Ive always been intrested in the history of this road, I always wonder why they built this road when they knew it was called "The Shivering Mountain", Ive look long and hard but I can not find any pictures of the road when it was open pre 1979 or just before when it went down to a single lane ?:mad:

Did anyone used to travel on this road from Sheffield ?

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/A625_road

Ive always been intrested in the history of this road, I always wonder why they built this road when they knew it was called "The Shivering Mountain", Ive look long and hard but I can not find any pictures of the road when it was open pre 1979 or just before when it went down to a single lane ?:mad:

Did anyone used to travel on this road from Sheffield ?

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/A625_road

I'm sure that there are old pictures of it at the base of the road, on that plaque thing.

Surprisingly, it does seem difficult to find any old pictures online, exmrbd. :confused:

It's a beautiful example of man vs nature. I really must have a wander up there soon. I haven't been for years.

Ive always been intrested in the history of this road, I always wonder why they built this road when they knew it was called "The Shivering Mountain", Ive look long and hard but I can not find any pictures of the road when it was open pre 1979 or just before when it went down to a single lane ?:mad:

Did anyone used to travel on this road from Sheffield ?



Just to add to that bit, have you ever tried getting up Winnets Pass in a 1.1 Escort with 5 adults in the car? :hihi:

Just to add to that bit, have you ever tried getting up Winnets Pass in a 1.1 Escort with 5 adults in the car? :hihi:

When we played Tranmere last season in the Fa Cup there was 4 of us in a 1.2 corsa went that way , got upto 18mph :D

When we played Tranmere last season in the Fa Cup there was 4 of us in a 1.2 corsa went that way , got upto 18mph :D

Bear in mind that although we both had crap cars, the modern engine is probably miles[no pun] ahead of some of those 5 tonne contraptions of yesteryear. I'm guessing that's why we attempted on many occasions to defy nature. :) :hihi:

Here are some pictures I took on June 21th 2009 ( Longist Day ), this was about 5am on the A625 at Mam Tor

Even the troops at Streetforce could not mend this :D

http://i176.photobucket.com/albums/w193/sheffieldposh/CIMG2793.jpg
http://i176.photobucket.com/albums/w193/sheffieldposh/CIMG2792.jpg
http://i176.photobucket.com/albums/w193/sheffieldposh/CIMG2791.jpg
http://i176.photobucket.com/albums/w193/sheffieldposh/CIMG2790.jpg
http://i176.photobucket.com/albums/w193/sheffieldposh/CIMG2789.jpg

I took my young nephew up there a couple of weeks ago and we had a great time. I think he thought he was on a real adventure, clambering up and down the road with the hang gliders flying and landing around us.

I've always had a fascination with that road myself - did it collapse all at once, or was it gradual, does anyone remember?

How do you get to where those pictures were taken?

Sheffield Motor Cycle Club on Mam Tor, 1920
picturesheffield (http://www.picturesheffield.com/cgi-bin/zoom.pl?picture=http://www.picturesheffield.com/jpgh/v00387.jpg)

How do you get to where those pictures were taken?

Just drive to Castleton, keep going until the road stops, leave the car wherever you can park, near the turn around point, and walk up.

Or go up Winnets Pass, turn right at the top, then veer right at the next left turn, park and walk down.

:thumbsup: (don't forget your camera, there are some staggering views)

I took my young nephew up there a couple of weeks ago and we had a great time. I think he thought he was on a real adventure, clambering up and down the road with the hang gliders flying and landing around us.

I've always had a fascination with that road myself - did it collapse all at once, or was it gradual, does anyone remember?

To mention again that plaque/info thing at the bottom, that has all the details. My recollection [of what it says] is that it had a few major collapses, but a number of minor repairs over the years, and they finally gave up trying in the 70's.

How do you get to where those pictures were taken?

Take the A625 from Castleton, keep going past Treak Cliff Cavern on your left until you can go no further.

I recall the road being a single-carriageway in places and traffic was controlled by way of traffic lights.

I'd guess this was c. 1975 but it could be earlier.

I too have trawled the 'net in an attempt to find some pictures. Sadly, there isn't many but there's plenty of information surrounding the slow collapse of the road.

The souvenir shops in Castleton and particularly the book shop there (Cruck Barn?) might be a decent place to start looking.

PS. Mam Tor resembles a number of Sheffield's roads!!

My grandparents lived in Rhyl and we made scores of trips to there and back from Sheffield between 1950-65. Mamtor was decidedly dodgy midwinter and I've had to get out and help push up the snowy/icy road on a few occasions. Some of the old cement lorries in the 50's and 60's used to crawl up at about 1 mph. Since the early 70's I've always used Winnets.

Sheffield Motor Cycle Club on Mam Tor, 1920
picturesheffield (http://www.picturesheffield.com/cgi-bin/zoom.pl?picture=http://www.picturesheffield.com/jpgh/v00387.jpg)

Great picture, I wonder which bit of the road that is

No idea as to date of this one,
but what a fantastic photograph!
Mam Tor (http://www.thegcr.org.uk/GIA/33/Figures/JPEGsHiRes/GCRv33c05f027.jpg)

M&P

No idea as to date of this one,
but what a fantastic photograph!
Mam Tor (http://www.thegcr.org.uk/GIA/33/Figures/JPEGsHiRes/GCRv33c05f027.jpg)

M&P

WOW :D

what a great picture and you can see where the land has sliped , looks like the road is sort of intact :D

No idea as to date of this one,
but what a fantastic photograph!
Mam Tor (http://www.thegcr.org.uk/GIA/33/Figures/JPEGsHiRes/GCRv33c05f027.jpg)

M&P

:wow:

That picture will take some topping!

I remember going on that road for driving lessons with my dad, great fun...:hihi::hihi: Who the hell decided to build it, not the same bloke as built the dam that gave us the flood was it??:hihi::hihi:

What a great picture!:)
I used it a bit when I was tanker driving for A.E.Evans,Sheffield in the late 60s.It was a bit of a slog up there with an 8-wheeler but there was always somebody slower than you,cement wagons and tippers.It was hard work getting round those two bends in Castleton village without power steering as well plus you couldn't see owt coming the other way.We had a regular drop at Ferodo,Chapel -en -le Frith.
I think a weight limit was put on it eventually in the early 70s,it was always being patched up and then all HGVs were diverted via Bradwell to the A623 at Tideswell crossroads if they were Lancs/Cheshire bound.
I never came back to Sheffield loaded via Mam Tor though,always used the Snake or Woodhead.

What a great picture!:)
I used it a bit when I was tanker driving for A.E.Evans,Sheffield in the late 60s.It was a bit of a slog up there with an 8-wheeler but there was always somebody slower than you,cement wagons and tippers.It was hard work getting round those two bends in Castleton village without power steering as well plus you couldn't see owt coming the other way.We had a regular drop at Ferodo,Chapel -en -le Frith.
I think a weight limit was put on it eventually in the early 70s,it was always being patched up and then all HGVs were diverted via Bradwell to the A623 at Tideswell crossroads if they were Lancs/Cheshire bound.
I never came back to Sheffield loaded via Mam Tor though,always used the Snake or Woodhead.

You've reminded me of a Top Gear type programme, which was showing old black and white footage of truckers and how they used to drive the big trucks around the old roads before motorways. They had arms like weight lifters! :hihi:

Take the A625 from Castleton, keep going past Treak Cliff Cavern on your left until you can go no further.

I went. I found it. Thanks for your help. It's the weirdest thing - a road to nowhere!! I wonder if there are other ghost roads in the UK that have just been abandoned?

I went. I found it. Thanks for your help. It's the weirdest thing - a road to nowhere!! I wonder if there are other ghost roads in the UK that have just been abandoned?

Only the old roman roads up Ringinglow, off the top of my head.

Did you take your camera?

edit : B&H, if you look at me&my pippos picture, you can see the bottom turn around point mentioned earlier. It right at the bottom of the pic, looks like a little roundabout.

Found some more pictures from this site

http://www.rural-roads.co.uk/winnats/winnats5.shtml

My dad and his brothers were always saying that this road should never have been built ! I can remember a discussion between my uncle, aunt and dad probably when I was appox 4 years old, My uncle was a geolagist , he was saying how the area still moves and even with under pinning he couldn't see how the road would survive , he said there would be a major land slip and the road would be no more! its very sad it became true.

You cyclists will be interested to know that you can still ride part way up the old road, BUT, there are some small sections where it is necessary to get off and walk.

Memories of both riding up and down when the road was completely passable.

You cyclists will be interested to know that you can still ride part way up the old road, BUT, there are some small sections where it is necessary to get off and walk.

Memories of both riding up and down when the road was completely passable.

Some more pictures here ive found which will back this comment :D

http://chavster01.fotopic.net/c1352727.html

Hi,

Some geo-tech engineer is probably going to tell me I'm wrong but I was told the road was built across/along the place where two rock formations meet.

That is: the limestone of the white peak and the millstone grit of the dark peak. Each formation is moving, ever so slightly, against the other. This and heavily loaded lorries was the reason why the road was always breaking up.
In my childhood, Mam Tor was also known as the "Shivering Mountain"

It was costing the Derbyshire CC a fortune to keep the road repaired and authorities were also under a lot of pressure to stop heavy lorries using the road anyway.

By closing it completely, they solved both problems.

Regards

Some more pictures here

http://www.flickr.com/photos/earthwatcher/2672960094/

Just to add to that bit, have you ever tried getting up Winnets Pass in a 1.1 Escort with 5 adults in the car? :hihi:

No but i have ridden up it 5 times on a bike. I loved it every time. Every car going past flash their lights and beep their horns. They know what we cyclists are going through to get up that dog of a hill.

Not that i could do it now though :suspect:

I've got a 1970's OS map with a picture of a coach driving up the road on the front. I'll get a pic of it and upload later.

As a sales rep I used to drive over once a month on my visits to customers Manchester and Liverpool way in the 70s. Had some fun times coming down winnats sideways in the snow after Mam Tor closed, but somehow never got stuck in all the years.

Hi,

Some geo-tech engineer is probably going to tell me I'm wrong but I was told the road was built across/along the place where two rock formations meet.

That is: the limestone of the white peak and the millstone grit of the dark peak. Each formation is moving, ever so slightly, against the other. This and heavily loaded lorries was the reason why the road was always breaking up.
In my childhood, Mam Tor was also known as the "Shivering Mountain"

It was costing the Derbyshire CC a fortune to keep the road repaired and authorities were also under a lot of pressure to stop heavy lorries using the road anyway.

By closing it completely, they solved both problems.

RegardsI'd always believed that the reason for the instability was what is clearly visible when you get close to the bottom of the collapse or better still, halfway up the lefthand side .... shale layers sandwiched between clay layers. I could be wrong, of course, and just be believing rumours.:)

You cyclists will be interested to know that you can still ride part way up the old road, BUT, there are some small sections where it is necessary to get off and walk.

Memories of both riding up and down when the road was completely passable.

I have good memories of my father taking me and my sister fossil-ling on top of Mam Tor back when we were youngsters. I remember that the road was getting dodgy, even then.

God! It was lovely out in the peaks. I love the scenery out in the Peak District. My sis and I would clamber on the hillside of Winnat's pass.

Sheffield Motor Cycle Club on Mam Tor, 1920
picturesheffield (http://www.picturesheffield.com/cgi-bin/zoom.pl?picture=http://www.picturesheffield.com/jpgh/v00387.jpg)

Link didn't work

https://www.hpacde.org.uk/picturesheffield/jpgh/v00387.jpg

I think that's what you were trying to link to

Link didn't work

https://www.hpacde.org.uk/picturesheffield/jpgh/v00387.jpg

I think that's what you were trying to link to
It did in 2009,
thanks for that Cyclone.
:thumbsup:

Just to add to that bit, have you ever tried getting up Winnets Pass in a 1.1 Escort with 5 adults in the car? :hihi:

Been up on a 500cc single.
The power to weight ratio meant it I hardly knew there was a slight hill there.

/smug sod :hihi:

ive been going up it for over 20 years it never gets boring.here is some history fgor you.

http://www.bgs.ac.uk/landslides/mamtor.html

ive been going up it for over 20 years it never gets boring.here is some history fgor you.

http://www.bgs.ac.uk/landslides/mamtor.html

You aren't wrong. I first went when I was a kid and have been back a good few times. It's was as good the last time as it was the first.
"Spectacular" doesn't get close to doing the place justice.