93-805: Cressbrook is a village in the Peak District National Park in Derbyshire . It lies in Water-cum-Jolly Dale at the foot of Cressbrook Dale . Population details at the 2011 Census are included in the civil parish of Litton . Before its Enclosure Act of 1762 Cressbrook did not exist. It later grew up around a textile mill complex built alongside the River Wye , first by Richard Arkwright and then later by his son Richard, JL Philips and Brother Cotton Spinners and McConnel and Company. Until McConnel's period of ownership
186-465: A working men's club . Cressbrook Mill went bankrupt in 1965, after which time it changed from being a private mill estate to the public village that it now is. The Monsal Trail passes Cressbrook Mill. This 8.5-mile (13.7-kilometre) walk and cycleway mostly follows the old trackbed of the Manchester, Buxton, Matlock and Midlands Junction Railway where, from 1866 to 1959, the village of Cressbrook
279-420: A "ceramic Mesolithic" can be distinguished between c. 9,000 to 5,850 BP. Russian archaeologists prefer to describe such pottery-making cultures as Neolithic, even though farming is absent. This pottery-making Mesolithic culture can be found peripheral to the sedentary Neolithic cultures. It created a distinctive type of pottery, with point or knob base and flared rims, manufactured by methods not used by
372-522: A Small Island . [REDACTED] Media related to Cressbrook at Wikimedia Commons This Derbyshire location article is a stub . You can help Misplaced Pages by expanding it . Peak District National Park The Peak District is an upland area in central-northern England, at the southern end of the Pennines . Mostly in Derbyshire , it extends into Cheshire , Greater Manchester , Staffordshire , West Yorkshire and South Yorkshire . It
465-596: A concept in use. In the archaeology of the Americas , an Archaic or Meso-Indian period, following the Lithic stage , somewhat equates to the Mesolithic. The Saharan rock paintings found at Tassili n'Ajjer in central Sahara , and at other locations depict vivid scenes of everyday life in central North Africa . Some of these paintings were executed by a hunting people who lived in a savanna region teeming with
558-607: A continuous flow in the River Etherow , which was essential for local industry and provided drinking water for Manchester. In a report for the Manchester Corporation , John Frederick Bateman wrote in 1846: Within ten or twelve miles of Manchester, and six or seven miles from the existing reservoirs at Gorton, there is this tract of mountain land abounding with springs of the purest quality. Its physical and geological features offer such peculiar features for
651-611: A generic term for hunter-gatherer cultures after the Last Glacial Maximum, whether they are transitional towards agriculture or not. In addition, terminology appears to differ between archaeological sub-disciplines, with "Mesolithic" being widely used in European archaeology, while "Epipalaeolithic" is more common in Near Eastern archaeology. The Balkan Mesolithic begins around 15,000 years ago. In Western Europe,
744-533: A higher standard. The early Arkwright mills were of light construction, narrow, about 9 feet (2.7 m) wide and low, the ceiling height being only 6 to 8 feet (1.8 to 2.4 m) and lit by daylight. The new machines were powered by water wheels . The Peak was the ideal location, with its rivers and humid atmosphere. The local pool of labour was quickly exhausted and Litton Mill and Cressbrook Mill in Millers Dale brought in children as young as four from
837-487: A journey through the Peak in 1697, wrote of: ...Craggy hills Whose Bowells are full of mines of all kinds off Black and white and veined Marbles, and some have mines of Copper, others tinn and Leaden mines, in w is a great deale of silver. Coal measures occur on the Peak's western and eastern fringes. Evidence of past workings can be found from Glossop to The Roaches , and from Stocksbridge to Baslow . The coal measures in
930-463: A macrolithic technology was used in the Mesolithic. In the Neolithic, the microlithic technology was replaced by a macrolithic technology, with an increased use of polished stone tools such as stone axes. There is some evidence for the beginning of construction at sites with a ritual or astronomical significance, including Stonehenge , with a short row of large post holes aligned east–west, and
1023-404: A mark of the Neolithic. The terms "Paleolithic" and "Neolithic" were introduced by John Lubbock in his work Pre-historic Times in 1865. The additional "Mesolithic" category was added as an intermediate category by Hodder Westropp in 1866. Westropp's suggestion was immediately controversial. A British school led by John Evans denied any need for an intermediate: the ages blended together like
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#17327868619801116-534: A possible "lunar calendar" at Warren Field in Scotland, with pits of post holes of varying sizes, thought to reflect the lunar phases . Both are dated to before c. 9,000 BP (the 8th millennium BC). An ancient chewed gum made from the pitch of birch bark revealed that a woman enjoyed a meal of hazelnuts and duck about 5,700 years ago in southern Denmark. Mesolithic people influenced Europe's forests by bringing favored plants like hazel with them. As
1209-603: A result of ideological reluctance, different worldviews and an active rejection of the sedentary-farming lifestyle. In one sample from the Blätterhöhle in Hagen , it seems that the descendants of Mesolithic people maintained a foraging lifestyle for more than 2000 years after the arrival of farming societies in the area; such societies may be called " Subneolithic ". For hunter-gatherer communities, long-term close contact and integration in existing farming communities facilitated
1302-540: Is a show cave . Small-scale mining takes place in Treak Cliff Cavern . Industrial limestone quarrying to make soda ash started around Buxton in 1874. In 1926 the operation of the Buxton lime industry became part of ICI . Large-scale limestone and gritstone quarrying flourished as lead mining declined, and is an important if contentious industry. Of the twelve large limestone quarries in operation, Tunstead
1395-734: Is a Natufian carving in calcite . A total of 33 antler frontlets have been discovered at Star Carr. These are red deer skulls modified to be worn by humans. Modified frontlets have also been discovered at Bedburg-Königshoven, Hohen Viecheln, Plau, and Berlin-Biesdorf. Weaving techniques were deployed to create shoes and baskets, the latter being of fine construction and decorated with dyes. Examples have been found in Cueva de los Murciélagos in Southern Spain that in 2023 were dated to 9,500 years ago. In North-Eastern Europe , Siberia , and certain southern European and North African sites,
1488-510: Is a by-product of fluorite, baryte and calcite mining. Bell pits were sunk to access ore that lay close to the surface. Fluorite or fluorspar is called Blue John locally, its name possibly from the French bleu et jaune describing its colour. Blue John is scarce and now only a few hundred kilograms are mined each year for ornamental and lapidary use. The Blue John Cavern in Castleton
1581-556: Is a native perennial of limestone cliffs discovered by J. N. Mills in 1966 and described as a new species in 1968; and leek-coloured hawkweed ( H. subprasinifolium ), which was believed extinct until rediscovered on banks beside the Monsal Trail in Chee Dale in 2017. The endemic Derbyshire feather moss ( Thamnobryum angustifolium ) occurs in one Derbyshire limestone dale, its sole world location intentionally kept confidential;
1674-634: Is a rare Mesolithic animal carving in soapstone from Finland . The rock art in the Urals appears to show similar changes after the Paleolithic, and the wooden Shigir Idol is a rare survival of what may well have been a very common material for sculpture. It is a plank of larch carved with geometric motifs, but topped with a human head. Now in fragments, it would apparently have been over 5 metres tall when made. The Ain Sakhri figurine from Palestine
1767-498: Is higher. The higher rainfall does not affect the temperature, which averages the same as the rest of England and Wales at 10.3 °C (50.5 °F). In the 1970s, the Dark Peak regularly had more than 70 days of snowfall. Since then the number has fallen. The hills still see long periods of continuous snow cover in some winters. Snow in mid-December 2009 on some hill summits created some snow patches that lasted until May 2010. In
1860-467: Is marked by millstone grit outcrops and broad swathes of moorland. Earth movements after the Carboniferous period resulted in the up-doming of the area and, particularly in the west, the folding of the rock strata along north–south axes. The region was raised in a north–south line which resulted in the dome-like shape and the shales and sandstones were worn away until limestone was exposed. At
1953-565: Is on a track near Deer Hill in Meltham ; its southernmost point is on the A52 road near Ashbourne . The boundaries were drawn to exclude built-up and industrial areas; in particular Buxton and the quarries at the end of the Peak Dale corridor are surrounded on three sides by the park. Bakewell and many villages are in the national park, as is much of the rural west of Sheffield. In 2010 it became
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#17327868619802046-453: Is one of the largest in Europe. Total limestone output was substantial: at the 1990 peak, 8.5 million tonnes was produced. Textiles have been exported for hundreds of years. In the 14th century, the area traded in unprocessed wool. There were several skilled hand spinners and weavers in the area. By the 1780s, Richard Arkwright had developed machinery to produce textiles faster and to
2139-882: Is subdivided into the Dark Peak , moorland dominated by gritstone , and the White Peak , a limestone area with valleys and gorges. The Dark Peak forms an arc on the north, east and west of the district, and the White Peak covers central and southern areas. The highest point is Kinder Scout (2,087 ft (636 m)). Most of the area is within the Peak District National Park , a protected landscape designated in 1951. A 2021 report states that "the Park’s own population numbers around 40,000 and supports an estimated 18,000 jobs, predominantly through farming, manufacturing and, inevitably, tourism". The area has been inhabited since
2232-700: Is the largest settlement and only town in the national park and the site of the National Park Authority offices. Its five-arched bridge over the River Wye dates from the 13th century. Castleton is the centre of production of a semi-precious mineral, Blue John . Eyam village is known for a self-imposed quarantine during the Black Death . Edale is the southern end of the Pennine Way , a 268-mile national trail which traverses most of
2325-749: Is the most prominent. It rises on Bleaklow just east of Glossop and flows through the Upper Derwent Valley , where it is constrained by the Howden , Derwent and Ladybower reservoirs . The reservoirs of the Upper Derwent Valley were built from the early to mid-20th century to supply drinking water to the East Midlands and South Yorkshire. The rivers Noe and the Wye are tributaries. The River Manifold and River Dove in
2418-459: The Dark Peak and White Peak , but the wider Peak District is less well defined. The Dark Peak is largely uninhabited moorland and gritstone escarpments in the northern Peak District and its eastern and western margins. It encloses the central and southern White Peak, which is where most settlements, farmland and limestone gorges are found. Three of Natural England 's National Character Areas (NCAs) cover parts of it. The Dark Peak NCA includes
2511-606: The Mesolithic era; it was largely used for agricultural purposes until mining arose in the Middle Ages. During the Industrial Revolution , several cotton mills were constructed in the area's valleys by Richard Arkwright . As mining declined, quarrying grew. Tourism came with the railways, spurred by the landscape, spa towns and Castleton 's show caves. The Peak District forms the southern extremity of
2604-785: The Neolithic . The term Epipaleolithic is often used synonymously, especially for outside northern Europe, and for the corresponding period in the Levant and Caucasus . The Mesolithic has different time spans in different parts of Eurasia . It refers to the final period of hunter-gatherer cultures in Europe and the Middle East, between the end of the Last Glacial Maximum and the Neolithic Revolution . In Europe it spans roughly 15,000 to 5,000 BP ; in
2697-820: The RSPB 's publication of Peak Malpractice , a 2006 report highlighting wildlife crime, the Peak District Bird of Prey Initiative was set up in 2011 by conservationists and shooting bodies to try to boost populations of birds of prey. The park authorities expressed disappointment at the limited results and the RSPB withdrew from the partnership in January 2018 citing continued efforts by the Moorland Association and National Gamekeepers’ Organisation which together had "frustrated any possibility of progress" on
2790-481: The anomalous , broom moth , dot moth , garden dart , mouse moth and white ermine . Other invertebrates include the bilberry bumblebee , broad groove-head spider , mole cricket , northern yellow splinter , shining guest ant , violet oil beetle and white-clawed crayfish . The Peak District National Park was the first national park to be designated in the United Kingdom, on 17 April 1951 (following
2883-406: The archaeology of China , and can be mostly regarded as happily naturalized, Mesolithic was introduced later, mostly after 1945, and does not appear to be a necessary or useful term in the context of China. Chinese sites that have been regarded as Mesolithic are better considered as "Early Neolithic". In the archaeology of India , the Mesolithic, dated roughly between 12,000 and 8,000 BP, remains
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2976-488: The coal measures that occur only on the margins and infrequent outcrops of igneous rocks , including lavas , tuffs and volcanic vent agglomerates . The general geological structure is that of a broad dome , whose western margins have been intensely faulted and folded . Uplift and erosion have sliced the top off the Derbyshire Dome to reveal a concentric outcrop pattern with coal-measured rocks on
3069-466: The last glacial period ended have a much more apparent Mesolithic era, lasting millennia. In northern Europe, for example, societies were able to live well on rich food supplies from the marshlands created by the warmer climate. Such conditions produced distinctive human behaviors that are preserved in the material record, such as the Maglemosian and Azilian cultures. Such conditions also delayed
3162-473: The workhouses of London as apprentices. As technology advanced, narrow valleys proved unsuited to larger steam-driven mills, but Derbyshire mills remained to trade in finishing and niche products. Glossop benefited from the textile industry. Its economy was tied to a spinning and weaving tradition that evolved from developments in textile manufacture during the Industrial Revolution . Until
3255-408: The " Neolithic package" (including farming, herding, polished stone axes, timber longhouses and pottery) spread into Europe, the Mesolithic way of life was marginalized and eventually disappeared. Mesolithic adaptations such as sedentism, population size and use of plant foods are cited as evidence of the transition to agriculture. Other Mesolithic communities rejected the Neolithic package likely as
3348-599: The "Younger Stone Age". Compared to the preceding Upper Paleolithic and the following Neolithic, there is rather less surviving art from the Mesolithic. The Rock art of the Iberian Mediterranean Basin , which probably spreads across from the Upper Paleolithic, is a widespread phenomenon, much less well known than the cave-paintings of the Upper Paleolithic, with which it makes an interesting contrast. The sites are now mostly cliff faces in
3441-680: The 1940s onwards, but may now be extinct. Red deer herds, assumed to be derived from animals escaped from deer parks at Lyme Park and Chatsworth , are established in the upper reaches of the Goyt valley and on the moors above Baslow , and a herd on Wharncliffe Crags outside the national park north of Sheffield may derive from hunting stock of Wharncliffe Chase. Biodiversity action plans have been prepared for mountain hare, brown hare , brown long-eared bat , dormouse , harvest mouse , hedgehog , noctule bat , otter , pine marten , polecat , soprano pipistrelle and water vole . The status of
3534-615: The Early Mesolithic, or Azilian , begins about 14,000 years ago, in the Franco-Cantabrian region of northern Spain and Southern France . In other parts of Europe, the Mesolithic begins by 11,500 years ago (the beginning of the Holocene ), and it ends with the introduction of farming, depending on the region between c. 8,500 and 5,500 years ago. Regions that experienced greater environmental effects as
3627-788: The Eastern Baltic. Spreading westward along the coastline it is found in the Ertebølle culture of Denmark and Ellerbek of Northern Germany, and the related Swifterbant culture of the Low Countries . A 2012 publication in the Science journal, announced that the earliest pottery yet known anywhere in the world was found in Xianrendong cave in China, dating by radiocarbon to between 20,000 and 19,000 years before present, at
3720-648: The First World War, Glossop was the headquarters of the largest textile printworks in the world, but after the Wall Street crash its product lines became vulnerable and the industry declined. Mesolithic The Mesolithic ( Greek : μέσος, mesos 'middle' + λίθος, lithos 'stone') or Middle Stone Age is the Old World archaeological period between the Upper Paleolithic and
3813-557: The Middle East (the Epipalaeolithic Near East ) roughly 20,000 to 10,000 BP . The term is less used of areas farther east, and not at all beyond Eurasia and North Africa . The type of culture associated with the Mesolithic varies between areas, but it is associated with a decline in the group hunting of large animals in favour of a broader hunter-gatherer way of life, and the development of more sophisticated and typically smaller lithic tools and weapons than
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3906-628: The National Parks and Access to the Countryside Act of 1949 and a resulting public enquiry to establish its boundary). It was one of ten parks created in the 1950s in the wake of the 1945 Dower Report and 1947 Hobhouse Report, which recommended the creation of national parks in England and Wales. The park has an area of 1,438 square kilometres (555 sq mi) and receives approximately 13 million visitors each year. 90% of
3999-741: The Neolithic farmers. Though each area of Mesolithic ceramic developed an individual style, common features suggest a single point of origin. The earliest manifestation of this type of pottery may be in the region around Lake Baikal in Siberia. It appears in the Yelshanka culture on the Volga in Russia 9,000 years ago, and from there spread via the Dnieper-Donets culture to the Narva culture of
4092-594: The Paleolithic and Neolithic. By the time of Vere Gordon Childe 's work, The Dawn of Europe (1947), which affirms the Mesolithic, sufficient data had been collected to determine that a transitional period between the Paleolithic and the Neolithic was indeed a useful concept. However, the terms "Mesolithic" and "Epipalaeolithic" remain in competition, with varying conventions of usage. In the archaeology of Northern Europe, for example for archaeological sites in Great Britain, Germany, Scandinavia, Ukraine, and Russia,
4185-535: The Peak District was once inhabited by an eclectic mix of species, many of them no longer found in Britain, such as alpine swift , demoiselle crane and long-legged buzzard . Species lost from the Peak District through human activity include hazel grouse , capercaillie and golden eagle . Amphibians and reptiles such as common lizards , grass snakes , great crested newts and slow worms are found in
4278-551: The Pennines and ends at Kirk Yetholm in the Scottish border . The park also contains the highest village in the United Kingdom, Flash , at 1,519 feet (463 m). Other villages in the park include Hathersage , Hartington , Ilam and Tideswell . The towns of Glossop , Chapel-en-le-Frith , Buxton , Macclesfield , Leek , Ashbourne, Matlock and Chesterfield are on the national park's fringes. The spa town of Buxton
4371-517: The Pennines. Much of it is upland above 1,000 feet (300 m), its highest point being Kinder Scout at 2,087 ft (636 m). Despite its name, the landscape has fewer sharp peaks than rounded hills, plateaus , valleys, limestone gorges and gritstone escarpments (the "edges"). The mostly rural area is surrounded by conurbations and large urban areas, including Manchester , Huddersfield , Sheffield , Derby and Stoke-on-Trent . The national park has formal boundaries. It covers most of
4464-918: The South West Peak NCA. The limestone plateaus of the White Peak are more intensively farmed, with mainly dairy usage of improved pastures. Woodland forms some 8 per cent of the Peak National Park. Natural broad-leaved woodland appears in the steep dales of the White Peak and cloughs of the Dark Peak. Reservoir margins often have coniferous plantations. White Peak habitats include calcareous grassland , ash woodlands and rock outcrops for lime-loving species. They include early purple orchid ( Orchis mascula ), dark-red helleborine ( Epipactis atrorubens ) and fly orchid ( Ophrys insectifera ), common rockrose ( Helianthemum nummularium ), spring cinquefoil ( Helianthemum nummularium ) and grass of parnassus ( Parnassia palustris ). Lead rakes,
4557-422: The Upper Paleolithic immediately followed by the Mesolithic. As "Mesolithic" suggests an intermediate period, followed by the Neolithic, some authors prefer the term "Epipaleolithic" for hunter-gatherer cultures who are not succeeded by agricultural traditions, reserving "Mesolithic" for cultures who are clearly succeeded by the Neolithic Revolution, such as the Natufian culture . Other authors use "Mesolithic" as
4650-416: The White Peak fed the Cromford Canal . The Peak Forest Canal brought lime from the quarries at Dove Holes for the construction industry. It terminated at Bugsworth Basin and the journey was completed using the Peak Forest Tramway . The Cromford Canal, from Cromford to the Erewash Canal , served lead mines at Wirksworth and Sir Richard Arkwright 's cotton mills. The Caldon Canal from Froghall
4743-424: The adoption of a farming lifestyle. The integration of these hunter-gatherer in farming communities was made possible by their socially open character towards new members. In north-Eastern Europe, the hunting and fishing lifestyle continued into the Medieval period in regions less suited to agriculture, and in Scandinavia no Mesolithic period may be accepted, with the locally preferred "Older Stone Age" moving into
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#17327868619804836-449: The area have been found in several caves. Various rock-types beneath the soil strongly influence the landscape; they determine the type of vegetation and ultimately the type of animal inhabiting the area. Limestone has fissures and is soluble in water, so that rivers could carve deep, narrow valleys. These often find routes underground, creating cave systems. Millstone grit is insoluble but porous , absorbing water that seeps through
4929-405: The area. It was not iced over in the last glacial period , which peaked about 20,000–22,000 years ago. A mix of Irish Sea and Lake District ice abutted its western margins. Glacial meltwaters eroded a complex of sinuous channels along this margin of the district. Glacial meltwaters contributed to the formation and development of many caves in the limestone area. Remains of wild animal herds roaming
5022-399: The coal and dewatered the mines. Coal from the east was used in lead smelting and from the west for lime burning. Lead mining peaked in the 17th and 18th centuries; high concentrations were found in the area from this period, along with peat on Kinder Scout, suggesting that lead smelting occurred. Lead mining declined from the mid-19th century, with the last major mine closing in 1939. Lead
5115-406: The collection, storage and supply of water for the use of the towns in the plains below that I am surprised that they have been overlooked. The western Peak District is drained by the Etherow, the Goyt and the Tame , all tributaries of the River Mersey . The north-east is drained by tributaries of the River Don . Of the tributaries of the River Trent draining south and east, the River Derwent
5208-463: The colony covers about 3 square metres (32 sq ft) of a rock face with small subsidiary colonies nearby. Jacob's-ladder ( Polemonium caeruleum ), a rarish species characteristic of limestone dales in the White Peak, has been Derbyshire's county flower since 2002. It grows on grassland, light woodland, screes and rock ledges, and by streams in Lathkill , Wolfscote, Taddington, Wye Dale and other dales. Pollen evidence from peat bogs shows it
5301-407: The colors of a rainbow, he said. A European school led by Gabriel de Mortillet asserted that there was a gap between the earlier and later. Edouard Piette claimed to have filled the gap with his naming of the Azilian Culture. Knut Stjerna offered an alternative in the "Epipaleolithic", suggesting a final phase of the Paleolithic rather than an intermediate age in its own right inserted between
5394-421: The coming of the Neolithic until some 5,500 BP in northern Europe. The type of stone toolkit remains one of the most diagnostic features: the Mesolithic used a microlithic technology – composite devices manufactured with Mode V chipped stone tools ( microliths ), while the Paleolithic had utilized Modes I–IV. In some areas, however, such as Ireland, parts of Portugal, the Isle of Man and the Tyrrhenian Islands,
5487-486: The district. The eastern moors are a stronghold for adders . Native fish in the Peak District include Atlantic salmon , brown trout , European eel , bullhead , brook lamprey and grayling . A possibly unique population of "wild" rainbow trout survives on the Derbyshire Wye , following their introduction at the turn of the 20th century. Butterflies in the region include the dingy skipper , brown argus , small blue and white-letter hairstreak . Moths include
5580-484: The east are at the western edge of the South Yorkshire Coalfield . Those in the west are part of the Cheshire section of the Lancashire Coalfield . Mining started in medieval times , was at its most productive in the 18th and early 19th centuries, and continued into the early 20th century. The earliest mining took place around outcrops , where miners followed the seams deeper into the hillsides. At Goyt's Moss and Axe Edge , deep seams were worked and steam engines raised
5673-403: The eastern and western margins, carboniferous limestone at the core and rocks of millstone grit between them. The southern edge of the Derbyshire dome is overlain by sandstones of Triassic age, though they barely impinge on the National Park. The White Peak forms a central and southern section with carboniferous limestone found at or near the surface. The Dark Peak to the north, east and west
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#17327868619805766-554: The end of the Last Glacial Period . The carbon 14 datation was established by carefully dating surrounding sediments. Many of the pottery fragments had scorch marks, suggesting that the pottery was used for cooking. These early pottery containers were made well before the invention of agriculture (dated to 10,000 to 8,000 BC), by mobile foragers who hunted and gathered their food during the Late Glacial Maximum. Epipalaeolithic Near East Caucasus Zagros While Paleolithic and Neolithic have been found useful terms and concepts in
5859-499: The end of this period, the Earth's crust sank here which led to the area being covered by sea, depositing a variety of new rocks. Some time after its deposition, mineral veins were formed in the limestone. The veins and rakes have been mined for lead since Roman times . The Peak District was iced over in at least one of the ice ages of the last two million years, probably the Anglian glaciation of some 450,000 years ago, as shown by patches of glacial till or boulder clay found across
5952-461: The fifth largest national park in England and Wales. In the UK, designation as a national park means that planning and other functions are provided by a national park authority, with additional restrictions that enhance protection from inappropriate development. Land within this national park as in others is in a mix of public and private ownership. The National Trust , a charity that conserves historic and natural landscapes, owns about 12 per cent of
6045-417: The grits, until it meets the less porous shales beneath, creating springs where it reaches the surface. The shales are friable and easily attacked by frost, forming areas vulnerable to landslides, as on Mam Tor. The gritstone and shale of the Dark Peak supports heather moorland and blanket bog , with rough sheep pasture and grouse shooting as the main land uses, though parts are also farmed, especially
6138-598: The heather moorlands of the Dark Peak, where the red grouse population is maintained by gamekeepers employed by shooting estates. A population of black grouse became extinct in 2000, but reintroduction was attempted in 2003. Quarries and rock outcrops provide nest sites for peregrine falcon and common raven . Ravens and common buzzards are increasingly found as their British range expands eastwards, perhaps because of general reductions in persecution. Illegal persecution has limited populations of rare raptors such as Eurasian goshawk , peregrine and hen harrier . Following
6231-500: The heavy-chipped equivalents typical of the Paleolithic. Depending on the region, some use of pottery and textiles may be found in sites allocated to the Mesolithic, but generally indications of agriculture are taken as marking transition into the Neolithic . The more permanent settlements tend to be close to the sea or inland waters offering a good supply of food. Mesolithic societies are not seen as very complex, and burials are fairly simple; in contrast, grandiose burial mounds are
6324-478: The high moors. After decades of decline due to pollution, Sphagnum mosses are returning, with species such as S. cuspidatum particularly dominant. Most Peak District mammals are generalists and widespread across the UK, but the mountain hares on heather moorland in the Dark Peak form the only wild population in England. They were reintroduced in the Victorian era for sporting purposes. A feral population of red-necked wallabies lived around The Roaches from
6417-435: The issue. Fast-flowing rivers attract specialists such as grey wagtail , dipper , common sandpiper , mandarin duck and goosander . Wooded and semi-wooded areas attract redstart , pied flycatcher , wood warbler and tree pipit , and coniferous plantations house siskin and common crossbill . Upland reservoirs in the Dark Peak are generally oligotrophic and attract few birds, but lower-lying reservoirs on
6510-403: The land in the national park. Its three estates ( High Peak , White Peak and Longshaw ) include ecologically or geologically significant areas at Bleaklow , Derwent Edge , Hope Woodlands , Kinder Scout , the Manifold valley, Mam Tor , Dovedale , Milldale and Winnats Pass . The park authority owns around 5 per cent; other major landowners include several water companies. Bakewell
6603-400: The local authorities covered by the park. The local authorities and the number of members they appoint are as follows: The Peak has been inhabited from the earliest periods of human activity, as shown by finds of Mesolithic flint artefacts and palaeo-environmental evidence from caves in Dovedale and elsewhere. Signs of Neolithic activity include monumental earthworks or barrows such as
6696-733: The modern-day localities of Cressbrook, Queensland and Lower Cressbrook, Queensland . The history of Cressbrook was recently captured in the book Behind The View — Life and times in Cressbrook, a Derbyshire Mill village . This was written by and published by the Cressbrook Community association with the help of a grant from the Local Heritage Initiative, a Countryside Agency project. Bill Bryson writes warmly about Cressbrook Mill in his 2015 travel memoir The Road to Little Dribbling: More Notes from
6789-532: The moorland plateaux of the Dark Peak and the high ridges of the White Peak. Many rivers in the Dark Peak and outer fringes were dammed to create reservoirs for supplying drinking water. Streams were dammed to provide headwater for water driven mills ; weirs were built for the same purpose. The reservoirs of the Longdendale Chain were completed in February 1877 to provide compensation water, ensuring
6882-515: The moorlands are a net carbon sink or source, based on the fact that Britain's upland areas contain a major global carbon store in the form of peat . Human interaction in terms of direct erosion and fire, with the effects of global warming, are the main variables they considered. The Peak District is formed almost wholly of sedimentary rocks of the Carboniferous period. They make up the carboniferous limestone overlying gritstone , and
6975-698: The national park is privately owned, with the largest single owner being the National Trust (12%). The national park is governed by the Peak District National Park Authority, which was established under the 1995 Environment Act, replacing the Peak Park Planning Board. The authority has 30 members, 14 appointed by the Secretary of State for Environment, Food, and Rural Affairs and 16 appointed by
7068-563: The northern and eastern parts of the Dark Peak and the White Peak NCA most of the White Peak. The western margins of the Dark Peak are in the South West Peak NCA, where farmland and pastured valleys are found with gritstone edges and moorland. Outside the park, the wider Peak District often includes the area approximately between Disley and Sterndale Moor, encompassing Buxton and the Peak Dale corridor. It may also include some of
7161-582: The one at Margery Hill . The Bronze Age saw the area well populated and farmed. Evidence remains in henges such as Arbor Low near Youlgreave and the Nine Ladies stone circle at Stanton Moor . In the same period and into the Iron Age , hill forts such as Mam Tor's were created. The Romans drew on the area's rich mineral veins, exporting lead from the Buxton area along well-used routes. Buxton
7254-579: The open air, and the subjects are now mostly human rather than animal, with large groups of small figures; there are 45 figures at Roca dels Moros . Clothing is shown, and scenes of dancing, fighting, hunting and food-gathering. The figures are much smaller than the animals of Paleolithic art, and depicted much more schematically, though often in energetic poses. A few small engraved pendants with suspension holes and simple engraved designs are known, some from northern Europe in amber , and one from Star Carr in Britain in shale . The Elk's Head of Huittinen
7347-723: The outer fringes and foothills, such as the Churnet and lower Derwent Valleys. The region is mostly surrounded by lowlands with gritstone moorlands of the South Pennines to the north, separated approximately by the Tame Valley , Standedge and Holme Valley . The national park covers 555 square miles (1,440 km ), including most of the region in Derbyshire and extends into Staffordshire, Cheshire, Greater Manchester and South and West Yorkshire. Its northern limit
7440-591: The pine marten is unclear, though confirmed sightings have occurred in recent decades in Derbyshire and north Staffordshire and a specimen from an introduced Welsh population was found dead outside the national park on a road between Ripley and Belper in 2018. As with mammals, many Peak bird species are widespread generalists. The Dark Peak moors still support breeding populations of several upland specialists, such as twite , short-eared owl , golden plover , dunlin , ring ouzel , northern wheatear and merlin . The populations of twite and golden plover are
7533-508: The same winter, the A635 (Saddleworth Moor) and A57 (Snake Pass) were closed due to snow for almost a month. Frost cover is seen for 20–30 per cent of the winter on moorland in the Dark Peak and 10 per cent in the White Peak. The Moorland Indicators of Climate Change Initiative was set up in 2008 to collect data in the area. Students investigated the interaction between people and the moorlands and their effect on climate change, to discover whether
7626-786: The south-west, whose sources are on Axe Edge Moor , flow into the Trent. The River Dane flows into the River Weaver in Cheshire. There are no canals in the national park, although the Standedge Tunnels on the Huddersfield Narrow Canal run underneath the extreme north of it. Outside the park, waters from the Dark Peak feed the Macclesfield , Ashton , and Huddersfield Narrow Canals and waters from
7719-452: The southern fringes such as Carsington Water and Ogston Reservoir regularly attract rare migrants and wintering rarities such as various waders, wildfowl, gulls and terns. The area is regularly overflown by wintering populations of pink-footed geese moving between East Anglia and Morecambe Bay. Dipper, golden plover, hen harrier, merlin and short-eared owl are local biodiversity action plan priority species. Fossil records show that
7812-606: The southernmost confirmed breeding populations in England, and the Peak District Moors Special Protection Area (SPA) is a European designation for its populations of merlin, golden plover and short-eared owl. The Peak District lacks the concentrations of breeding waders found further north in the Pennines, though the moors and their fringes accommodate breeding curlew and lapwing , and less noticeable wading birds such as dunlin and snipe . Commercial driven grouse shooting occurs on
7905-495: The spoil heaps of ancient mining activity, form another distinctive White Peak habitat, supporting a range of rare metallophyte plants, including spring sandwort ( Minuartia verna ; also known as leadwort), alpine pennycress ( Thlaspi caerulescens ) and mountain pansy ( Viola lutea ). Two endemic vascular plants are found nowhere else in the world: Derby hawkweed ( Hieracium naviense ), found only in Winnats Pass ,
7998-515: The term "Mesolithic" is almost always used. In the archaeology of other areas, the term "Epipaleolithic" may be preferred by most authors, or there may be divergences between authors over which term to use or what meaning to assign to each. In the New World, neither term is used (except provisionally in the Arctic). "Epipaleolithic" is sometimes also used alongside "Mesolithic" for the final end of
8091-402: The village did not exist beyond a collection of buildings in the immediate vicinity of the mill. When McConnel's workforce objected to the quality of the housing available he took it upon himself to build the model village that became Cressbrook. Building started in the late 1830s and was later extended by Henry McConnel's daughter, Mary Worthington, in 1902 to include a village club, modelled on
8184-579: Was a Roman settlement known as " Aquae Arnemetiae " for its spring. Theories on how the name Peak derived cite the Pecsaetan or peaklanders, an Anglo-Saxon tribe inhabiting the central and northern parts of the area from the 6th century CE, when it belonged to the Anglian kingdom of Mercia . Barrows from the Anglo-Saxon period are present, including Benty Grange , where the eponymous helmet
8277-403: Was built to transport limestone from quarries at Cauldon Low for the iron industry and flints for the pottery industry. Most of the area is over 1,000 feet (300 m) above sea level, in the centre of the country at a latitude of 53°N, bringing relatively high annual rainfall averaging 40.35 inches (1,025 mm) in 1999. The Dark Peak tends to receive more rainfall than the White Peak, as it
8370-815: Was built up by the Dukes of Devonshire as a genteel health resort in the 18th century while the spa at Matlock Bath , in the River Derwent valley, was popularised in Victorian times. Hayfield is at the foot of Kinder Scout, the area's highest summit. Other towns and villages fringing the park include Whaley Bridge , Hadfield , Tintwistle , Darley Dale and Wirksworth in Derbyshire, Stocksbridge in South Yorkshire and Marsden and Holmfirth in West Yorkshire. Several rivers have sources on
8463-400: Was found. In medieval and early modern times, the area was mainly agricultural, with sheep farming, rather than arable the main activity in upland holdings. From the 16th century, the mineral and geological wealth became increasingly significant. Not only lead, but coal, fluorite , copper from Ecton Mines , zinc , iron , manganese and silver have been mined. Celia Fiennes , describing
8556-646: Was served by Monsal Dale railway station . Until May 2011 the Cressbrook Tunnel (and others) were closed to walkers and cyclists for safety reasons and the Trail diverted across the River Wye next to the Mill. David Cannon McConnel emigrated to Queensland , Australia in 1840. In 1841, he established the Cressbrook Homestead named after their home town. The homestead in turn gives its name to
8649-557: Was widespread throughout Britain just after the last ice age. Much planted in gardens from where it has established itself in other parts of the area, as a native it is restricted to the White Peak and the Yorkshire Dales . The Dark Peak heathlands, bogs, gritstone edges and acid grasslands contain relatively few species; heather ( Calluna vulgaris ), crowberry ( Empetrum nigrum ), bilberry ( Vaccinium myrtillus ) and hare's-tail cotton grass ( Eriophorum vaginatum ) dominate
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