LOCATION MAP CAVES & CAVE DWELLERS Manchester The Hamps A5004 A6 The caves of the Manifold Valley are of exceptional Buxton Sheffield N A6 interest because, in addition to the stalactites and A515 stalagmites so typical of show caves, they contain a and Manifold A619 Bakewell treasure-trove of archaeological and fossil remains. B5055 Bones and artefacts reveal a history of human occupation dating back over 10,000 years, to the end A53 A6 Geotrail B5053 Chesterfield of the last Ice Age. At various times, these cave dwellers co-existed in the landscape alongside mammoth, woolly Human skull Hartington Macclesfield Matlock Alfreton B5054 rhinoceros, giant deer, arctic fox, lemmings, hippopotamus, auroch, A523 Hulme End A5012 Cromford wild boar and fierce predators such as wolf, cave bear, brown bear, A Tale of Disappearing Rivers, hyaena, cave lion and lynx. Leek B5053 Nottingham Wetton Mineral Riches and Ice Age Beasts A53 A523 The early cave occupants Stoke-on-Trent A515 had flint and reindeer- Ilam B5035 bone tools, lit fires Waterhouses A52 and hunted big Stoke-on-Trent Ashbourne game such as Brown bear A517 0 6 km reindeer, bison and GEOTRAIL Uttoxeter Derby horse. Barbed arrowheads, pots and pot boilers, beads, other personal A project managed by Patrick Cossey on behalf of the Staffordshire RIGS adornments and early coinage Group with financial support from Staffordshire Aggregates Levy Grant suggest that Scheme 2006. Text by Patrick Cossey, John Reynolds and Richard later cave Waller. Design by Rosie Duncan. Photos by Patrick Cossey unless occupants or otherwise stated. visitors were more sophisticated! The Staffordshire RIGS Group acknowledge the support of: Hyaena • Staffordshire Wildlife Trust • North Staffordshire Group of the G A • The Potteries Museum and Art Gallery • BTCV • National Trust • Staffordshire Geodiversity Action LAND USE & CONSERVATION • British Geological Survey Plan Partnership • Natural England • Staffordshire County Council • Natural History Museum, London (NHM) • Staffordshire Moorlands DC The valleys have a long history of • Geological Society of London (GS) • Peak District National Park Authority agriculture, mining and quarrying. Early • Derbyshire CC, Buxton Museum (DBM) • Moorlands Community Partnership man hunted, but later grazed animals • National Farmers’ Union • Moorland Publishing Co. Ltd. (MP) and ploughed strip lynchets to grow crops. In Monastic times sheep and cattle A member of UKRIGS, the Staffordshire RIGS Group is a voluntary organisation were important. In the early 20th century involved in the conservation of regionally important geological and geomorphological milk was carried along the old railway sites in Staffordshire. For more information contact: to Leek. Staffordshire RIGS - www.staffs-rigs.org.uk North Staffordshire Group Geologists' Association - www.esci.keele.ac.uk/nsgga Staffordshire Wildlife Trust - www.staffs-wildlife.org.uk Remember to follow the country code and please do not hammer the rock surfaces. Be safe, plan ahead and follow any signs; leave gates and property DBM as you find them; protect plants and animals and take your litter home. Agriculture, tourism and outdoor Keep dogs under close control and consider other people pursuits are important today. Most of Printed by MC Print Services Tel: 01782 370080 Cover photograph: Thor’s Cave the land is designated as a Site of Special Scientific Interest (SSSI) for its geological and biological features. Much is owned and managed by the National Trust and Staffordshire Wildlife Trust, conserving the landscape for future generations. ani The Hamps and M fold Geotrail WC i T PH S To HULME END HARTINGTON INTRODUCTION To 1-12 HULME END- WETTON MILL LONGNOR Welcome to the Hamps and Manifold B5054 P South of the visitor centre the trail crosses the floodplain ld valleys. This geotrail is intended to give f o of the River Manifold 1. Here the river flows at the surface r Mani the visitor a 1 e on recent sediments which rest on impermeable Upper iv R glimpse of the B5053 Carboniferous mudrocks. The trail passes Apes Tor Quarry 2 and rocks, minerals Ecton Hill, part of the upland Carboniferous and fossils of limestone plateau into which the river has the area, To carved its spectacular passage. WARSLOW 2 Apes Tor together with a Dale 5 Quarries Quarry At Dale Bridge, an area of old mineral view of the work Ecton workings on the hillside to the southeast Dale Bridge that water has done in carving out the impressive marks your arrival at Ecton, once one of scenery we see today. The 13 km (8 mile) trail provides 3 6 3 the world's richest copper mining areas. easy access for all, mainly following the Manifold Track, 4 Ecton A detour along the road (which runs Hill a resurfaced section of the old Leek & Manifold Valley Ecton parallel to the trail) can be made at this point, first north to see Light Railway line, between Hulme End and Quarry superb folds in the Ecton Limestones at Apes Tor 2, then south to Waterhouses. The trail is written for southbound P Ecton Wa Bridge the ruins of Ecton copper r o k travellers but can easily be completed in reverse. It can also be done in s low Br o mines 3. Beyond are the 2 sections using access points at Weag's Bridge, Wetton Mill and Ecton Swainsley cemented screes at Ecton Bridge. Tunnel 7 Quarry 4. These formed in To 8 BUTTERTON Top of cold conditions during the Ecton Back of Visitors are encouraged to view all features of interest from the Geotrail GS R Ecton last glaciation. i itself unless a permitted access route away from the trail is indicated. To v e fully appreciate the trail, or any trail section, visitors will find it useful r Beyond Dale Bridge, past the disused Dale Quarries 5, some to read the background information overleaf. limekilns and Dale lead mine, exposures of M the Ecton Limestones can be seen by 10 a nif the track side 6. Look out for ol 13-21 WETTON MILL TO WEAG’S BRIDGE d ‘grading’ in some of these beds. Sugarloaf Above Wetton Mill is Nan Tor Cave 9 Here the rocks dip (slope) west but 13, one of many local caves formed elsewhere 7, they dip in other by the solution action of underground Wetton Hill directions. These rocks have been 12 East water on massive reefs in the Milldale strongly folded like those at Apes Tor. Limestones. The reef limestones form 11 Nan Tor Cave Continue to Ecton Bridge. Here the track prominent crags in the valley 14, 15, Wetton Road Wetton Hill To 13 becomes a public road. To avoid traffic 18, 22, and some appear to have To Wetton West HULME END BUTTERTON Hoo Mill WC in Swainsley Tunnel and on the road to deflected the course of the river. This Brook 14 Wetton Wetton Mill, cross Ecton Bridge and can easily be checked on your map. 14 P Mill Swallet follow the gated road south, on the east Below Wetton Mill, stream flows are Darfar Bridge side of the valley. Both routes pass more intermittent and in dry weather the river disappears down sinks in the river 15 exposures of the Ecton Limestones 7, 8, some bed such as at Wetton Mill Swallet 14, or Redhurst Swallet 16. It re-emerges Ossom’s Crag 16 Redhurst with folds 9, more old mineral workings 10, 11 at Ilam Risings 6km to the south. 17 Crossing WETTON and, on the gated road, another scree deposit 12. Where did the river disappear on T PH Redhurst + Ossom’s Hill L To your visit? ee Swallet k Road HOPE Continuing south, the trail passes Ossom's 22-32 WEAG'S BRIDGE Crag 15, with its Eyrie Cave high on the TO WATERHOUSES cliff face once occupied by golden eagles. Ladyside 19 Thors Cave Wood 18 WC P South of Weag's Bridge, the trail Beyond Redhurst Swallet 16 and Redhurst curves away from Beeston Tor R Crossing an area of flat ground, 40m above the i v 22 and the Hamps and Manifold 17 ne e a valley floor to the west, is an old river terrace 17, r L rr confluence, and begins to follow the a C M Hamps valley upstream towards ECTON ANTICLINE ARCHFORD MOOR anifold SYNCLINE Manifold Wetton Hill Wetton Hill Valley West To tributary valley East 20 HOPE Wetton Rakes Mill Plantation P Larkstone Lane Weag’s k k Bridge 22 Beeston k 21 Tor To 22 GRINDON River M fan an ifo ld 26 Waterhouses. The Hamps Schematic east-west section across the Manifold Valley and Wetton Hills showing the Ecton Anticline Soles is an intermittent river and Coppice its course is usually dry in summer. Its tributary valleys 24 Old cut by the river as it meandered through the valley at an earlier stage in its history. Park Hill are also dry and some have sediment fans at their mouths s This is best seen from a prominent view point to the south. p m 23, 26, 29. These were formed under cold conditions during a 23 H the last Ice Age when streams were prevented from sinking Further on dramatic views of reef limestone appear r e into the frozen ground. v at Thor's Cave 18. This cave was formed thousands i R of years ago by underground streams flowing In this part of the trail there are many small exposures of the below the floor of the river. At that time the river Milldale Limestones 24, 25, 27, 28. Note that the rocks dip (slope) S occupied a higher level in the valley than it does o west at some localities and east at others. This is because they le s have been folded.