WILD UPLANDS Part of Bradford 2025

Landscape

Wild Uplands: The Landscape

Penistone Hill, located 310m above sea level, sits towards the north-west edge of the Bradford Metropolitan District. The historic village of Haworth, including the Bronte Parsonage Museum, is just a 10-minute walk away.  

The character of the site is that of a Pennine Upland landscape, with extensive views over wide open uninhabited moorland and upland pasture. This critically important landscape of heathland and peat plays a crucial role in the fight against climate change.  The site features several sandstone quarries last used in the 1960’s. Multiple dirt paths weave across site, of varying width, gradient and condition. Penistone Hill is an urban common with full public access. 

Experience Penistone Hill from the air in this drone video around the site, with accompanying field recordings by Sound Artist Sarah Kierle-Dos Santos

Expansive view of green rolling hills, patchwork fields, and clustered stone villages under a cloudy sky, typical of rural Yorkshire.
Person in a dark blue coat seated on a large flat rock slab, overlooking green patchwork fields and hedgerows stretching across rolling hills under an overcast sky.

The Landscape of Wild Uplands

Meet Danny Jackson, Former Countryside and Rights of Way Manager – Bradford Metropolitan District Council. Danny played a key role in Wild Uplands ensuring the team understood and cared for the land during the planning and installation of Wild Uplands. 

Distant view of rolling green fields divided by stone walls, dotted with farms and trees, with wind turbines and a communications mast visible on the hilltop under hazy sunlight.

The Natural Environment of Wild Uplands

Step into the world of Biodiversity Officer David Campbell, who played a key part in Wild Uplands ensuring that the project worked in harmony with the site’s flora and fauna.   

Sweeping view of terraced green fields edged by dry stone walls, with patches of woodland and a reservoir partially visible, under overcast skies in a hilly rural landscape.

Involvement of Local Farming Families

Join Farmer Rachel Atkinson and her two children to find out about life on a family farm local to Penistone Hill Country Park. Rachel’s wool was used in Steve Messam’s Tower and her farming lineage goes back generations.

Stone-built village nestled in rolling green fields divided by dry stone walls, with scattered trees and a reservoir visible in the background beneath overcast skies.