The Roaches, Hen Cloud, Ramshaw Rocks and Lud’s Church are all rock formations that are part of the gritstone escarpment, a thick layer of coarse sandstone, on the edge of the Staffordshire moorlands. They have many stories to tell, and are so much more than ridges of ancient gritstone.
The Roaches
The term “The Roaches” is derived from the French words “les Roches,” which translate to mean “the rocks,” and its boulders and buttresses rise steeply above Leek and Tittesworth Reservoir. The Roaches Ridge is famously associated with the climber and mountaineer Don Whillans, and is where the “said to be bottomless” Doxey Pool can be found. And then there is Rock Hall Cottage, built into the rock itself. This cottage was built in 1862 as a gamekeeper’s home for the Swythamley Estate, and today still provides a place to stay for members of the British Mountaineering Council and associated climbing organisations.Hen Cloud
The buttress known as “Hen Cloud” rises up from the dip that separates it from the Roaches ridge, and has the Old English name of “Henge Clud,” meaning “steep rock,” which describes it perfectly!Ramshaw Rocks & the Winking Man
Then there are the Ramshaw Rocks, which stretch out along the A53, where you encounter the rocks known as “The Winking Man.” As you drive past the stone formation, the “Winking Man” appears to close his eye in a knowing wink. Of course he, or rather it, isn’t really winking. But on the moorland edge, with light playing across the gritstone and the wind moving through the heather & grasses, the rocks and boulders seem so much more alive than just a ridge of ungainly rocks.Lud’s Church
Last but not least, there’s Lud’s Church. This is not a church at all, but an extraordinary deep, moss-draped chasm formed by an ancient landslip. Some scholars believe this to be the very Green Chapel sought by Sir Gawain in the medieval poem Sir Gawain and the Green Knight, and standing within its narrow, towering walls it is not difficult to understand why. Its name is thought to come from Walter de Ludank, a follower of Wycliffe who was captured here at one of their secret meetings, held to evade capture and prosecution under Henry IV. History, myth and landscape fold into one another here in a way that feels entirely natural, as though the rock itself has always kept secrets.-
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