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Use these links to locate yourself on the map and find out more about the estate. |
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Hook's Car/Popular End Car ParkWe are at Hook's Car Car Park and this was made in the last two or three years. Before it was made there was anything up to 100 or 150 cars parked all along the road. As well as the visual intrusion created, people used to walk directly from their cars to Stanage Edge, creating over 40 footpaths across a sensitive wet area, disturbing rare birds on the way - so something had to be done. This honeycomb surface allows cars to park without damaging the grass underneath. The material is called Gopla and is made of 100% recycled plastic. When we get up to the top of the Edge you cannot see the surface, making the car park look fairly natural …. On the other side of the road there is a bund, to make it difficult to park. At the far end of the car park there is a place for cycles, so if you do come here by bike your cycle will be safer. If you look at the footpath as you come out of the car park, slabs have been laid because there was so much erosion. They are reused slabs, from mills in Lancashire and have been laid down here to create a durable path to go through the sensitive wetland which is a feeding and breeding area for rare birds such as snipe and reed bunting. Access for all is very important to the life of the estate click here to find out more and meet Graham Attridge of the Disabled Visitor Access Group
- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - Stanage Edgeclick here for a panorama of the area We are now on Stanage Edge. The main reason why people come here is the most obvious one - the rock. The rock is made out of gritstone and from the point of view of climbers, it is one of the best rocks to climb in the country. It is internationally renowned - people even talk about it in Australian climbing magazines and come here just to climb on Stanage Edge. 
In the distance you can see right up to the moors of Bleaklow and Kinder. This is the edge of the Dark Peak and it stretches way north of here, up into the Pennines. In the middle ground you can see a patchwork quilt of burnt moorland and this is managed for red grouse. It's not in fact part of the North Lees estate but is owned by Moscar Estates. Moving around to the Hope Valley you can see the Blue Circle Cement works, now owned by Lafarge UK. It is a large quarry on the hillside begun before the National Park was designated. It produces really high quality limestone and Lafarge make cement there. As we pan around looking across the Hope Valley on the middle ground there is limestone plateau, 1,000 feet above sea level. In the far distance the western edges of the Peak District National Park, you can see the Dark Peaks like a big horseshoe. As we pan south we look towards the woodlands in the valley and the rich farmland. Eventually we come back round to the eastern edges where we are sitting and we see Millstone Edge, a disused quarry where lots of millstones were extracted in the last centuries for grinding flour and sharpening steel in Sheffield. What do climbers feel about the estate. click here to meet the climber Henry Folkard and discover why the estate is important to him
- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - White Path MossWe are on White Path Moss which is above Stanage Edge. It occupies about 900 acres (360 hectares) about a third of which is SSSI, Site of Special Scientific Interest. The reason why it is a SSSI is because of the habitat that it provides for ground nesting birds such as the ring ouzel, golden plover, curlew and snipe etc. 
The moorland occupies 900 acres (360 hectares) of which 686 acres (275 hectares) are a Site of Special Scientific Interest or SSSI. It is Grade 5 agricultural land. The designation comes from the fact that it is blanket bog and that peat formation is thought still to be occurring here. This habitat is valuable on a global as well as local scale and is at its southern limit of upland moorland. One of the main plants is sphagnum moss, which contributes to peat formation. The mosses are very vulnerable to air pollution (acid rain); at one time there were 18 species here, now there are only 3. Peat forms at about 1 mm per year and at the present time peat formation is considered to have stopped. There are up to 4 metres of peat in places (4000 years worth). As well as mosses there are insectivorous plants and cotton grasses and birds such as merlin, short-eared owl, golden plover, dunlin, ring ouzel, whinchat, wheattear and red grouse. We are in a bit of blanket bog and one of the most important things about blanket bog is that it is made of a moss called sphagnum moss. This is sphagnum moss and it contains and holds a huge amount of water - it is basically like a big sponge. In World War I, sphagnum moss was used as a wound dressing as it is sterile and highly absorbent. - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - Stanage PlantationThis plantation is 8.26 hectares in area and contains mostly beech, larch and sycamore trees. The plantation has been used as a shelter-belt for sheep. The sheep used to graze the plantation which resulted in little regeneration of the woodland. The sheep have now been prevented from grazing here. In the enclosed areas conifers are slowly being removed and replaced with a variety of broadleaved and native species such as elm, Scots' pine, mountain ash and silver birch. It is hoped that this will improve the ground flora of the plantation which will be better for native wildlife. The site is also popular with ramblers and day visitors, who use it for picnics. click here to meet the Estate Warden Bill Gordon to discover how he feels about the estate
- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - Pack Horse RouteThis route runs through the Estate from Hathersage over Stanage Edge. It is visible as a paved path of millstone grit blocks from near the Mountain Rescue Post up through Stanage Plantation. This was used as a route from Hope to Sheffield as early as Roman times and up until 1757 as a main route. 
Jaggers, as they were known, were men who transported goods over the moors using a 'pack-horse' to carry goods such as salt from Cheshire. Use of the path continued up to at least 1918, when the paper mill on the Estate closed and there was no longer any paper for the jaggers to transport into Sheffield. Today many of the paths across the Estate are used by walkers and ramblers. click here to meet Terry Howard and discover how he feels about the Estate
- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - The WarrenThis is 8.66 hectares of oak woodland planted on the site of an ancient woodland. This was previously unfenced so there has been no regeneration. In 1995 it was entirely fenced to keep sheep out and to allow for regrowth. There is a site of a Romano-British settlement alongside. - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - |
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