Black Hill

Black Hill, in the Peak District, is the highest hill in West Yorkshire, England. Its summit rises to an elevation of 582 m (1,909 ft) above sea level. It is surpassed in height by only two other major summits in the Peak District (Kinder Scout and Bleaklow). Black Hill is a typical Pennine moorland mountain, with a very flat and extensive plateau (but steeper sides). The top is peaty, poorly drained, and thus very boggy after rain. The area surrounding the summit itself had virtually no vegetation and was very dark, giving the hill an appropriate name. However, recent restoration work has eliminated much of the exposed peat. Black Hill is crossed by the Pennine Way whose now-paved surface allows walkers to reach the top dry-shod even in the wettest of weather. Black Hill was the highest point (county top) of the historic county of Cheshire, lying at the tip of what was once known as the Cheshire Panhandle, a long projection of the county which lay to the north of the reservoir filled valley of Longdendale. Under the local government reforms which were enacted in 1974, Black Hill was placed for administrative purposes on the border between the boroughs of Kirklees in West Yorkshire and High Peak in Derbyshire. It is also the highest point within a metropolitan county in the United Kingdom.