A plateau-topped hill, Combs moss is located between Chapel-en-le-Frith and Buxton in Derbyshire, the Peak District. Its northern tip is the home to a prehistoric promontory fort called Castle Naze and a long-distance footpath follows a Roman Road across the southwestern end.
Much of Combs Moss is a privately owned grouse moor however following the Countryside and Rights of Way Act 2000, the area became “Open Access” land for the public.
For Combs our objective was to design and build 25 timbers leaky dams to slow the flow of water off the moor during extreme weather events, focusing on the below core principles:
- To maintain existing base flow, plus about 300 mm
- To not break the horizon of the surrounding landscape
- To key in timbers into channel banks
- To use log dams in gullies where machine access is possible
- To use untreated cut timber dams, built by hand, where machine access is risky
Due to the remote location all materials were airlifted onto site. Working alongside Moors for the Future staff, gamekeeper and local farmers, we deployed a team of five staff and two 8 tonne tracked excavator to undertake the construction of the dams. Starting at the top of each gully we constructed the log dams. We then moved onto the construction of the boards and post dams.
