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Macclesfield Forest is an area of woodland, predominantly conifer plantation, located around 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.〔Ordnance Survey: The Peak District: White Peak Area (OL24).〕 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 bird watching. ==History== The area is believed to have been occupied during the Bronze Age; there is a Bronze Age barrow near High Low Farm to the west of Macclesfield Forest and another earthwork 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 the Staffordshire Moorlands.〔〔Three sides of the forest: Discovering Macclesfield Forest, Tegg's Nose and Wildboarclough, Peak District National Park Authority (leaflet).〕〔(【引用サイトリンク】url = http://info.sjc.ox.ac.uk/forests/ForestMapTiles.html )〕 South of the forest stands the Greenway Cross (), 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 1930–50, and was planted around the reservoirs to protect water catchment areas from pollution.〔〔 抄文引用元・出典: フリー百科事典『 ウィキペディア（Wikipedia）』 ■ウィキペディアで「Macclesfield Forest」の詳細全文を読む スポンサード リンク
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