View source for Dark Peak

[[File:Peak District 9955.jpeg|right|thumb|300px|On Black Hill]]
[[File:Bleaklow.jpg|right|thumb|250px|The summit of Bleaklow]]
The '''Dark Peak''' is the higher, wilder northern part of the [[Peak District]] in [[Derbyshire]], and spreading across into [[Cheshire]] and the [[West Riding of Yorkshire]].

The Dark Peak is so named because (in contrast to the White Peak), its felltops are covered in a thick layer of black peat; here the underlying limestone is covered by a cap of Millstone Grit which means that in winter the soil is almost always saturated with water. The land is thus largely uninhabited moorland plateaux where almost any depression is filled with sphagnum bogs and the peat results. The '''High Peak''' is an alternative name for the Dark Peak.

The areas of Millstone Grit form an 'inverted horseshoe' around the lower uncapped limestone areas of the White Peak. Hence the Dark Peak is said to cover the higher Derbyshire Peaks north of the [[Hope Valley, Derbyshire|Hope Valley]], as well as the Western Moors in the area of [[Buxton]], and the Eastern Moors stretching south towards [[Matlock]]. The Dark Peak is one of 159 National Character Areas defined by Natural England; their defined area covers {{convert|86,604|ha|mi2|0|x}} and includes the northern block of hills approximately bounded by [[Marsden, Yorkshire|Marsden]], [[Stocksbridge]], [[Hathersage]] and [[Chapel-en-le-Frith]], plus the Eastern Moors south to Matlock, but excludes the Western Moors south of Chapel (which they place in NCA 53, the South West Peak) and the area around [[Glossop]] (in NCA 54, Manchester Pennine Fringe).<ref name="nca">{{cite web |url=http://publications.naturalengland.org.uk/publication/3684793?category=587130 |title=NCA Profile: 51 Dark Peak (NE378) |publisher=Natural England |accessdate=4 April 2013}}</ref> 

An area of {{convert|31,852|ha|sqmi|0|x}} is designated as the Dark Peak Site of Special Scientific Interest (SSSI),<ref name="sssi">{{cite web |url=http://www.sssi.naturalengland.org.uk/citation/citation_photo/1003028.pdf |title=The Dark Peak (SSSI citation) |date=8 July 1993 |publisher=Natural England |accessdate=4 April 2013}}</ref> which excludes the separately designated Eastern Moors.<ref name="easternsssi">{{cite web |url=http://www.sssi.naturalengland.org.uk/citation/citation_photo/2000354.pdf |title=Eastern Peak District Moors (SSSI citation) |date=22 December 1999 |publisher=Natural England |accessdate=4 April 2013}}</ref>

Principal upland areas within the Dark Peak include [[Kinder Scout]], [[Bleaklow]] (both of which rise to over 2,000 feet, and lie wholly within Derbyshire), and [[Black Hill]] on the Cheshire/Yorkshire border.

Over the years, a number of military aircraft have crashed on the Dark Peak, generally due to atrocious weather conditions. Due to the bleakness and emptiness of the high moorlands, their wrecks tend to remain untouched, and are often stumbled across by hikers in these remote places.

==Outside links==
*[http://www.plenilune.pwp.blueyonder.co.uk/peak-district/dark-peak.htm Photos and descriptions of Dark Peak landscapes.]

==References==
{{Reflist}} 

[[Category:Peak District]]