Macclesfield Forest

Macclesfield Forest is an area of woodland, predominantly conifer plantation, around 3 mi (5 km) south east of Macclesfield in the civil parish of Macclesfield Forest and Wildboarclough, in Cheshire, England.

The existing woodland is the last substantial remnant of the Royal Forest of Macclesfield, a once-extensive ancient hunting reserve. The area also includes two reservoirs, Trentabank and Ridgegate. Macclesfield Forest lies on the western edge of the Peak District, within the South West Peak, and is partly inside the boundary of the National Park. The hills of Tegg's Nose and Shutlingsloe stand to the north west and south east, respectively; the moorland of High Moor lies to the south and the Goyt Valley lies to the west. Nearby villages include Langley and Wildboarclough.

Macclesfield Forest is owned by United Utilities. Most of the woodland is designated a Site of Biological Importance, while part of the area including Trentabank Reservoir is a nature reserve managed by the Cheshire Wildlife Trust; the reserve contains a large heronry. Other wildlife includes a small herd of red deer. Recreational uses of the area include walking, orienteering, horse riding, cycling, mountain biking, fishing and birdwatching.

The area is believed to have been occupied during the Bronze Age; there is a Bronze Age barrow near High Low Farm west of Macclesfield Forest and another (a scheduled monument) east of the forest near Toot Hill. After the Norman Conquest, the modern area known as Macclesfield Forest formed part of the much larger region of the Royal forest of Macclesfield, a hunting reserve owned by the Earls of Chester, which formerly stretched from the foothills of the Pennines east into the High Peak near Whaley Bridge and south to Staffordshire Moorlands. Remains of a medieval deerpound survive on Toot Hill.

South of the forest stands the Greenway Cross (SJ955692), a standing stone carved on each side with a cross, which was probably erected as a waymarker by Dieulacres Abbey in Leek during the Middle Ages. Tradition holds that poachers in the royal forest were executed at a nearby gallows, which might be the source of the name of the Hanging Gate public house, from the Norse gata, meaning "path".

Ridgegate Reservoir was constructed in the late 19th century to provide drinking water for the town of Macclesfield, with Trentabank Reservoir following in the 1920s. The conifer plantation largely dates from 1930 to 1950, and was planted around the reservoirs to protect water catchment areas from pollution.

Macclesfield Forest lies on the western edge of the Peak District, within the South West Peak. The eastern two-thirds of the forest fall within the Peak District National Park, and the area has been covered by the Park's ranger service since the 1970s. A total of 401 hectares (990 acres) has been designated a Site of Biological Importance (grade A); an area of 19 hectares (47 acres), including all of Trentabank Reservoir, was also made a non-statutory nature reserve in 1982, and is managed by the Cheshire Wildlife Trust.

The area ranges in elevation from around 225 metres to 475 metres, and includes two hills, Toot Hill (SJ970719) in the east and Nessit Hill (SJ962706) in the south. Within the forest are two reservoirs, Trentabank (SJ962713) and Ridgegate (SJ954713), which are fed by Bollin Brook. They are the highest of a series of four reservoirs, the lower two being the Bottoms and Teggsnose Reservoirs, south of Tegg's Nose.