Derbyshire

ceremonial county in East Midlands, England

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

Derbyshire
Sovereign stateUnited Kingdom
Constituent countryEngland
RegionEast Midlands
Time zoneUTC±00:00 (Greenwich Mean Time)
 • Summer (DST)UTC+01:00 (British Summer Time)
Ceremonial county
Area[convert: needs a number]
 • Ranked of 48
 • Ranked of 48
Density[convert: needs a number]
Ethnicity96.0% 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

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Geology

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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
LocationDerbyshire, England
CriteriaCultural: ii, iv
Reference1030
Inscription2001 (25th Session)
Area1,228.7 ha
Buffer zone4,362.7002 ha
Websitewww.derwentvalleymills.org
Coordinates53°1′44″N 1°29′17″W / 53.02889°N 1.48806°W / 53.02889; -1.48806
 
 
Location of the mills
 
 
Derbyshire (the United Kingdom)