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Map of the Burbage Valley area
The Burbage Valley lies in the eastern side of the Peak District National Park. It is close to Fox House Inn on the A625 road from Chapel-en-le-Frith to Sheffield and is approximately 3 miles east of Hathersage and 8 miles west of the centre of Sheffield.
As it is so near to Sheffield, the Burbage Valley is very popular both for recreation - walking, climbing, picnicking - and for school field trips. Parking is available at Upper Burbage Bridge and there is invalid parking at the southern end of the valley. Further parking is available at the Surprise car park by Millstone Edge, which can also accommodate buses and coaches.
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The Burbage Valley is a basin partly surrounded by scarps or edges of gritstone: Burbage Rocks on the east and Higger Tor and Carl Wark on the west. The gritstone is resistant to erosion.
The shale valley basin is partly filled with an overlying deposit known as head. This is a deposit which is a mixture of sands and clay and it is thought to have been brought by ice sheets during the Ice-Age.
East of Burbage Rocks is Burbage Moor, an extensive plateau partly covered by peat. This consists of partially decomposed vegetation which accumulated in water-logged conditions during periods when the climate was cool and wet.
The first evidence of human activity comes from flints left behind by groups of hunter-gatherers who travelled through the area. Early evidence of occupation occurs south of Carl Wark and dates from the Bronze Age (circa 1500 BC). It is marked by small clearance cairns formed out of stones cleared from the area by the early farmers. These cairns are now covered by vegetation which makes them difficult to find.
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Carl Wark
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The defended promontory fort of Carl Wark, which is a Scheduled Ancient Monument, probably dates from the Iron Age. It may have been used as a refuge when the local inhabitants were under threat. The earthen rampart and stone wall, built to defend the one acre site, can still be seen on the western side of the fort.
THE LANDSCAPE IN THE BURBAGE VALLEY
Burbage Brook
The Burbage Brook rises in the moorland north of the Burbage Valley and enters the valley under the Upper Burbage Bridge. From here the height of the stream quickly drops from just over 396m down to 335m in less than 1 km. The Brook therefore provides a good area for hydrological work. Hypotheses showing the different water velocities along the Brook and the differences in the size of contents of the stream bed, can easily be tested.
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Aerial view of Millstone Edge
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The 83 acre plantation was planted between 1968 and 1971. The trees are mainly Scots Pine, Japanese Larch and Lodgepole Pine. Some deciduous species were planted around the edges of the plantation to soften its outline.
Bird species which are regularly seen in the plantation are jays, rooks and chaffinches.
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