Castleton - A Tourists' Village?

Geology
History
The Village of Castleton Today
Tourism in Castleton

Points to Consider

Castleton - A Tourists' Village?

The village of Castleton lies at the western end of the Hope Valley, one of the more populated parts of the Peak District National Park ......

Castleton

It is 10 miles from Buxton, 16 miles from Sheffield and 27 miles from Stockport. Half of the population of England live within 60 miles of the Peak District National Park.


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Geology

Castleton is on the boundary between the Dark Peak and the White Peak areas. The ridge to the north marks the beginning of the gritstone and shale beds of the Dark Peak rising to the high moorland plateaux. The instability of the shale layers can be seen in the massive landslip at Mam Tor. The village itself lies on the shale/clay floor of the Hope Valley, while to the south and west of the village lies the limestone of the White Peak.

Mam Tor

Around 350 million years ago the Peak District was covered with a shallow tropical sea. Over millions of years, the remains of shellfish and other sea creatures were compressed into what we now call limestone. The fossilised sea creatures such as crinoids or brachiopods can be seen clearly in the rock. In some areas coral reefs were formed and these have become the reef limestone seen in the Winnats Pass.

Movement under the earth pushed the rocks upwards causing cracking. Surface water trickled through cracks in the rock, dissolving the rock to form an underground cave system containing stalagmites and stalactites. Around 200 million years ago hot fluids, forced into the cracks in the rock, crystallised to form veins of minerals such as galena (lead ore), barite and fluorspar. A decorative form of fluorspar known as Blue John has been mined in Treak Cliff for several centuries and used to make ornaments and jewellery. The French words for the colours found in this mineral blue and jaune (blue and yellow) have given it its name.

Stalactites in Treak Cliff Cavern

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History

The earliest known settlement in the Castleton area was the hillfort on the top of Mam Tor. The fort itself is Iron Age, although it is believed settlement began in the Bronze Age, around 1400 BC. Even earlier traces of Stone Age man have been found in caves on Treak Cliff.

There is a local tradition that Odin Mine, at the foot of Mam Tor, was worked in Saxon times (around the 10th or 11th centuries). Peveril Castle, which was built on top of the hill above Cavedale for protection, was mentioned in the Domesday Book in 1086. The village which takes its name from the Castle (Castle town) was laid out in a grid pattern at the base of the hill.

From the 12th century, Castleton was the centre of the Royal Forest of the Peak and it became a market town in the 13th century. It was also on the packhorse route bringing salt from Cheshire to Sheffield. The men who travelled the routes were called Jaggers and have given their name to lanes in the area.  The Cheshire Cheese pub is a reminder of this association.

The building of the turnpike road from Sheffield to Sparrowpit (passing through Castleton) in 1759 made access to the village easier and was an important early link between Sheffield and Manchester. By the mid 19th century the Wellington express coach stopped twice a day at Castleton on its journey between Sheffield and Manchester.

The railway line between Sheffield and Manchester calling at Hope was opened by the Midland Railway in 1894 and opened the way for even more tourists to visit the village.

Past Industry

The earliest industries in the village of Castleton were farming and lead mining. Most of the farms have always been on the sunny south facing slopes of the gritstone ridge (running from Mam Tor to Losehill) and the shale valley floor. The farms are mostly mixed dairy and sheep with cows in the valley and sheep on the slopes. The climate and soil is not suitable for arable farming.

Lead mining was important in the area in Roman times, with a good road (Batham Gate) between the Roman fort at Brough and the spa town at Buxton.   Lead mining was at its height in the 17th and 18th centuries and there are many clues to this past in the landscape.

As lead mining declined towards the end of the 19th century, the gangue or waste materials thrown away by the miners became important. Fluorspar was one of these and is still mined today for use in the chemical and steel industries (and toothpaste!). Barite is mined for use in the paint and paper industry and as a lubricant in drilling oil wells.

Other industries in the village were those associated with the community and lead mining such as:

• Rope Making - which took place in the entrance to Peak Cavern.
• Candle Making - in a factory to the north of the village
• Bootmaking
• Saw mill, a corn mill and cotton mills.

Tradition

The ancient Castleton Garland Ceremony is celebrated on Oak Apple Day (29th May). It is thought to be an echo of a pagan rite, revived to commemorate the restoration of Charles II (who hid in an oak tree).

The king wearing a conical garland of flowers, and his consort, ride through the village from pub to pub with a train of dancing children. The garland is later hoisted on the church tower.

Garland Ceremony

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The Village of Castleton Today

Castleton's buildings are largely built of local limestone. There are fossils in the limestone that can easily be spotted in many of the buildings. Older cottages are roofed with gritstone slates. Blue slate, imported from Wales when road and rail transport improved in the 19th century, are used on newer houses or to replace the old gritstone slates.

Castleton with Mam Tor in background

The oldest part of the village has been designated a Conservation Area, which recognises the historic importance of Castleton. Conservation Area projects in the past have included tree planting, removal of overhead wires and the renovation of the Market Square. Several buildings are classed as Listed Buildings because of their architectural and historical importance.

Services

People

Jobs

Unlike villages in many rural parts of Britain, the population of Castleton is greater now than it was 50 years ago. Although there are still a number of farmers in the area, many of the population are now commuters, quarry workers or earn their living from tourism.

Hope Cement Works (Lafarge UK) employs about 300 people, around 90% local. Interconnection Products Ltd. (electronic equipment) employs 179 people, around 60% local. Thermal Measurement (electronic equipment) employ 21 people, mostly local. Losehill Hall (Peak District National Park Study Centre) employs 40 permanent staff, mostly local plus a number of seasonal staff.

Hope Cement Works

The figures for those employed in tourism are likely to be much higher in a village such as Castleton, with so many tourist outlets, than in the Park as a whole.

Transport

The A625 road, passing through Castleton, runs the length of the Hope Valley but has been closed to the west of Castleton since 1976 following a major landslip at Mam Tor. The Winnats Pass remains the only road to the west. Use is restricted to light traffic, so heavy traffic no longer passes through the village. The Mam Tor road will not be reconstructed and plans to build a new road through Pindale have been shelved.

Currently, the Peak District National Park's only passenger railway service runs approximately hourly from Sheffield to Manchester stopping at Dore, Grindleford, Hathersage, Bamford, Hope, Edale, Chinley, New Mills and Stockport. Hope station is a little under 3 miles from Castleton.

There is a weekday bus service to and from Sheffield, (route 272) which runs approximately 2 hourly. There is also extra buses to and from Bakewell on market day (Monday) and for school pupils as well as special buses from surrounding towns and cities on Summer Sundays and Bank Holidays.

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Tourism in Castleton

In a village such as Castleton there can be a problem in balancing the needs of the local residents with those of the visitor.

Coach in Castleton

"Castleton should be given a wide berth on a Saturday or Sunday in Summer. On those days it overflows with the tripper, for whom it lays itself out to provide, and its streets are apt to be uproarious until the last brakes have gone singing down the vale"

This was written in 1905 (Highways and Byways in Derbyshire, JB Firth) and with the substitution of cars and coaches for brakes could easily have been written today. It helps us to realise that tourism is not a modern invention. Castleton was an established tourist centre over 400 years ago. The Peak Cavern was listed as one of the 7 Wonders of the Peak in the 17th century and was visited by Mary Queen of Scots. There are many places of interest in and around the village to attract tourists. Treak Cliff Cavern, Speedwell Cavern, Blue John Mine and Peveril Castle are all in the Top Ten most popular attractions in the Peak District National Park and all very near or within the village of Castleton. The Show Caves alone attract many thousands of visitors.

Castleton is also popular as a base for touring in the National Park and for active sports such as climbing, caving, pony trekking, hang gliding, cycling and walking. There are several Outdoor Pursuits centres nearby.

However 80% of the visitors are day visitors and the majority descend on Castleton on Summer Sundays.

The large number of tourists visiting Castleton can cause problems both to the villagers and to the tourists themselves.

Congestion near Speedwell Cavern

Erosion of the many footpaths around the area, especially Winnats Pass and the footpath to Mam Tor, has been the subject of a detailed study. Improvements such as surfacing paths in local stone or re-routing certain paths have been undertaken.

Congestion in the village is a problem to locals and visitors. There is a large car park, with space for coaches, and public toilets but at peak times (Summer Sundays or during the Garland ceremony) the parking provision is not enough and the congestion spoils the character of the village and affects its enjoyment by all.

The importance of tourism to the local economy needs to be balanced against the danger of over-commercialisation. More and bigger car parks may increase visitor numbers and create even more problems.

A new Visitor Centre has recently opened near to the main car park.  It is hoped that the Centre will play a part in advising and guiding visitors as well as telling the story of Castleton through interactive interpretation.

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Points to Consider

Castleton has been called a 'honeypot' - why do you think that is?

What do you think the local people of Castleton think about the tourists that visit the village?

For more information on any of the subjects highlighted in this factsheet try searching the archive.

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