Peak District National Park Authority
| Peak District National Park | |
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| "The Peak" | |
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IUCN category V (protected landscape/seascape)
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A view of Mam Tor, Peak District National Park
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Peak District National Park (shaded green) within England
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| Location |
Derbyshire Cheshire Greater Manchester Staffordshire South Yorkshire West Yorkshire |
| Coordinates | 53°21′N 1°50′W / 53.350°N 1.833°WCoordinates: 53°21′N 1°50′W / 53.350°N 1.833°W |
| Area | 555 sq mi (1,440 km2) |
| Designated | 17 April 1951 |
| Visitors | Over 10 million |
| Administrator | National Park Authority |
| Website | www |
The Peak District is an upland area in England at the southern end of the Pennines. It is mostly in northern Derbyshire, but also includes parts of Cheshire, Greater Manchester, Staffordshire and Yorkshire. An area of great diversity, it is split into the northern Dark Peak, where most of the moorland is found and the geology is gritstone, and the southern White Peak, where most of the population lives and the geology is mainly limestone.
The Peak District National Park became the first national park in the United Kingdom in 1951. With its proximity to the cities of Manchester, Stoke-on-Trent, Derby and Sheffield and easy access by road and rail, it attracts millions of visitors every year.
The Peak District forms the southern end of the Pennines and much of the area is uplands above 1,000 feet (300 m), with a high point on Kinder Scout of 2,087 ft (636 m). Despite its name, the landscape generally lacks sharp peaks, being characterised mostly by rounded hills, plateaus, limestone gorges and gritstone escarpments (the "edges"). The area is surrounded by large urban areas, including Huddersfield, Manchester, Sheffield, Derby and Stoke-on-Trent.
The National Park covers 555 square miles (1,440 km2) of Derbyshire, Staffordshire, Cheshire, Greater Manchester and South and West Yorkshire, including the majority of the area commonly referred to as the Peak. Its northern limits lie along the A62 road between Marsden and Meltham, north east of Oldham, while its southernmost point is on the A52 road on the outskirts of Ashbourne in Derbyshire. The Park boundaries were drawn to exclude large built-up areas and industrial sites from the park; in particular, the town of Buxton and the adjacent quarries are located at the end of the Peak Dale corridor, surrounded on three sides by the Park. The foothills and outer fringes of the region extend from the Park boundaries into the surrounding urban and lowland areas, including the Cheshire Plain and Humberhead Levels, while the northern region extends from the Park boundaries into the South Pennines.
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Wikipedia