An August Evening in the Pennines: Where Moorland Meets Motorway at Scammonden

Date: August 4th, 2018 Location: Scammonden, West Yorkshire

The Yorkshire Pennines, with their sweeping moorlands and dramatic valleys, hold a timeless quality. Yet, there’s one spot where the ancient landscape collides spectacularly with modern human ingenuity: Scammonden. Looking back at the photographs I captured on an early August evening in 2018, the unique character of this location—a crossroads of history, engineering, and stunning nature—is vividly apparent.

The Scenery: Golden Hour on the Moor

• The Light: The sun, low in the sky, bathes the scene in a warm, amber glow. On a summer evening, particularly following what was a famously hot summer in 2018, this light is intensely beautiful, bringing out the deep, earthy tones of the heather and rough grasses that cover the hills.

• The Landscape: You can sense the vastness of the exposed Pennine moorland—a land shaped by centuries of wind and rain. The slopes look rugged yet inviting, a perfect place for quiet reflection as the day cools down.

This area, high up on the backbone of England, offers a breath taking sense of isolation, a characteristic that makes its juxtaposition with the nearby motorway all the more striking.

The Modern Marvel: The M62 at Scammonden Dam

The M62, the vital trans-Pennine route, here performs one of its most impressive feats. Instead of a conventional bridge, the motorway runs along the crest of a massive structure known as the Scammonden Dam, which impounds the water to form Scammonden Reservoir (or Scammonden Water).

• A World-Class Design: Completed in the early 1970s, this dam was the first in the world to carry a motorway along its crest, and remains the only one of its kind in Britain. It's a spectacular example of multi-purpose civil engineering, solving the problems of both crossing a deep valley and providing a much-needed water supply for Huddersfield.

• The Viewpoint: Your pictures clearly show the elevated position of the motorway, giving an incredible vantage point for drivers and observers alike. The sheer scale of the cutting and the embankment is immense—a lasting monument to the ambition of the mid-20th-century road builders.

The faint streams of traffic in the images—perhaps captured with a slightly longer exposure as the light faded—represent the ceaseless flow of commerce and life connecting the East and West of the country, all happening atop this silent, earth-filled wall.

The Companion Reservoir: Booth Wood

• Booth Wood's Role: Lying just north of the M62 and Scammonden, Booth Wood Reservoir is another important feature in this water-rich landscape, supplying water to Wakefield. Like its larger neighbour, it was completed around the same time, in 1971.

• A Complex Water System: Looking out over Booth Wood, you get a sense of the complex network of reservoirs in this area, catching the water from the high moors and channelling it down to the towns and cities of West Yorkshire. It's a reminder that this scenic expanse is also a crucial utility landscape, quietly sustaining the lives of hundreds of thousands of people.

A Village Beneath the Water

Perhaps the most fascinating detail of all lies beneath the surface of Scammonden Water. The reservoir's creation required a significant sacrifice: the valley floor was once home to the small village of Deanhead.

When the valley was flooded, most of the village's structures were demolished. However, the old Deanhead Church was spared and converted into what is now the local sailing club headquarters, sitting on the reservoir's edge—a tangible connection to the community that was displaced. Imagine the history held within the silent water, with the roar of the M62 overhead creating a truly unique historical contrast.

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Scammonden is more than just a stop-off; it is a profound location that tells a story of:

• Natural Beauty: The enduring wildness of the Pennines.

• Human Endeavor: The audacity and scale of its civil engineering.

• Lost History: The ghost of the village that sleeps beneath the dam.

Your photos from that August evening perfectly capture this three-part harmony. It's a place that commands attention, making you pause and appreciate the layers of life, nature, and engineering piled one atop the other.

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The Church that Defied the Dam: St. Bartholomew's of Dean Head

Perched on the edge of a dramatic landscape, St. Bartholomew's Church in Dean Head is more than just a place of worship—it's a survivor. For over a century and a half, this church has watched the world change around it, enduring floods, motorways, and the disappearance of its village.

Opened in 1865, St. Bartholomew's is the third church to stand on this same spot since 1615. It was built to serve the small, tight-knit community of Dean Head. But in the 1960s, a monumental engineering project began: the construction of the M62 motorway and the creation of Scammonden Reservoir. The village of Dean Head was lost, submerged under water to make way for the new dam. Many assumed that St. Bartholomew's and the remaining buildings would soon follow suit, their foundations compromised by the rising water.

However, against all expectations, the church and its neighboring structures—including the former Dean Head School and a couple of dwellings—have stood firm. They form a small, lonely cluster, a poignant reminder of the community that once existed. The church itself, with its striking architecture and peaceful graveyard, continues to defy the expectations of those who thought it would be demolished by the 1970s or 80s. A testament to its resilience, the church's roof was even replaced in 2002.

Today, St. Bartholomew's looks out over a landscape that is both beautiful and dramatically altered. To the east, the M62 carves a path through the valley, a river of modern traffic. Below, the serene waters of Scammonden Reservoir fill the valley where a village once stood. The church remains a silent witness to these changes, a stoic sentinel of the past in a landscape defined by progress. These photos, taken in March 2015, perfectly capture its sombre beauty, a mix of ancient stone and stark, leafless trees against a vast, open sky. They serve as a tribute to a little church that refused to be forgotten.

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Chasing the Golden Hour: My Scammonden Sunset Experiment

Sometimes, the most beautiful moments are fleeting. A perfect sunset, a burst of vibrant colour, a gentle transition from day to night. Capturing that magic is a challenge, but one I decided to take on back in August 2018.

On Saturday, August 4th, I found myself perched near the serene Scammonden Reservoir, nestled in the heart of the Ryburn Valley. The air was alive with a restless wind, a constant reminder of nature's untamed energy. My mission? To track the setting sun as it dipped behind the distant hills, painting the valley in hues of orange and gold.

"Scammonden Sunset" is the result of that evening's endeavour. I set up my tripod, pointed my camera, and let the sun dictate the scene. For a full 20 minutes, I patiently recorded the slow, mesmerizing descent. The wind, however, had other plans. It buffeted my tripod, causing a few wobbles that, while a tad frustrating at the time, now add a touch of raw authenticity to the final product.

The real magic happened in the editing room. I compressed those 20 minutes of real-time sunset into a mere 37 seconds, transforming the gradual shift into a breathtaking, accelerated spectacle. The result is a short, punchy video that captures the essence of the sunset's beauty in a blink.

To enhance the experience, I added a musical score, carefully chosen to complement the visual journey. The music, I believe, adds an emotional layer, amplifying the sense of awe and tranquility that the sunset evokes.

This was my first attempt at filming a sunset in this way, and while it wasn't without its challenges (thanks, wind!), I'm quite pleased with the outcome. It's a reminder of the simple beauty that surrounds us, and the power of time-lapse to condense those moments into something truly captivating.

Sometimes, imperfections add character. Those little tripod wobbles, the gusts of wind – they’re part of the story, a testament to the real, unfiltered experience of capturing nature's fleeting beauty.

If you've ever found yourself mesmerized by a sunset, I hope "Scammonden Sunset" resonates with you. It's a small window into a moment in time, a reminder to pause and appreciate the natural wonders that surround us.

Perhaps this inspires you to capture your own sunset, or simply to take a moment to appreciate the next one you witness. After all, every sunset is a unique masterpiece, painted across the canvas of the sky.

The video was filmed using a Nikon d3300 SLR camera.

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The video remains the copyright of Colin Green.