Peak District National Park – White Peak and Dark Peak

PEAK DISTRICT NATIONAL PARK INTRODUCTION
Peak District National Park with its White Peak and Dark Peak is one of the most visited in the UK. Travelling from the south, the Peak District is the first major upland area to be encountered. It is the area of divide between the lush landscape of southern England and the varied expanses of magnificent higher ground of the ‘North’. The climate changes under the altitude influence of some 2000 feet high moorlands and the very nature of the area marks the cultural division between north and south. It links the Heart of England with Northern England (which is why this description can be found written both regions on this site) in a wonderful transition from gorgeous, verdant valleys and sparkling limestone streams to gaunt, forbidding and bleak moorlands which continue northwards in the great Pennine Range – the backbone of England begins here. The north-western flanks rise so steeply out of the Cheshire Plain that travellers can often drive through different seasons in just a few miles. This is less pronounced to the south-west and south of the Peak District as the limestone is exposed to form the high, green and white landscapes known as the White Peak.

HISTORY & HERITAGE
The name ‘Peak’ District is a misnomer. Paec was the Old English word for hill and these uplands were first settled by a Neolithic hill tribe called the Paecsetons. The flat, high, plateaux of the Dark Peak were riven by Roman roads and forts and the main Roman settlement of the Peak was centred at Buxton. Bronze Age burial mounds surmount many of the White Peak ‘tops’, often highlighted by a crown of trees. At Arbor Low is the Peak’s own Stonehenge, only the stones lie flat. There is some Saxon influence on the fringe of the Peak and the Normans used the great forests (frith = forest) for hunting. Peveril Castle was built by a bastard son of William the Conqueror and the new ‘town’ which was built below it’s walls became Castleton. Monks cleared the land in mediaeval times and, later, the Derwent Valley gave birth to the Industrial Revolution.

CUSTOMS & CULTURE
Ashbourne turns violent on Shrove Tuesday with a repeat on Ash Wednesday, when the famous ‘football’ match is played between the ‘Upards’ and the ‘Downards’ of the town. It is an incredible spectacle – but don’t get caught near the ball! A more gentle custom is that of dressing wells in petals of bright coloured flowers. They are all magnificent and the villages vie with each other to produce the best. Well Dressing starts at Whitsun with Tissington and ends at August Bank Holiday when several villages are dressed. Many villages still have their own fete when brass bands can be heard echoing in the valleys. At Flagg the highest steeplechase in the country takes place in June. It may not rival Aintree, but for the sheer spectacle of the surrounding landscape it is a ‘must’. As an area of transition it is not surprising that different cultures exist. In the north-west the allegiance is to Manchester; in the north-east is is to Sheffield; in the south it is to Derby; all helping to maintain the diversity for which this area is famed.

LANDSCAPES & LANDFORMS
The Peak District is divided into two quite distinct areas – the White Peak and the Dark Peak. The Dark Peak is underlain by gritty sandstones which provides the base for the high, wild, almost desolate moorlands. These plateaux are often rimmed by outcrops (weathered black from the surrounding cities) the best-known of which are the Derbyshire ‘Edges’ high above the Derwent Valley between Bamford and Chatsworth. Mam Tor is known as the ‘shivering mountain’, as the whole of its southern face slips none too gently into the Vale of Hope. The limestone of the White Peak provides underground ‘cathedrals’ in several show caverns in the Castleton area and because of its unique properties it has been eroded into fabulous pinnacles and spires of rock with the best example situated in the world famous Dove Valley which is just one of many deeply carved and breathtaking limestone valleys found throughout the White Peak.

PLACES TO VISIT & EVENTS
The ‘Palace of the Peak’, Chatsworth House, is one of the finest houses in the country and its setting in a Paxton/Capability Brown joint landscape is stunning. However, there are other fabulous house to visit, such as the mediaeval Haddon Hall, or Adam’s masterpiece at Kedleston, or Sudbury, or Lyme Park…. but there’s so much more. Blue John makes a marvellous theme for exploring the caverns at Castleton and there are other show caves in the Buxton area. Matlock Bath , on the fringes of the Peak, has a plethora of attractions including a Swiss-type gondola to the Heights of Abraham theme park. Heritage Centres like those at Glossop and New Mills are well worth visiting and Bakewell is the largest town in any of our National Parks where, of course, you must try the tart!

SPORTS & LEISURE
The ‘Edges’ are justly famed as climbing areas of the highest quality. Many of these ‘Edges’ are also used for hang gliding and popular sites exist at Higger Tor and Mam Tor. Below ground, caving is extremely popular in the Castleton and Lathkill areas. Of course, walking is the main activity in the National Park and Britain’s oldest official Long Distance Footpath – the Pennine Way – commences its way to Scotland from the hiking capital of Edale. Fishing is renowned in the reservoirs in the north east of the Park, whilst in the south-west the River Dove is the magnificent setting for Isaac Walton’s ‘The Complete Angler’.