Watercolour drawing by LJ Wood, c 1835-1840

WSL SV V 105
© William Salt Library, Stafford

The Roaches are the highest point in the parish of Leek at 505m. This landscape has always attracted attention over the centuries. In 1680 Robert Plot, the Staffordshire antiquarian wrote: “ my admiration was still heighten’d to see such vast rocks and such really stupendous prospects, which I have never seen before.”