the 1930s, Kinder Scout was the scene of the first mass trespasses by ramblers (Sunday, 24 April, 1932) protesting at the lack of public access to the open moorland in many parts of northern England, which were then kept for grouse shooting by the estates of a number of stately homes. Public rights of way were established later, and the 2000 Countryside and Rights of Way Act set a new legal framework in which the bulk of Kinder Scout is now "Access Land" where the public has a right to roam freely.
