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The East Moors

The East Moors is a landscape of high, open heather moorland. 

Overstones Farm, below the southern end of Stanage Edge above Hathersage, at the edge of the moorland

Over the last 2,000 years, people have used the East Moors in a number of ways:

• Upland sheep grazing and, more recently, the rearing and shooting of red grouse.
• Coal mining at thin seams on the moors was an important local source of fuel for industry and adjacent towns.
• Gritstone Quarrying was a major local industry providing millstones for grinding.

As a result, the East Moors bear the scars of past use.  There is a network of disused packhorse routes, some of Medieval origins, with extensive hollow ways running between the Derwent Valley and lead mining areas to the west, and to the industrial areas in the east.  The remains of isolated farms, some dating back to prehistory, also scatter the moorlands.

This deep cart-way descends towards the Derwent Valley from the top of Gardom's Edge

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