Castleton: Peak Cavern, Mam Tor and Blue John
East Midlands, England
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Hobbes's Seven
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300
XP
1 day
Castleton: Peak Cavern, Mam Tor and Blue John
300 XP
Castleton sits under Mam Tor at the head of the Hope Valley with four show caves around it. Peak Cavern, described by William Camden in 1586, has the largest cave entrance in Britain; Mam Tor above it is crowned by a late Bronze Age and early Iron Age hill fort and slides steadily downhill, taking the old road with it; and Blue John, the banded purple and yellow fluorite, is found in Britain only at the Blue John and Treak Cliff caverns here.
Required Activities
1
of 4
Walk into the entrance of Peak Cavern, the largest cave entrance in Britain — described by William Camden in 1586 as the Devil's Arse, and one of Thomas Hobbes's Seven Wonders of the Peak in 1636; ropemakers lived and worked inside it until 1915
2
of 4
From the summit of Mam Tor (517m), walk the ramparts of the hill fort and look down on the landslips of the eastern face — the Shivering Mountain — which closed the A625 road for good in 1979
3
of 4
In Castleton, find a piece of Blue John, mined for ornaments in the 19th century and still dug on a small scale
4
of 4
Walk the broken road under Mam Tor that the landslip destroyed
Walk into the entrance of Peak Cavern, the largest cave entrance in Britain — described by William Camden in 1586 as the Devil's Arse, and one of Thomas Hobbes's Seven Wonders of the Peak in 1636; ropemakers lived and worked inside it until 1915
From the summit of Mam Tor (517m), walk the ramparts of the hill fort and look down on the landslips of the eastern face — the Shivering Mountain — which closed the A625 road for good in 1979
In Castleton, find a piece of Blue John, mined for ornaments in the 19th century and still dug on a small scale
Walk the broken road under Mam Tor that the landslip destroyed
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XP Breakdown
Challenge XP
300 XP
Potential total
300 XP
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