About the Book

The book and website are intended as a modern guide to the prehistoric Peak District. It is not an explanation of these sites, but is a useful guide that will help you to locate and explore these places for yourself.

They are presented in roughly geographic order, moving clockwise from north to south, when using the town of Buxton as the centre. This is merely a way of presenting the sites and is not a recommendation of the order in which you should visit them.

I have visited each of these sites in person at least once in order to find them and record them through photography, the drawing of a sketchplan of what you can expect to see today and the writing of clear and concise as possible directions in order that you can visit them yourselves and have a good idea of what to expect. Given that this is the 21st Century and not 2,000 B.C.E. I do make the presumption that you will be travelling by car and so the start of the directions to each site begins with where I think you should park your vehicle. In all cases this is very close to the start of any trail that leads towards the site, so even if you aren’t travelling by car I still recommend you using these places as your starting point.

In all cases I include the relevant 8-figure Ordinance Survey (OS) Map grid reference as well as GPS coordinates and altitude, as well as my opinion on how hard the site is to find and access. 

These readings were taken at the actual locations and are as accurate as the equipment I was using would allow. Please be aware though, that some inaccuracies may be present and I am not responsible for any difference between them and what you may gather for yourself.

All of the map references relate to the OS Explorer Maps, which use a 1:25,000 scale, where 4cm equals 1km. All of the maps that I have included in this book have been created and reproduced at that scale.

When starting your own enquiry into the Prehistoric Peak I strongly recommend you having the OS Explorer Map that relates to the sites you are visiting and also recommend having a hand-held GPS until. This incredibly useful piece of equipment may seem unnecessary, but at some of the locations the site is barely visible due to overgrowth of heather, bracken, bilberries and such, or are disappearing into the encroaching peat. There are some that you will be standing upon without even knowing it. At those sites GPS is essential.

A good majority of these sites are located on high moorland, so no matter what time of year you are visiting it pays to be prepared for anything. The weather is notoriously unpredictable, as I myself found out on several occasions when what started out as a gorgeous sunny summer’s day quickly descended into blanket fog, or cold driving rain. In reality, you are never that far from civilization, but that does not negate the fact that you can very quickly get into trouble on these moors. They are unforgiving and you are a fool if you venture out there inadequately prepared.