Geology in the Peak District

Year 9 visit the beautiful landscapes of the Peak District

On 3rd and 4th November, a group of 46 Year 9 students travelled to Castleton to experience first-hand how the limestone and gritstone geology has shaped the beautiful landscapes that we have studied in lessons. We were blessed with dry weather which meant that the students were able to enjoy the beautiful views of the limestone and grit stone landscape. After eating our packed lunches at Castleton Youth Hostel, we travelled a short distance to Burbage where there are amazing outcrops of gritstone. We spent three hours abseiling and weasling, which involves clambering over rocks and squeezing through small spaces between rocks! Everyone had a brilliant time and were proud of their achievements.

We stayed the night at Castleton Youth hostel and early on Saturday morning, we travelled to the Blue John mines. Blue John stone is only found in one small area of Treak Cliff Hill, near Castleton. Blue John is a semi precious gemstone which was first discovered over two thousand years ago by the Romans. Blue John is a rare variety of the mineral Calcium Fluorite, with distinctive, purple, blue and golden yellow banding, which runs through the stone and makes each Blue John gemstone truly unique. We walked down a series of steps and tunnels, down to over 100m below the surface and were able to see the beautiful blue john tone in situ.

We then travelled to Bakewell on our route home, where the famous Bakewell tart is cooked – which turns out to be very different to the traditional iced variety, but tastes just as good!