The Peak District is a historic upland landscape, with a rich palimpsest of features which invoke the many generations of people who have inhabited the area. The great estate of Chatsworth reflects the Peak in microcosm. Its landscapes are diverse and contain many exceptional features including archaeological earthworks of medieval open fields and later enclosures in the park, and prehistoric stone circles, barrows, fields and settlements on the Estate moorlands. This book tells the story of the historic landscape and its archaeology; it is a companion volume to Chatsworth: A Landscape History (Barnatt & Williamson), but in contrast to that book includes the whole of the Estate landscape, including the extensive farmland and moorlands beyond the park and concentrates on visible archaeology and what it can tell us about the past. The result is a fascinating in-depth portrait of one of the major estates in Britain.

A review of history, antiquities and topography in the county.

Derbyshire has a wealth of old roads, lanes, tracks, hollow ways and paths, some dating back thousands of years. It is a network which links a fascinating variety of sometimes enigmatic monuments, from fortified hilltops and stone circles to ruined abbeys and hermitages, ancient churches and tumuli. The Old Roads of Derbyshire traces the development of these roads, from prehistoric ridgeways, Roman ‘streets’ and medieval pilgrimage routes to the growth of the turnpikes, and finally to leisure use by cyclists and hikers. Travellers of all kinds are included: ‘jaggers’ with their packhorse trains, pilgrims, drovers, pedlars and tramps, and passengers in stage coaches and wagons, as well as the essential infrastructure of bridges and inns. The Derbyshire Portway is explored as an example of an ancient route which was old before the Romans arrived, but was used well into the eighteenth century, and one that can still be followed today. A detailed walking guide, fully illustrated with maps and photos, is provided for the sixty-plus miles of its route, from the River Trent, near Nottingham, to deep into the Dark Peak.

Gardom's Edge is an area of gritstone upland situated on the Eastern Moors of the Derbyshire Peak District. Like other parts of the Eastern Moors, Gardom's Edge has long been renowned for the wealth of prehistoric field systems, cairns and other structures which can still be traced across the surface. Drawing on the results of original survey and excavation, An Upland Biography documents prehistoric activity across this area, exploring the changing character of occupation from the Mesolithic to the Iron Age. It also tacks back and forth between local detail and regional patterns, to better understand the broader social worlds in which Gardom's Edge was set.

This collection of essays by leading researchers in the archaeology of the European Iron Age pays tribute to Professor John Collis who, since the 1960s, has been involved in investigating and enriching our understanding of Iron Age society and, crucially, questioning the status quo of our narratives about the past.