Derbyshire

Derbyshire is a county in the East Midlands of England. A large part of the Peak District National Park lies within Derbyshire.

Derbyshire
Ceremonial county
Flag Coat of arms
Sovereign state	United Kingdom
Constituent country	England
Region	East Midlands
Time zone	UTC±00:00 (Greenwich Mean Time)
• Summer (DST)	UTC+01:00 (British Summer Time)
Ceremonial county
Area
• Ranked	of 48
• Ranked	of 48
Density
Ethnicity	96.0% White 2.3% S.Asian

The northern part of Derbyshire overlaps with the Pennines, a famous chain of hills and mountains. The county contains part of the National Forest, and borders on Greater Manchester, West Yorkshire, South Yorkshire, Nottinghamshire, Leicestershire, Staffordshire and Cheshire.

Places of interest

• Chatsworth — a stately home
• Crich Tramway Village, Crich
• Derwent Valley Mills — a World Heritage Site
• Hob Hurst's House — English Heritage
• Nine Ladies Stone Circle — English Heritage
• Sutton Scarsdale Hall — English Heritage
• Wingfield Manor — English Heritage
• Creswell Crags — pending World Heritage Site proposal

Geology

Derbyshire can only be understood by its ancient geology. Most of the geology was laid down in a tropical paradise in the equatorial region of the Earth.

A cross-section of northern Derbyshire, from west to east, showing the approximate structure of an eroded dome, with younger Coal Measure rocks to the east, and older limestone exposed in the centre

Northern Derbyshire is an uplifted dome of rock layers. These layers have been eroded to expose older rocks in the centre of the Derbyshire Dome. They are encircled by younger limestone rocks. They give way on three sides to Upper Carboniferous shales, gritstones and sandstones of Namurian age (331 to 315 mya).

South of Buxton much of the land is difficult to walk on, and roads are narrow and winding. This area was once a tropical paradise with scattered calcium carbonate reefs. This coarse sandstone was much used for gritstone grinding wheels for use in mills.

Derwent Valley Mills

UNESCO World Heritage Site
Masson Mills, Derwent Valley
Location	Derbyshire, England
Criteria	Cultural: ii, iv
Reference	1030
Inscription	2001 (25th Session)
Area	1,228.7 ha
Buffer zone	4,362.7002 ha
Website	www.derwentvalleymills.org
Coordinates	53°1′44″N 1°29′17″W
Location of the mills Derbyshire (the United Kingdom)