The Park
Tourism
Land Use
Conservation
Design 
Farming
Castleton
Dovedale
Upper Derwent
Geology
Minerals
Nature
Burbage Valley
Erosion
Bakewell
Population
Langsett
The Rangers
The Pennine Way
The Goyt Valley
Longdendale
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The village of Castleton lies at the western end of the Hope Valley, one of the more populated parts of the Peak District National Park ......
Castleton


It is 10 miles from Buxton, 16 miles from Sheffield and 27 miles from Stockport. Half of the population of England live within 60 miles of the Peak Park.


GEOLOGY

Castleton is on the boundary between the Dark Peak and the White Peak areas. The ridge to the north marks the beginning of the gritstone and shale beds of the Dark Peak rising to the high moorland plateaux. The instability of the shale layers can be seen in the massive landslip at Mam Tor. The village itself lies on the shale/clay floor of the Hope Valley, while to the south and west of the village lies the limestone of the White Peak.


Stalactites in Treak Cliff Cavern

Around 350 million years ago the Peak District was covered with a shallow tropical sea. Over millions of years, the remains of shellfish and other sea creatures were compressed into what we now call limestone. The fossilised sea creatures such as crinoids or brachyopods can be seen clearly in the rock. In some areas coral reefs were formed and these have become the reef limestone that can be seen in the Winnats Pass.

Mam Tor
Movement under the earth pushed the rocks upwards causing cracking. Surface water trickled through cracks in the rock, dissolving the rock to form an underground cave system containing stalagmites and stalactites. Around 200 million years ago hot fluids, forced into the cracks in the rock, crystallised to form veins of minerals such as Galena (lead ore), Barytes and Fluorspar. A decorative form of Fluorspar known as Blue John has been mined in Treak Cliff for several centuries and used to make ornaments and jewellery. The French words for the colours found in this mineral blue and jaune (blue and yellow) have given it its name.


HISTORY

The earliest known settlement in the Castleton area was the hillfort on the top of Mam Tor. The fort itself is Iron Age, though it is believed settlement began in the Bronze Age, around 1400 BC. Even earlier traces of Stone Age man have been found in caves on Treak Cliff.

There is a local tradition that Odin Mine, at the foot of Mam Tor, was worked in Saxon times (around the 10th or 11th centuries). Peveril Castle which was built on top of a hill for protection, was mentioned in the Domesday Book in 1086. The village which takes its name from the Castle (Castle town) was laid out in a grid pattern at the base of the hill.

From the 12th century, Castleton was the centre of the Royal Forest of the Peak and it became a market town in the 13th century. It was also on the packhorse route bringing salt from Cheshire to Sheffield. The men who travelled the routes were called Jaggers and have given their name to lanes in the area.

The building of the turnpike road from Sheffield to Sparrowpit (passing through Castleton) in 1759 made access to the village easier and was an important early link between Sheffield and Manchester. By the mid 19th century the Wellington express coach stopped twice a day at Castleton on its journey between Sheffield and Manchester.

The railway line between Sheffield and Manchester calling at Hope was opened by the Midland Railway in 1894 and opened the way for even more tourists to visit the village.

The GARLAND CEREMONY is celebrated on Oak Apple Day (29th May).....


Garland Ceremony
It is thought to be an echo of a pagan rite, revived to commemorate the restoration of Charles II (who hid in an oak tree).


The king wearing a conical garland of flowers, and his consort, ride through the village fron pub to pub with a train of dancing children. The garland is later hoisted on the church tower.

Points to Consider
POINTS TO CONSIDER