Part One: Landscape Character Descriptions 2. White Peak Landscape Character Types • Plateau Pastures ..................... 2.5 • Limestone Slopes ..................... 2.13 • Upland Limestone Pastures ... 2.10 • Limestone Dales ....................... 2.17 White Peak Character Area 52 Part 1 - 2.1 White Peak CHARACTER AREA 52 A gently rolling upland, limestone plateau punctuated by steep sided dales, scattered villages and isolated farmsteads within a pastoral setting. Landscape Character Types • Plateau Pastures • Limestone Slopes • Limestone Dales • Upland Limestone Pastures "... it was veined with a network of old stone walls, dividing the fields, and broken here and there with ruins of old lead-mines and works. A sparse stone farm bristled with six naked sharp trees. In the distance was a patch of smoky grey stone, a hamlet .... stone fences under the sky, looking for the curves downward that indicated a drop to one of the underneath, hidden dales.” DH Lawrence ‘The Virgin and the Gypsy’ Introduction neutral or acidic soils. These soils below ground with water finding its are well-drained, dark brown silt- way into faults and fissures, The White Peak character area is loams farmed as pasture and rough creating caves and caverns. Over located in the west of the county, grazing. The soils of the upper time these would collapse to form most is within the Peak District plateau tend to have deeper steep sided slopes of exposed National Park. It stretches from deposits. Here the drift has formed stone. Some dales still have rivers Castleton in the north, to a matrix with the course, resistant and streams meandering through Wirksworth in the south. An upland silica residues of weathered them, but others are seasonal or landscape, comprising a limestone limestone. The soils formed are dry at the surface, the water plateau and deep limestone dales, it naturally coarse, thin peaty soils. passing through a series of includes the spa towns of Matlock These soils support rough underground cave systems. Today, Bath in the east and Buxton in the grassland or a mosaic of heathland the dry dales maintain a character west. It strongly contrasts with the shrubs. similar to that of the wet dales. adjacent gritstone landscape of the Dark Peak to the north and west, Glacial meltwaters and large Natural Influences whilst the transition to the Peak streams dissecting the soft bedrock Fringe in the south is more gradual. were responsible for the creation of The White Peak is significant in the Limestone Dales. The erosion of Britain, as the junction between the limestone occurred above and Physical Influences southern and northern species of The White Peak is strongly influenced by the weathering and erosion of the underlying Carboniferous Limestone, formed 350 million years ago by the deposition of calcium carbonate - rich skeletal remains upon the seabed. Hydrothermal veins associated with volcanic activity left vast mineral deposits of galena (lead ore), fluorspar, calcite, copper and barytes which run through the bedrock. The majority of the limestone Upland Limestone Pastures plateau has deposits of silty, wind- Carboniferous blown drift (brown stoneless silts) Limestone Plateau Pastures over the limestone bedrock. These Limestone Dales mask the influence of the limestone Limestone Slopes at the soil surface giving rise to White Peak Character Area 52 Part 1 - 2.2 plants and animals. Variations in nature of limestone and the upland topography. The characteristic dry- landform, soil and a diverse history topography means the plateau has stone walls, constructed from local of agricultural improvements have no significant wetland habitat. Dew limestone, dominate the landscape. produced a broad range of wildlife ponds or ‘meres’, are an exception. Isolated stone barns were often habitats and associated species, They were constructed on the incorporated within the stone walls, many of which are of national and plateau as watering holes for cattle forming a distinctive feature of the international importance. by lining a hole with clay and sand. area, although many have become These ponds are valuable for some derelict. The main habits on the plateau aquatic species and amphibians today are grasslands associated such as freshwater snails and The strip fields around villages are with dairy farming and rough newts, as well as being distinctive a distinctive feature of the Plateau grazing. Unimproved, species-rich, landscape features. Pastures and Limestone Slopes. hay meadow and pasture are of They indicate the piecemeal greater value for wildlife but have Human Influences enclosure of an earlier open field declined dramatically due to system. Later, private or agricultural intensification. The parliamentary field enclosure of The White Peak has been a focus of majority of grassland is improved for former wastes and commons is settlement since early prehistoric grazing and silage or haylage well represented throughout the times and numerous surviving production. Occasional flower rich area, particularly within Plateau monuments indicate the extent of meadows and calcareous Pastures and Upland Limestone settlement and use of the grasslands can be found in the Pasture. In these areas, the field landscape. These include Neolithic Plateau Pastures but are more patterns are typically regular in henge monuments like the Bull Ring commonly restricted to the shape, of medium to large size, at Dove Holes. Bronze Age round Limestone Dales and roadside dissected by straight roads. The barrows survive in numbers on the verges. field walls have been built using crests of hills and late prehistoric quarried stone and are neater in and Romano-British settlements Ancient semi-natural woodland is a appearance than the random and field systems like Rainster feature of the Limestone Dales but rubble walls of earlier periods. does not generally occur elsewhere Rocks, Brassington also survive, as do rare examples of burial mounds within the area. Defined by irregular The Limestone Dales are largely of Anglo-Saxon date. outlines and a mixture of unenclosed due to the inaccessible broadleaved tree species, nature of the steeper slopes. Stone Field patterns within the White Peak predominantly ash, they are walls are occasionally found cutting are not as diverse as those in associated with the steepest valley across the valleys, but many of surrounding character areas, largely sides. Overall, tree cover is a strong these are now falling into disrepair. feature of the dales. The Plateau as a result of a relatively simple Pastures are not densely wooded; it is an open landscape with expansive views. Small plantations, shelter belts and localised tree groups around settlements, made up of usually sycamore or beech, are a distinctive feature. Following early forest clearance and the leaching of lime, the naturally alkaline soils became acidic and supported heathland species, which became dominant by the sixteenth century. The remaining heathland is very small and fragmented, mainly occurring on uncultivated land, like road verges and railway embankments. Wetland habitats are generally confined to the Limestone Dales. The rivers of the dales are of high water quality and are therefore Open expansive view across the limestone plateau valuable to wildlife. The permeable White Peak Character Area 52 Part 1 - 2.3 The limestone has been exploited medieval times, usually connected valleys of the Limestone Dales, as on a small scale for hundreds of by straight enclosure roads. The components of routes through the years but large scale quarrying has traditional building material is county. occurred in more recent times. random rubble local limestone with Modern quarries have had a major roofs of stone slates brought from A very good example of the way visual impact on the landscape, the Dark Peak area. this landscape has been overlain leaving large voids that can be seen by successive periods and types of for miles across the open plateau. These limestone villages are a key man’s activity may be seen around Other naturally occurring minerals, characteristic of the area. Outside Rainster Rocks, north-west of running in veins through the the villages, isolated farmsteads Brassington. Here the earthwork limestone, have also been exploited. occur, again constructed of the remains of a Romano-British Lead ore has been mined from local limestone with stone tile or settlement lie adjacent to extensive Roman times to the early 20th slate roofs. The Limestone Dales medieval ridge and furrow which, in century and, at times, brought remained largely unsettled due to turn, are overlain by the remains of significant wealth to the area. their topographical inaccessibility. lead mining and the field walls of Although lead mining is no longer a 19th century enclosures. major industry, the evidence of past Within villages, lanes are workings are still present and are characteristically narrow and especially associated with the winding, often with variable width Other Considerations Plateau Pastures. verges reflecting the undulating nature of the surrounding • Peak District National Park The White Peak is not a densely landscape. Between the • PDNP Landscape Strategy & settled landscape. There are settlements there is a network of European Landscape nucleated villages within Plateau straighter, more direct roads. Convention Action Plan Pastures and Limestone Slopes, Modern transport links, such as the • Peak District BAP many originating in Saxon and A6, and railway lines utilise the White Peak