Peak District
Explore hidden histories, historic photos, and things you never knew about Peak District from the collections and archives of Historic England.
Discover your local listed buildings and places
Introducing some of Peak District's most historic sites, included in the National Heritage List for England. Some of these captions have been summarised by AI. Click through for the official List entry.
Pilsbury Castle Hills motte and bailey castle
Hartington Town Quarter
Pilsbury Castle Hills is a well-preserved motte and bailey site, crucial for studying Norman Britain and the feudal system, with intact archaeological remains.
Redmires First World War Training Area
Sheffield
First World War Training Area provided for the use of the Sheffield City Battalion, comprising numerous in-filled trench complexes and fieldworks dug late- 1914–16.
Lyme Park
Disley
Lyme Park is a historic estate featuring a medieval deer park, gardens, and notable buildings developed from the 17th to 20th centuries, managed by the National Trust.
Thornbridge Hall
Ashford in the Water
Thornbridge Hall's gardens, originally designed in the late 19th and early 20th centuries, surround a historic house transformed through Jacobean-style renovations, featuring extensive...
Chatsworth House
Baslow and Bubnell
Chatsworth House, a historic country house in England, features gardens and landscapes by prominent designers like Lancelot Brown, Joseph Paxton, and Jeffry Wyatville, reflecting centuries...
Pike Low bowl barrow
Derwent
Pike Low bowl barrow is a historically significant and well-preserved Peak District barrow, representing diverse prehistoric burial practices without excavation disturbance.
Roman Catholic Church of St Michael the Archangel, bounda…
Hathersage
A Catholic chapel, likely incorporating the remains of the late-C17 Mass House, rebuilt in 1798-1806, with C19 alterations and extensions, and internal remodelling during the C20 and C21.
Underhill
Holme Valley
Earth sheltered house, designed in 1969 and constructed in 1973-5, by Arthur Quarmby as his family home.
Slight univallate hillfort and two bowl barrows on Mam Tor
Castleton
The Mam Tor hillfort is a significant slight univallate hillfort with intact earthworks and archaeological features, illustrating Bronze to Iron Age transitions and ancient burial practices.
Wayside and boundary cross known as Lady's Cross
Holmesfield
Lady's Cross, a medieval wayside and boundary cross, is a significant marker of crossroads and boundaries, exemplifying historical religious customs and settlement patterns.
Lathkill Dale and Mandale mines and soughs
Over Haddon
A multi-phase lead mining complex. Read the official list entry to find out more.
Chatsworth Estate Office and Village Institute
Edensor
The building, dated from 1776-7 and attributed to Joseph Pickford, serves as the Chatsworth Estate Office and Village Institute, originally intended for wealthy travellers.
Fin Cop promontory fort, bowl barrow and eighteenth centu…
Ashford in the Water
Promontory forts are rare Iron Age settlements, valued for understanding prehistoric social organization.
Newburgh Level at Red Rake Mine
Calver
Adit portal and stone-lined approach of the Newburgh Level. Read the official list entry to find out more.
Church of the Holy Cross
Ilam
The Church of the Holy Cross, with origins from the 11th century, features significant restorations, including work by Sir George Gilbert Scott.
The Rutland Arms Hotel
Bakewell
The Rutland Arms Hotel, a coaching inn of 1804 built for the Duke of Rutland, extended in 1895. Read the official list entry to find out more.
A chambered tomb and two bowl barrows on Minning Low
Ballidon
Chambered tombs are important Neolithic monuments used for communal burial. Minning Low includes the largest tomb in Derbyshire, demonstrating evolving burial customs into the Bronze Age.
Arbor Low henge, large irregular stone circle, linear ban…
Middleton and Smerrill
Arbor Low henge is a well-preserved ritual site featuring a large stone circle, diverse features, and a Class II designation for its national importance.
Kinderlow bowl barrow
Hayfield
Kinderlow bowl barrow is a well-preserved Peak District barrow from the Bronze Age, notable for its intact archaeological remains and prominent hilltop location.
Lord's Seat bowl barrow
Edale
Lord's Seat bowl barrow embodies prehistoric burial traditions with its preserved structure, revealing societal beliefs from 2400-1500 BC in the Peak District, Derbyshire.
Wayside and boundary cross known as Edale Cross
Hayfield
Edale Cross, set in the Peak District, is a medieval wayside and boundary cross marking ancient routes and royal forest edges, reflecting religious and cultural heritage.
Haddon Hall
Nether Haddon
Haddon Hall, a historic manor with origins before 1087, features well-preserved medieval architecture and terraced gardens dating back centuries, nestled in a scenic parkland setting.
St Bertram's Bridge, Ilam
Blore with Swinscoe
St. Bertram’s Bridge is a medieval or early post-medieval single span bridge, notable for its original stonework alongside later parapet additions, bearing cultural significance linked to St.
Bronze Age burial, ceremonial and settlement remains on S…
Birchover
The East Moors contain well-preserved gritstone upland archaeological remains from the Bronze Age, featuring burial, ceremonial sites, and later land use patterns on Stanton Moor.
Former Stables at Chatsworth House
Chatsworth
Designed by James Paine, the Former Stables at Chatsworth House, built between 1758-63, showcases distinctive rock-faced sandstone and ashlar architecture in a grand courtyard formation.
Lees and Dove Rakes, Booth Lee Pipes and Sterndale Sough
Brushfield
Lees and Dove Rakes, Booth Lee Pipes and Sterndale Sough are lead mines worked from the C17 and C18. Read the official list entry to find out more.
Baslow Bridge
Baslow and Bubnell
Baslow Bridge, an early 17th-century sandstone ashlar bridge, features three round arches, triangular cutwaters, and an attached gabled toll booth. It is a listed Ancient Monument.
Cairnfield 320m north of Saltersitch Bridge, Eastern Moors
Holmesfield
A concentration of at least 12 cairns sited in close proximity to one another consisting largely of clearance cairns, built with stone cleared from the surrounding land surface to improve...
Cratcliff Rocks hermitage
Harthill
Cratcliff Rocks hermitage on Harthill Moor thrived until 1550, supported by nobility, showcasing medieval monastic life amidst a backdrop of simplicity and anchorite tradition.
Castle Ring defended settlement
Harthill
Castle Ring is a well-preserved prehistoric defended settlement in Derbyshire, crucial for understanding settlement patterns in northern England's uplands during the mid-prehistoric to early...
Pea Low bowl barrow
Alstonefield
Pea Low bowl barrow is a prominent funerary monument from 2400-1500 BC, notable for its size, regional typology, and rare Roman re-use in the Peak District.
Eyre Arms Public House including flanking walls
Hassop
A public house, probably originally built as a dwelling house with C17 origins, and later incrementally altered, extended and remodelled in the course of transition from dwelling to its...
The Chimneys, Number 1 Buxton Road
Bakewell
A three-storey house of early to mid C19 date with a ground floor shop unit. The building includes an arched cart entrance with domestic accommodation above at its north end.
Peveril Castle eleventh to fourteenth century tower keep …
Castleton
Peveril Castle is a rare, stone-built tower keep castle from the post-Conquest period, known for its well-preserved eleventh century masonry and archaeological significance.
Cross Shaft Approximately 15 Yards South of South Porch o…
Ilam
The cross shaft, dating probably from the 10th century, stands 7 feet tall with interlace and spiral designs. It's located near the Church of the Holy Cross.
Elderbush Cave
Wetton
Elderbush Cave contains deposits from the Pleistocene to the Romano-British period, providing archaeological and environmental insights into human occupation and landscape changes.
Alport smelt mill
Harthill
Alport smelt mill is noted for its complex and well-preserved condensing system in 19th-century lead smelting, enhancing its significance in England's industrial heritage.
Peak District through time
This timeline shows the first period of use for buildings and places on the National Heritage List for England, just one of the details recorded for every list entry. Click around to see how Peak District changes over time.
Prehistoric Before AD 43
Prehistory covers a million years of human occupation before the Roman invasion and the introduction of writing. Primarily hunter-gatherers of several human species including Neanderthals, the peoples moved across Europe, hunting animals, exchanging ideas and developing complex culture and belief systems including burial rites and astronomical understanding, as at Stonehenge for example.
Roman AD 43 to AD 410
Britain was invaded by four legions of the Roman army in AD 43, who relatively rapidly conquered England from landing points in Kent. Parts of Wales and Scotland soon followed.
Roman culture brought urbanism, monumental buildings, wide-ranging religious beliefs, writing, and strong social hierarchy. The Roman administrative system was withdrawn in AD 410.
Early medieval AD 410 to AD 1066
This period, often associated in England with Anglo-Saxons and Vikings, saw a reduction in urban living from the Roman period and increased migration from northern Europe.
Traces of this period can be found in cemeteries, particularly in artefacts and in some of the very early churches, as this period also saw the growth of Christianity in Britain.
Medieval AD 1066 to AD 1540
This period, sometimes known as the Middle Ages, began with the Norman invasion in AD 1066. It saw a significant rise in military and defensive buildings such as castles and earthworks, as well as religious houses dominating a largely agricultural landscape.
The monarchy and Church dominated the period, which also saw the break with the Roman Catholic Church and the English reformation.
Post medieval AD 1540 to AD 1901
The Post-Medieval period brought seismic changes to life in England, with religious reformation leading to the democratization of worship and the destruction of hundreds of religious houses.
In parallel, there was a huge expansion of scientific study and enlightenment that permanently altered the nation's social structure and landscape. Industrialization and mass production lead to wider global trade, emigration, and immigration.
20th century AD 1901 to AD 2000
The 20th century saw an incredible expansion of England's transport networks, with suburban growth shadowing rapid infrastructural expansion. The establishment of state schools, hospitals, and modern technical colleges, with new architectural styles, radically changed the appearance of towns and cities.
Two catastrophic world wars and the 1918 pandemic also brought unprecedented change, altering England's built environment and social structures forever.
Prehistoric Before AD 43
Prehistory covers a million years of human occupation before the Roman invasion and the introduction of writing. Primarily hunter-gatherers of several human species including Neanderthals, the peoples moved across Europe, hunting animals, exchanging ideas and developing complex culture and belief systems including burial rites and astronomical understanding, as at Stonehenge for example.
Roman AD 43 to AD 410
Britain was invaded by four legions of the Roman army in AD 43, who relatively rapidly conquered England from landing points in Kent. Parts of Wales and Scotland soon followed.
Roman culture brought urbanism, monumental buildings, wide-ranging religious beliefs, writing, and strong social hierarchy. The Roman administrative system was withdrawn in AD 410.
Early medieval AD 410 to AD 1066
This period, often associated in England with Anglo-Saxons and Vikings, saw a reduction in urban living from the Roman period and increased migration from northern Europe.
Traces of this period can be found in cemeteries, particularly in artefacts and in some of the very early churches, as this period also saw the growth of Christianity in Britain.
Medieval AD 1066 to AD 1540
This period, sometimes known as the Middle Ages, began with the Norman invasion in AD 1066. It saw a significant rise in military and defensive buildings such as castles and earthworks, as well as religious houses dominating a largely agricultural landscape.
The monarchy and Church dominated the period, which also saw the break with the Roman Catholic Church and the English reformation.
Post medieval AD 1540 to AD 1901
The Post-Medieval period brought seismic changes to life in England, with religious reformation leading to the democratization of worship and the destruction of hundreds of religious houses.
In parallel, there was a huge expansion of scientific study and enlightenment that permanently altered the nation's social structure and landscape. Industrialization and mass production lead to wider global trade, emigration, and immigration.
20th century AD 1901 to AD 2000
The 20th century saw an incredible expansion of England's transport networks, with suburban growth shadowing rapid infrastructural expansion. The establishment of state schools, hospitals, and modern technical colleges, with new architectural styles, radically changed the appearance of towns and cities.
Two catastrophic world wars and the 1918 pandemic also brought unprecedented change, altering England's built environment and social structures forever.
Aerial photos of Peak District
Aerial photography helps reveal secrets of England's changing landscapes that are impossible to see from the ground.
Swythamley Hall
Swythamley Park, Swythamley Hall, 1939
Swythamley Hall
Swythamley Hall and grounds, Swythamley Hall, 1939
Bakewell
Haddon Hall, Bakewell, 1927
Bakewell
Haddon Hall, Bakewell, 1953
Bakewell
The town centre, Bakewell, 1927
Bakewell
The town centre, Bakewell, 1948
Ecton
The Hillocks (The Castle), Ecton, 1950
Ecton
The Hillocks (The Castle) and the hamlet, Ecton, 1950
Bakewell
Lumford Mill, Bakewell, 1927
Bakewell
Lumford Mill, Bakewell, 1927
Peak District in the Historic England Archive
The Historic England Archive cares for over 15 million images, dating from the 1850s to the present day. Discover stunning images of Peak District's past.
Charles George Harper Collection
Derbyshire Dales, Derbyshire
Date created: 1892 - 1933
Interior view of the chapel at Haddon Hall
Eileen ‘Dusty’ Deste Collection
Hope Valley, High Peak, Derbyshire
Date created: 1966 - 1974
A view over Ladybower Reservoir
Eric de Mare
Derbyshire Dales, Derbyshire
Date created: 1945 - 1980
General view of the Sheepwash Bridge in Ashford in the Water.
John Gay Collection: Rural Life
Monsal Dale, Derbyshire Dales, Derbyshire
Date created: 1959
A scenic view of Monsal Dale in Derbyshire, looking north-west along the River Wye in the valley from a high viewpoint at Monsal Head near Little...
John Gay Collection: Counties
Woodhead Reservoir, High Peak, Derbyshire
Date created: 1965
Woodhead Reservoir seen from the north with Bleaklow in the background
John Laing Collection
Lyme Park, Cheshire East
Date created: 11 Jun 1992
A group portrait of members of Laing's North West Senior Citizens Club during a visit to Lyme Park
London, Midland and Scottish Railway Company
Derbyshire Dales, Derbyshire
Date created: 05 Jul 1926
Cows lying in a field on the south-east side of Thorpe Cloud, with a stone cottage standing at the foot of the limestone hill
Alfred Newton and Sons
Dove Dale, Derbyshire Dales, Derbyshire
Date created: 1896 - 1920
GENERAL LANDSCAPE VIEW SHOWING LIONS ROCK AND RIVER
Nigel Temple Collection of Postcards of Parks and Gardens
Derbyshire Dales, Derbyshire
Date created: 1900 - 1930
EXTERIOR VIEW OF FRONT
John Gay Collection: Rural Life
Derbyshire Dales, Derbyshire
Date created: 1959
A picturesque view of a river in a valley, at an unidentified location in the Derbyshire Dales, with a couple walking beside the riverbank and a...
London, Midland and Scottish Railway Company
Manifold Valley, Staffordshire Moorlands, Staffordshire
Date created: 14 Aug 1895
A view looking across the Manifold Valley towards Thor's Cave
Alfred Newton and Sons
Dove Dale, Derbyshire Dales, Derbyshire
Date created: 1896 - 1920
GENERAL LANDSCAPE VIEW SHOWING RIVER RUNNING ALONG VALLEY FLOOR
Stories about heritage in your local area
Historic England publishes news, blogs, research, videos, and podcasts celebrating England's rich heritage. Discover the stories we have about Peak District.
7 Places to Celebrate the National Trust
Mentions Lyme Park
The National Trust was founded on 12 January 1895 by Octavia Hill, Sir Robert Hunter and Hardwicke Rawnsley.
6 Evocative Literary Locations
Mentions Chatsworth House
Many authors and the characters they created have lived in and loved England, evoking streetscapes, landscapes and buildings throughout their work.
How to Lay Out a Garden: the Legacy of Edward Kemp (1817 -1891)
Mentions Chatsworth House
Edward Kemp was one of the most prolific and influential landscape designers of the Victorian era.
It’s Love – actually!
Mentions Chatsworth House
Explore some historic places that have provided a backdrop to some of our favourite romance films.
8 Images of a Frosted England
Mentions Peveril Castle Curtain Walls and Fragmentary Foundations
Baby, it’s cold outside!
“I’m Sorry But What Is a Scheduled Monument?”
Mentions Arbor Low henge, large irregular stone circle, linear bank and bowl barrow
We’ve had Scheduled Monuments (sometimes known as Ancient Monuments) since 1882 when the Ancient Monuments Protection Act was passed.
7 Buildings That Tell the Story of the Brontë Sisters
Mentions North Lees Hall, The Vicarage and Garden Walling
Here we look at the list entries updated in 2016 to reflect their associations with the Brontë family.
Planting Trees for the Future Whilst Protecting the Past
Mentions Peak District
Developing new datasets to ensure that the right tree is planted in the right place.
Supporting Historic England’s Strategic Agenda from the Air
Mentions Peak District
Our Apprentice Aerial Survey Investigator reports on the vital work of monitoring heritage and discovering new sites.
30 Years of Flying in the North
Mentions Peak District
Celebrating the achievements of Historic England's aerial recording programme in the North of England.
Rare First World War Practice Trenches in Gosport Scheduled
Mentions Redmires First World War Training Area
The well-preserved site at Browndown, Gosport in Hampshire has been designated as a scheduled monument.
Progress for Peatlands
Mentions Peak District
The historic and natural importance of peatlands with respect to tackling climate change.
Pilot Scheme Success in Restoring Historic Barns
Mentions Peak District
Bringing life back to traditional agricultural buildings within the participating National Park boundaries.
New Listings Announced to Celebrate 70 Years of Protecting England's Historic Buildings
Mentions Underhill, Peak District
New listings mark 70th anniversary of the listed building system
Peak District's social history through photos
Over 10,000 images from the Historic England Archive have been specially selected and re-captioned for teachers, students, and anyone who wants to learn more about their local area.
Workers housing, Bradfield, South Yorkshire
Period: Georgian (1714 - 1836)
This terrace of houses known as Riverside Cottages, was built in the 18th century. It was altered in the mid-to-late 19th century.
Workers housing, Bradfield, South Yorkshire
Tomb of Catherine Mompesson, Chrurchyard, Eyam, Derbyshire
Period: Stuart (1603 - 1713)
Catherine Mompesson died during the outbreak of plague in 1666. She was the wife of the Vicar of Eyam.
Tomb of Catherine Mompesson, Chrurchyard, Eyam, Derbyshire
The Old Original Bakewell Pudding Shop, Bakewell, Derbyshire
Period: 1920s (1920 - 1929)
A view of the front of the shop.
The Old Original Bakewell Pudding Shop, Bakewell, Derbyshire
The Great Cross, South Church Street, Bakewell, Derbyshire
Period: Anglo Saxon (Britons/English/Vikings) (410 - 1065)
The shaft of a Saxon cross dating from the early 9th century. The cross that would have been at the top of the shaft is missing.
The Great Cross, South Church Street, Bakewell, Derbyshire
St Lawrences Church, Eyam, Derbyshire
Period: Georgian (1714 - 1836)
A view of the sundial which stands between two lancet windows and above a pointed doorcase. It is dated 1775.
St Lawrences Church, Eyam, Derbyshire
St John's Hospital, South Church Street, Bakewell, Derbyshire
Period: Stuart (1603 - 1713)
A plaque reads 'The Hospital of St John Founded 1602'. The hospital was an almshouse.
St John's Hospital, South Church Street, Bakewell, Derbyshire
Snitterton Hall, South Darley, Derbyshire
Period: Tudor (1485 - 1602)
A small Elizabethan mansion built in the late 16th century to an 'E' shape design which has had little alteration. It is built of local stone.
Snitterton Hall, South Darley, Derbyshire
Peak District, Derbyshire
Period: 1950s (1950 - 1959)
Three boys wading across a river in a wooded valley, possibly Dove Dale, with a dramatic hilly landscape in the distance.
Peak District, Derbyshire
Discover more
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