The Mid Cheshire Ridge, sometimes referred to as the Cheshire Sandstone Ridge, is a range of low
sandstone hills which stretch north to south through
Cheshire in
North West England. The ridge is discontinuous, with the hills forming two main blocks, north and south of the "Beeston Gap". The main mass of those to the south are known as the
Peckforton Hills; the larger group of hills to the north do not have a collective name. The Cheshire Sandstone Ridge was shortlisted for
AONB designation in 2021.[1]
Significant summits
The ridge attains its highest elevation at Raw Head in the
Peckforton Hills, some 227 m above sea level. Other significant summits and the parishes within which they lie, are from north to south:[2]
The hills are composed of a range of
sandstones of
Permian and
Triassic age. North–south faulting is in part responsible for elevating harder-wearing strata above the general level of the
Cheshire Plain. Typically the higher summits are formed from the Helsby Sandstone.
The ridge acted as something of a barrier to the passage of
Irish Sea ice during the last
ice age and its hills are etched with numerous glacial
meltwater channels, many of which formed subglacially. Particularly spectacular examples are those at Urchin's Kitchen in Primrosehill Woods and at Holbitch Slack near Cotebrook.[3]
Numerous of the woods along the ridge have been used for
orienteering competitions over the years. Horseriding is also popular in the area, as it is traversed by a number of
bridleways, byways and green lanes.