Collins New Naturalist Library

EDITORS

James Fisher, M.A.

John Gilmour, M.A., V.M.H.

Sir Julian Huxley, M.A., D.SC, F.R.S.

L. Dudley Stamp, G.B.E., D.LITT., D.SC.

PHOTOGRAPHIC EDITOR

Eric Hosking, F.R.P.S.

The aim of this series is to interest the general reader in the wild life of Britain by recapturing the inquiring spirit of the old naturalists. The Editors believe that the natural pride of the British public in the native fauna and flora, to which must be added concern for their conservation, is best fostered by maintaining a high standard of accuracy combined with clarity of exposition in presenting the results of modern scientific research. The plants and animals are described in relation to their homes and habitats and are portrayed in the full beauty of their natural colours by the latest methods of colour photography and reproduction.

COPYRIGHT

William Collins

An imprint of HarperCollinsPublishers 1 London Bridge Street London SE1 9GF WilliamCollinsBooks.com This eBook edition published by William Collins in 2018

© K. C. Edwards, H. H. Swinnerton

and R. H. Hall, 1962

The authors assert their moral rights to be identified as the authors of this work

A catalogue record for this book is available from the British Library.

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Source ISBN 9780007308293

Ebook Edition © NOVEMBER 2018 ISBN: 9780007403622

Version: 2018-11-23

CONTENTS

Cover

Title Page

Copyright

Plates in Colour

Plates in Black and White

Maps and Diagrams

Editors’ Preface

Author’s Preface

Chapter

1 INTRODUCTORY: THE FIRST NATIONAL PARK

2 THE ROCKS AND THEIR HISTORY

3 THE MAKING OF THE SCENERY

4 CLIMATE AND SOILS

5 THE FOREST

6 THE MAJOR PLANT ASSOCIATIONS

7 FLOWERLESS PLANTS

8 EARLY MAN IN THE PEAK

9 VILLAGES AND FARMS

10 PEAKLAND TOWNS AND ROUTES

11 PLOUGHLAND AND PASTURE

12 WEALTH FROM THE ROCKS

13 WATER FOR CITIES

14 MILLS AND FACTORIES

15 THE PEAK AS A NATIONAL PARK

Picture Section

Appendix I: Bird Life in the Peak District

Appendix II: Fish Life in the Peak District Streams

Appendix III: Nature Conservation Sites

Appendix IV: Principal Ramblers’ Clubs

Footnotes

Keep Reading

About the Publisher

PLATES IN COLOUR

1 Alport Castle [C. W. Newberry]

2a Dovedale [H. D. Keilor]

2b Treak Cliff Cavern near Castleton [Trevor D. Ford]

3a Monsal Dale [H. D. Keilor]

3b Ski slope near Buxton [C. W. Newberry]

4a Common Dog Violet (Viola riviniana) [R. H. Hall]

4b Dwarf Burnt Orchid (Orchis ustulata) [R. H. Hall]

PLATES IN BLACK AND WHITE

MAPS AND DIAGRAMS

1 The boundary of the Peak National Park

2 Geology of the Peak District

3 Volcanic rocks of The Peak

4 Geological section across the central Peak District

5 Surface relief

6 Distribution of the principal caves

7 Mean annual rainfall

8 Distribution of woodlands

9 Vegetation of Kinderscout Plateau

10 Site and plan of Bakewell

11 Lead rakes in the Castleton-Bradwell district

12 Water gathering grounds

13 Upper Derwent valley before and after reservoir construction

14 Features of interest

15 Areas of public access

Reference to a topographical map will be an advantage in perusing this book. The most suitable one for the purpose is the excellent Ordnance Survey One-Inch Tourist Map of the Peak District, published in 1957. This sheet, which is on a scale familiar to all ramblers and nature-lovers, shows the boundary of the National Park

EDITORS’ PREFACE

THE SITUATION of the Peak District in the heart of England as an island of varied hill land, often of spectacular scenic charm, almost surrrounded by industrial lowland in whose cities and towns, often gloomy and grimy, live a quarter of Britain’s population, made it a natural choice for the first of our National Parks. The old geography books not infrequently referred to the Pennines as the “backbone of England” and here, at their southern end, the earth’s bony framework of older rocks appears not only at the surface, but towering to heights whose grandeur belie their modest elevation.

Nottingham is but one of the cities which adjoin the Peak District, but one from which there are natural lines of entry by some of the most charming valleys. Certainly the members of the University of Nottingham have long shown a particular interest in the area—since well before the University College became the University—and it is thus especially appropriate that Professor K. C. Edwards should head a team of his colleagues and friends to act as principal author as well as editor of this composite volume. As Professor of Geography he has spent most of his academic life at Nottingham and, as the pages of that successful journal The East Midland Geographer show clearly, he has done much to encourage the scientific study of the surrounding area, including the Peak District. In this he carries on the tradition established by the octogenarian Professor Emeritus of Geology, the author of the volume on Fossils in the New Naturalist Library, Professor H. H. Swinnerton, who now contributes two of the basic chapters in the present volume.

Four main rock types dominate the Peak District—coarse sandstones or “grits”, shales, massive limestones and, less conspicuous, the old volcanic rocks locally known as toad stones. It so happens that these rock types offer very different resistance to the forces of nature and so The Peak has become a region of sharp contrasts—from the intimate wooded dales to the windswept, boggy moorland heights. The habitats afforded are correspondingly rich and varied and so naturally are both plant and animal life and the response of man as farmer. Mineral wealth has added to the variety of man’s responses, so that in addition to its other attractions the Peak District exhibits fascinating fragments of the story of man’s occupation of the area from prehistoric times to the present.

A region of such difficult relief has long offered a challenge to man—in selecting sites for his settlements, in finding routes for his roads and railways, in utilising the varied scattered resources. Each of these aspects is taken up in turn and we are led to see clearly the competing claims on Peak District land—for farming, grazing, forestry, water supply, recreations, sport, nature conservation and others—and how the solution may lie in the careful application of the principles of multiple use within the framework of a National Park administration.

Although with the names of K. C. Edwards and H. H. Swinnerton only that of the botanist R. H. Hall appears on the title page, Professor Edwards has been able to incorporate observations by many workers in many fields, and the resulting volume is one which we are confident will have a very wide appeal. As his long association with the Ramblers’ Federation, the Youth Hostels Association and many field bodies will show, Professor Edwards believes the way to see and know The Peak is on foot. His book has thus a special appeal to the legions of ramblers who use the National Park every week-end, winter and summer alike.

THE EDITORS

AUTHOR’S PREFACE

SO MANY books have been written about Derbyshire and the Peak District that there would seem little excuse for adding to them. The reason for doing so lies in the promotion of a National Park in this area some years ago. This timely and widely-acclaimed decision has given official recognition to The Peak as one of the regions of outstanding scenery in Britain. It has also heightened the interest of those who find enjoyment in the open country and of the many people whose inclination is the study of wild nature. To thoughtful and observant people who require something more than the conventional guidebook, it is felt that an account of the present landscape of The Peak, of how it came into being and of the activities it supports, would be of some value. Moreover, the ground covered by this volume extends beyond the limits of Derbyshire, for the territory embraced by the National Park includes portions of several adjoining counties.

The plan of the book is intended to be simple and logical. The earlier chapters deal with the strictly natural aspects of the area from the story of the rocks to the formation of the present land surface and its vegetation cover. Then Man enters on the scene and the later chapters describe how in different ways Man has imposed, and continues to impose, his cultural imprint upon the setting prepared by Nature. The concluding chapter examines those aspects of The Peak which make it so acceptable to the community as a National Park.

In preparing the book much help has been given by various authorities on the area which is gratefully acknowledged. Chapters 2 and 3 have been written by H. H. Swinnerton, C.B.E., D.Sc, Emeritus Professor of Geology in the University of Nottingham; Chapter 6, together with parts of Chapters 5 and 7, have been contributed by Mr. R. H. Hall, F.L.S., a specialist on the botany of The Peak, while the section on Fungi has been prepared by Dr. C. G. C. Chesters, Professor of Botany in the University of Nottingham. Mr. F. A. Sowter assisted with the section on Lichens. For the remaining chapters, two sources of information have proved invaluable. These are the unpublished thesis, The Peak District National Park: a regional study of an amenity area, by Mr. G. J. Mosley, M.A., of the University of Nottingham, and The Report and Analysis of Survey of the Peak Park Development Plan by John Foster, A.R.I.B.A., M.P.T.I., Planning Officer to the National Park Planning Board. Two local publications were also extensively used, the Journal of the Derbyshire Archaeological and Natural History Society (annually) and The Derbyshire Countryside (bi-monthly) of the Derbyshire Rural Community Council.

In preparing the Appendices on Bird Life and Fish Life in the Peak District I have been helped by Mr. E. L. Jones of the University of Nottingham, Mr. C. M. Swaine of the British Ornithologists’ Union and by Major J. I. Spicer, M.B.E., Chief Pollution and Fisheries Officer to the Trent River Board. I am most grateful to them, and also to Miss D. A. Clarke, Sub-Librarian at the University of Nottingham, for her kind assistance in assembling material and compiling the index.

Moreover, to the many friends and acquaintances who have generously made available their special knowledge of The Peak and to the numerous countryfolk encountered on the moors and in the dales who unwittingly contributed by their ready and forthright response to questions, grateful thanks are expressed.

K. C. EDWARDS

CHAPTER 1
INTRODUCTORY: THE FIRST NATIONAL PARK

By the side of religion, by the side of science, by the side of poetry and art stands natural beauty … the common inspirer and nourisher of them all.

G. M. TREVELYAN, O.M.

NATIONAL PARKS are tracts of country of outstandingly attractive scenery which are specially protected against adverse change and reserved for public enjoyment. In a country like our own, in which a high proportion of the population is concentrated in large cities and industrial districts, there is a real need for the setting aside of particular areas where townsfolk may find relief from the pressing throng and enjoy open-air recreation amid surroundings which bring them close to Nature. In national parks, moreover, the preservation of natural scenery is safeguarded as well as the surviving haunts of wild life. Indeed, for the study of living forms in their natural environment, whether plant, insect or animal, such areas are of special scientific value.

NATIONAL PARKS IN BRITAIN

Although the provision of national parks in Britain is a recent development, the idea of reserving selected areas of our finest landscape for the enjoyment of the public is by no means new. It stems in fact from the ideas connected with social betterment arising from conditions in the nineteenth century. The movement for national parks began well over half a century ago but not until the closing stages of the second world war did it gain official recognition.

In other countries national parks of various kinds have long been in existence, one of the earliest being the famous Yellowstone Park in Wyoming, established in 1872. Like others which followed it in America, this great reserve was “dedicated and set apart as a public park or pleasuring ground for the benefit and enjoyment of the people,” words which expressed the aspirations of many who later advocated similar projects in our own country. In a long-settled, densely populated land like Britain, however, with much of its surface under private ownership, the problem of public access to areas of scenic attraction has provided a formidable obstacle to the realisation of such hopes. The contrast between the old and new countries in this respect was clearly demonstrated in 1885 by two events. In that year, within the space of a few months, James Bryce’s Bill to give access to mountains in Scotland was rejected by Parliament at home, yet a proposal to create the Banff National Park in the Rockies was accepted by the Government of Canada without opposition. But Bryce’s attempt marked the beginning of a long campaign for the acceptance of the national park idea. Apart, however, from an inquiry made by the Addison Committee in 1931 and the passing of the Access to Mountains Act in 1939, the provisions of which were made inoperative by the second world war, little progress was made until recent years.

Meanwhile voluntary bodies had given active support to the movement and the effect on public opinion contributed much towards ultimate success. In 1935 two of the leading organisations, the Council for the Preservation of Rural England and the similar body for Wales, set up a Standing Committee for National Parks, which included representatives of many supporting interests. The Standing Committee worked unremittingly and proved a valuable instrument for educating the public and arousing interest among widely different sections of the community.

During the war, when much thought was devoted to post-war planning and reconstruction, the case for national parks was repeatedly stressed. Official publications such as the Report of the Scott Committee on Land Utilisation in Rural Areas (1942) and the White Paper on Control of Land Use (1944) gave firm support to their formation, while the Report on National Parks (1945) prepared by John Dower for the Minister of Town and Country Planning, by its cogent argument and its deep personal conviction, at last set the course for realisation. The Dower Report was followed by a detailed investigation resulting in the Hobhouse Report on National Parks (1947), of which the chief recommendations formed the basis of the National Parks and Access to the Countryside Act passed two years later. Indeed, so favourable had become the climate of opinion that the Act was passed without a single vote against it in either House.

Briefly, the Act of 1949 provided for the setting up of a National Parks Commission which is responsible for the designation of each individual park in England and Wales and for advising the particular authority chosen to administer it. The park authority, consisting largely of representatives from the existing local authorities within whose areas the park falls, undertakes the management and planning of the park. Other provisions of the Act dealt with important issues affecting public rights of way, access to open country and wild life protection. A further measure (under section 87) permitted the designation of smaller areas of outstanding natural beauty, not as national parks but as areas requiring the assistance of the Act in the interests of nature preservation and the protection of wild life. Several of these have already been designated, such as the Gower Peninsula and the Quantock Hills, and it is likely that many more will be added.

As a result of the Act, ten national parks have so far been established, of which the Peak District was the first. The others are the Lake District, Snowdonia, Dartmoor, Exmoor, the Pembrokeshire Coast, Brecon Beacons, the North York Moors, the Yorkshire Dales and Northumberland. Varying greatly in character and extent, these form a system having an aggregate area of nearly 4,750 square miles, or one-twelfth of the total area of England and Wales. This is surely an achievement which meets the long-felt needs of our highly urbanised people and which at the same time will secure large tracts of unspoilt country from inappropriate and unwarrantable forms of exploitation.

In Scotland the situation is different. The National Parks Act of 1949 referred only to England and Wales and no equivalent legislation has been passed for Scotland, except that the section of the Act dealing with nature conservation was made applicable to the whole of Britain. The Forestry Commission has nevertheless established a few national forest parks in Scotland, and although these have not the full status of national parks, they offer to the public increased facilities for access and open-air enjoyment.

The national parks of Britain differ from those of most other countries. To begin with, there are no large areas of wild scenery available for preservation like the huge National Parks of the U.S.A. or the great game reserves of Africa. Instead, the areas designated as parks are all of comparatively small extent and all are inhabited, even though the density of population in most cases is quite low. Again, the greater part of each national park is devoted to some form of economic activity such as farming, forestry and quarrying, thus creating problems of public access which seldom arise abroad. In every case in Britain the functions of a national park are added to an established pattern of economic and social life and must operate in such a way so as not to cause serious interference with existing activities. This circumstance naturally calls for much delicate negotiation in co-ordinating the various interests represented within a national park.

There is another important difference between our national parks and those abroad. Whereas the latter usually embrace truly natural scenery unmodified by human action, in Britain hardly any such areas remain. The land has been exploited by Man for so long that the results of his activities have profoundly altered the appearance of the surface. Even the natural vegetation has been greatly modified by various agricultural practices as well as by the chance or deliberate introduction of non-indigenous species. Forests have been entirely removed from some areas and have been created in others, while mining and quarrying have left their scars and debris on land once unspoiled.

In the sense that even our finest scenery, whether mountain, moorland or sea-coast, is in part the product of our cultural history, the national parks of Britain are of a rather special kind. In many respects the effects of long-continued human occupation signify a gain rather than a loss, for these effects tend to heighten the distinctive character of each designated area. Each national park bears the impress of its cultural history and this, taken in relation to the physical conditions gives it a high degree of regional individuality which it would not otherwise possess. It is for this reason that the national parks of Britain offer such impressive contrasts in landscape.

THE PEAK NATIONAL PARK

The upland region traditionally known as the Peak District, which forms part of the southern Pennines, has special claims to rank among the earliest of the national parks established in Britain. It was in fact the first to be designated, in December, 1950, although the Lake District and Snowdonia were included shortly afterwards. On grounds of the quality of its scenery alone its claim was irrefutable. The vast open moorlands which spread out from the massive summit of Kinderscout, the green dales of Dovedale and the Manifold Valley, the rocks and caves like those around Castleton and the glistening trout streams such as the Dove and the Wye, have long been enjoyed by large numbers of visitors from all parts of the country. Above all, The Peak has been cherished by the thousands of ordinary people, young and old, from the industrial towns of the Midlands and the North, who find recreation and adventure in the attractions it offers.

Like the National Parks movement as a whole, the promotion of such a park in the Peak District owes much in the first instance to voluntary bodies. Among these the Sheffield and Peak District Branch of the C.P.R.E. has been particularly active. More than any other body it was responsible for the idea in the first place, and from 1939 it has undertaken a great deal of pioneer work, including the preparation of a preliminary map of the boundaries. No less than ten thousand copies of the booklet entitled The Peak District a National Park, published in 1944, have been sold. Today, even though the Peak Park is now an accomplished fact, continued vigilance on the part of such bodies is perhaps more than ever necessary. An illustration of this is seen in the recent proposal to build a motor road along the Manifold Valley, a scheme which was happily defeated, again largely through the protests of the Sheffield C.P.R.E. supported by many other like-minded persons and societies.

From the standpoint of its geographical position the claim of The Peak to become a national park was particularly strong, for nearly half the population of England live within 50 miles of its boundary. Not only do the large cities of Manchester and Sheffield virtually adjoin it, but many other industrial centres of South Lancashire, the West Riding of Yorkshire, Nottinghamshire, Derbyshire and the Potteries are only a short distance away. Less than 60 miles away are Liverpool and the rest of Merseyside, while Birmingham and the Black Country, Leicester, Hull and Tees-side are all within 75 miles. Moreover, of all the national parks so far created, The Peak is the nearest to London and the most accessible from it by rail or road. The proximity to the park of such a large population has an important bearing upon its use by the public and hence upon problems of management. It can be approached from all directions and is frequented, at all seasons of the year, especially by people from the nearby industrial centres.