Peak District miscellany

A wet and blustery day, with rain and low clouds driven on a strong westerly wind, scudding over the gritstone edges at the eastern side of the Peak District National Park. The prominent escarpment edge in the centre is Millstone Edge, comprised of the Chatsworth Grit (Namurian age), partly quarried in the past for millstones and grindstones, hence its name. Now popular with climbers. The rocky tor on the left is Over Owler Tor. Not really a day to be out and about on the moors. I took this from the shelter of my car!

A walk on Houndkirk Moor 22 A cool morning with frequent showers, clearing to sunshine by the afternoon. The southern portion of the Houndkirk Road offers fine views to the south and west into the heart of the Peak District. In the middle distance are the gritstone tors of Mother Cap Stone, just left of centre, and Over Owler Tor, to the right. Like Houndkirk Hill and Houndkirk Edge, these are composed of Namurian age ('Millstone Grit Series') Chatsworth Grit. On the distant skyline are the high moorlands of the Derbyshire-Staffordshire border, beyond Buxton.

Late afternoon sun beautifully illuminates the fields of Beeley Hilltop farm. View SSW from the Chatsworth Grit escarpment at SK 2709 6907. The Derwent valley and the higher ground towards Stanton Lees and Birchover are visible in the upper right quadrant.

The late afternoon sun softly illuminates the fields in Chatsworth Park, south of the village of Edensor. Taken from the Chatworth Grit escarpment edge at SK 2709 690, looking to the ENE.

The Beeley Brook disappears over the edge of the Chatsworth Grit escarpment on the edge of Beeley Moor. Grid Ref. SK 28564 68124

Lone tree at near the head of Beeley Brook on the edge of Beeley Moor. Grid Ref. SK 28564 68124

Rud Hill is high up above Ringinglow and the west side of Sheffield, on the margin of the Eastern Edges moorland in the Peak District National Park. This is a view to the north-west with an isolated, short, sharp, shower rattling in on the westerly breeze.

Originally uploaded for the Guesswhere UK group. The steep eastern face of Win Hill and the groove of Parkin Clough viewed from New Road above Bamford, Derbyshire.

A view to the SSW from New Road above Bamford, Derbyshire. The geotagged location indicates the camera position, not the valley.

Gathering Hill is a spur on the southern edge of Shelf Moor, itself part of the extensive Bleaklow massif in the Dark Peak. This is a northward view from the A57 Snake Pass at its highest point at 512 m elevation. This is also where the Pennine Way crosses the road.

Originally uploaded for the Guesswhere UK group. Managed heather moorland stripes above Glossop, Derbyshire, viewed from the A57 Snake Pass road at Hurst Brook bridge. Dinting railway viaduct is visible in the distance.

This rather insignificant looking structure is the tail of Odin Sough (also known as Trickett Bridge Sough) in Castleton, Derbyshire. The sough drains water from the old Odin lead mine about 1.6 km away to the west. The mine worked lead ore from veins in the Carboniferous Limestone close to the junction with the overlying dark, pyritic Edale Shales, and the sough itself is driven in the latter for most of its length. It is the oxidation and solution of pyrite (iron sulphide) in the shales and its reprecipitation as ferric hydroxide which causes the orange colouring on the stream bed.

The orange staining on the stream bed is due to iron-rich water emerging from Odin Sough just to the left of centre. The sough drains water from the old Odin lead mine about 1.6 km away to the west. The mine worked lead ore from veins in the Carboniferous Limestone close to the junction with the overlying dark, pyritic Edale Shales, and the sough itself is driven in the latter for most of its length. It is the oxidation and solution of pyrite (iron sulphide) in the shales and its reprecipitation as ferric hydroxide which causes the orange colouring. The main stream on the right of the photo rises near Hollins Cross, and has no contact with mine workings. The circular culvert in the distance merely channels the stream beneath a farm entrance track. A closer view of the sough tail is here: www.ipernity.com/doc/earthwatcher/39023940

A late afternoon view from Long Causeway south-east over the southern part of Stanage Edge and Cattis Side Moor, on the ascent to High Neb from Dennis Knoll. Stanage Edge is comprised of Rivelin Grit (aka Chatsworth Grit), Namurian age, Upper Carboniferous. The coarse-grained gritstone was deposited in a series of delta distributary channels. The gritstone is normally strongly cross-bedded. The stepped dip-and-scarp topography in the photo is due to the alternations of relatively hard and soft rocks, the strong gritstones forming the edges and steep scarp slopes, with softer shales forming the vales in between. I am pleased with this photo; one of my personal favourites.

A late afternoon view south to Hathersage and the Derwent valley towards Beeley and Chatsworth in the distance, on the ascent to High Neb on Stanage Edge from Dennis Knoll.

Originally uploaded for the Guesswhere UK Group. The River Wye, looking upstream from Ravenstor in Miller's Dale, in the Peak District National Park.

A photo of the rather faded English Nature information board explaining the formation of the hyaloclastite where the Upper Miller's Dale lava flowed into the Dinantian sea in Lower Carboniferous times.

Originally uploaded for the Guesswehere UK group. This is the hyaloclastite front formed by the Upper Miller's Dale Lava where it originally flowed into the sea, exposed in Litton Mill Railway cutting on the Monsal Trail in the Peak District National Park, Derbyshire.