Pikehall

The Gotham Curve was once the sharpest curve on any standard gauge railway line in the UK. The curve, which was situated in the sparsely populated, exposed limestone uplands in the Peak District of Derbyshire, England, was on the Cromford and High Peak Railway. The single-track main line was inherited by British Railways in 1948. It closed in 1967.

Long Dale is a carboniferous limestone valley near the village of Elton, Derbyshire, in the Peak District of England. The dale is cut into the plateau of Gratton Moor and Smerrill Moor and lies to the north of the hamlet of Pikehall, which is the venue of the annual Y Not Festival. Midway down the valley it turns sharply left and is known as Gratton Dale. Most of the valley is dry but Rowlow Brook flows down the lower part of Gratton Dale towards Dale End and onwards to become the River Bradford at Youlgreave.Long Dale is part of the Derbyshire Dales National Nature Reserve. Natural England manages the reserve which covers five separate dales of the White Peak (Lathkill Dale, Cressbrook Dale, Hay Dale, Long Dale and Monk's Dale). The reserve contains ash and elm woodland and shrubs including hawthorn and elder. Abundant flowers include mountain pansy. On the spoil heaps of the old lead mines there are rare flowers such as spring sandwort (Minuartia verna) and alpine pennycress (Thlaspi alpestre). Native grasses include meadow oat and carnation sedge interspersed with heather, bilberry and dwarf gorse. Long Dale & Gratton Dale is also a designated Site of Special Scientific Interest (SSSI).Overlooking Long Dale, the Smerrill Moor, Smerrill Barn and Long Dale bowl barrows are protected Scheduled Monuments. These Bronze Age burial mounds are about 10m across. They were excavated by Thomas Bateman in 1857 and he found numerous human skeletons, flint tools and a decorated Beaker pottery drinking vessel.On the east side of Gratton Dale are the remains of old lead mines (Rath Rake, Cowlica Rake, Dunnington, Hardbeat, Hardwork and Gatcliffe) which are a Scheduled Monument. Evidence of ancient surface lead mining comes from Roman brooches that were found in Victorian times at Cowlica Rake and Hardbeat mine. Records of intensive lead mining since the 1640s include disputed claims of mining rights. The remains include mine shafts, building ruins and earthworks.Just south of the head of Gratton Dale are the remains of Mouldridge Grange, which was a medieval farmstead run by monks from the Augustinian priory. The remaining earthworks of buildings and enclosures are a Scheduled Monument.There is a clear bridlepath along the length of the valley floor. The Pennine Bridleway runs parallel to Long Dale, about 1 km to the west. Long Dale is on the route of the 65 kilometres (40 mi) long Limey Way, which links up 20 Debyshire dales.

The High Peak Trail is a 17-mile (27 km) trail for walkers, cyclists and horse riders in the Peak District of England. Running from Dowlow (53.2059°N 1.8349°W / 53.2059; -1.8349 (High Peak Trail (Dowlow trailhead))), near Buxton, to High Peak Junction, Cromford (53.1004°N 1.5354°W / 53.1004; -1.5354 (High Peak Trail (High Peak Junction trailhead))), it follows the trackbed of the former Cromford and High Peak Railway, which was completed in 1831 to carry minerals and goods between the Cromford Canal wharf at High Peak Junction and the Peak Forest Canal at Whaley Bridge.Closure of the line occurred during the Beeching era, with the first section of the line closing in 1963 (i.e. the Middleton Incline) followed by full closure in 1967. In 1971 the Peak Park Planning Board and Derbyshire County Council bought the largest part of the trackbed and, in partnership with the Countryside Commission, adapted it for its current leisure use. The trail has a crushed limestone surface which makes it ideal for all users, including wheelchair use, assisted by level access onto the trail at various points along its route. The High Peak Trail is now a national route of the National Cycle Network. The elevated nature of the trail (the highest part of the line is at Ladmanlow, at a height of 1,266 ft or 386 m) affords many splendid views across the countryside. However, these higher sections can also be very exposed in poor weather. The original railway incorporated a number of inclines at its northern and southern ends, and whilst much of the trail is fairly level, these sections are naturally steeper. At Parsley Hay, about 5 miles (8 km) southwest of Bakewell, the High Peak Trail is joined by the 13-mile (21 km) Tissington Trail, another route of the National Cycle Network, which was formerly the railway branch line to Ashbourne. The High Peak Trail crosses the Limestone Way near Harboro' Rocks.The High Peak Trail (and part of the Tissington Trail) are also designated part of the Pennine Bridleway, a 130-mile (210 km) leisure route which starts at Middleton Top, near Cromford, and includes 73 miles (117 km) through Derbyshire to the South Pennines. The Trail also forms part of the Midshires Way, a long-distance footpath and bridleway which runs for 225 miles (362 km) through the Midlands from Bledlow to Stockport. The High Peak Trail forms part of the White Peak Loop Trail, a 60-mile (97 km) route for walking, cycling and horse riding in the Peak District. It links the High Peak Trail with the Monsal Trail, with linking sections through the towns of Buxton, Bakewell and Matlock. The White Peak Loop is being developed by Derbyshire County Council and as of 2020 some sections are not yet complete.

Gratton is a civil parish in the Derbyshire Dales district of central Derbyshire, half a mile west of the neighbouring village, Elton.

Minninglow (or Minning Low) is a hill in the Peak District National Park in Derbyshire, located within the White Peak area at grid reference SK209573. Within the clump of trees crowning the hill are a Neolithic chambered tomb and two Bronze Age bowl barrows. The chambered tomb (Derbyshire's largest) and barrows are a Scheduled Monument. The chambered tomb comprises an oval cairn of 45 by 38 metres (148 by 125 ft) surviving to a height of 2.4 metres (7 ft 10 in) and containing two complete chambers made of limestone slabs, and at least three other incomplete chambers. The tomb was excavated by Thomas Bateman in 1843 and 1851 and was described by Nikolaus Pevsner as "one of the most impressive of Derbyshire's surviving prehistoric burials". The barrow is considered to be a multi-period site, the oldest chamber dating from the Early Neolithic period but with other finds indicating use in the Late Neolithic or early Bronze Age, and also the Roman period. The two bowl barrows, also excavated by Bateman, date from the Bronze Age and also show signs of Roman disturbance.Although it is within 200 metres (660 ft) of the High Peak Trail between Parwich and Longcliffe, there is no public right of way to the site. Since 31 January 2007, however, concessionary access has been granted by the landowner, allowing the public to walk to and explore the site. The concessionary path from the High Peak Trail is signposted with a wooden sign similar to a public footpath sign and there are wooden markers on the route to the barrow. About one kilometre northwest of Minninglow hill is the massive Minninglow Embankment on the former Cromford and High Peak Railway, the trackbed of which now forms the High Peak Trail. This Grade-II-listed structure, constructed from local limestone and earth in the 1820s, is a pre-Victorian example of civil engineering on the grand scale. There is access from the car park and picnic site about 200 metres (660 ft) further along the High Peak Trail at grid reference SK194581.

Middleton and Smerrill is a civil parish within the Derbyshire Dales district, in the county of Derbyshire, England. Largely rural except for the village of Middleton-by-Youlgreave and isolated farms, Middleton and Smerrill's population is 137 residents in 2011. It is 130 miles (210 km) north west of London, 20 miles (32 km) north west of the county city of Derby, and 4+1⁄2 miles (7.2 km) south west of the nearest market town of Bakewell. Middleton and Smerrill is wholly within the Peak District national park, in the southern part of the area. It is one of the largest parishes but among the smallest by way of residents, and shares a border with the parishes of Gratton, Hartington Middle Quarter, Hartington Nether Quarter, Hartington Town Quarter, Monyash and Youlgreave. There are 31 listed structures in Middleton and Smerrill.

Friden Goods Yard was a goods station located on the Cromford and High Peak Railway near the villages of Friden in Derbyshire. Mostly for moving mineral and quarry traffic. It closed in 1967 along with the rest of the line. And today, nothing remains of the goods yard. The trackbed now forms part of the High Peak Trail.

Friden is a hamlet in the civil parish of Hartington Nether Quarter, Derbyshire, England. It is 11 miles (18 km) south-east of Buxton, just off the Newhaven to Cromford Via Gellia road, and lies within the Peak District National Park. The name "Friden" is derived from the goddess Frig, the wife of Woden. It is on the route of the former Cromford and High Peak Railway, which now forms the High Peak Trail. Friden Grange is a Grade II listed building. It is notable for the manufacture of refractory products at Friden brickworks.

Dale End is a hamlet in Derbyshire, England to the west of Elton.

Middleton, often known as Middleton-by-Youlgreave or Middleton-by-Youlgrave to distinguish it from nearby Middleton-by-Wirksworth, is a village in the Peak District, Derbyshire, England. The appropriate civil parish is called Middleton and Smerrill. The population of this parish was 137 at the 2011 Census. It lies south west of Youlgreave, above the River Bradford. Its main industries are farming and tourism.

Newhaven is a hamlet in the county of Derbyshire, England, east of Hartington and west of Cromford.The principal employer in the area is DSF Refractories & Minerals Ltd. The hamlet is located within the Peak District National Park.

Ballidon Dale is a steep-sided, dry carboniferous limestone valley near Parwich in the Derbyshire Peak District of England. The ancient hamlet of Ballidon (mentioned in the Domesday Book) lies at the southern foot of the dale. Ballidon Quarry and Hoe Grange limestone quarries now dominate the west side of the dale.The fossil-rich limestone was formed from deposits in a warm shallow sea in the Brigantian stage of the Carboniferous period (around 330 million years ago). Ballidon Dale is a designated Site of Special Scientific Interest (SSSI). The protected SSSI area covers the main broad, deep valley as well as the long dale on the west side and smaller dale from the east side. There are early purple orchid in the main dale. There is a rich variety of grasses and herbs on the dale sides. Grasses include meadow oat, parnassus, quaking grass, sheep's fescue, glaucous sedge, carnation sedge and spring sedge. Herbs include salad burnet, bird's-foot trefoil, mouse ear hawkweed, scabious, fairy flax, thyme and lady's bedstraw. There are earthworks and buried remains of a medieval settlement at the southern end of Ballidon Dale. The Anglo-Saxon estate at Ballidon was granted by King Edgar in AD 963. Field boundaries and ridge and furrow farming features are still visible. The site is a protected Scheduled Monument. The restored Anglo-Norman church on the site is a Grade II listed building.At the head of the dale are Roystone Grange farmhouse and barn, which are Grade II listed buildings from the 18th century. The monastic grange dates from the Middle Ages, with remains of building platforms, a medieval field system and a dew pond from the Roman era lying 200m south of the present farmhouse building. The wool-producing grange was established by the Cistercian Garendon Abbey in Leicestershire in the 12th or 13th century, when the grange was recorded as 'Reevestones'. The site is a registered Scheduled Monument. Nearby are a burial barrow where remains from the Bronze Age and Romano-British pottery and metalwork have been found. The barrow and the adjacent medieval animal pen are also a designated Scheduled Monument. In the immediate surroundings are three further Scheduled Monuments of the remains of a Romano-British settlement and field system. There are remains of farmhouses, outbuildings, walled field enclosures, terraces and orthostats. Roman pottery artefacts and coins were discovered at the site.Ballidon Dale, and Roystone Rocks at its head, are designated as 'Open Access' land for the public, following the Countryside and Rights of Way Act 2000. There is a track with public access along the length of the valley floor, with access into the dale from both ends. The Limestone Way long-distance footpath crosses the foot of the dale by the settlement of Ballidon.