Ecton Hill was almost unique in being a rich copper mine in an area of Derbyshire usually associated with lead mining. Although the ore deposits at Ecton were in the same carboniferous limestone as the lead mines of Derbyshire, the form the mineral veins took was quite different. In fact the reasons for this very rich localised ore body has never been satisfactorily explained. Ecton hill is a complex anticline, or up-arched fold of rock strata, consisting of thin layers or beds of limestone and shale. The complexity of the anticline lies in the fact that Ecton hill is made of a series of tight folds lying parallel with the highest folds in the middle of the arch. Apes Tor is an ideal location for viewing a cross section of the folded strata, it is very popular with geologists from around the world.
To fully understand the geology of Ecton hill it is necessary to go back to the Carboniferous period, some 300 million years ago when the limestone were formed as sediments on the floor of the sea. The greater part of the Peak District was a shallow tropical sea, populated with corals and shells. As these died their remains accumulated in shell and coral banks, frequently to be broken up by the action of the waves and currents. This shell sand now forms the massive, thick bedded white limestone of the Peak District and Derbyshire Dales. Westwards the shallow sea was fringed by series of reefs. With some features in common with the atolls of the Pacific ocean today, these Carboniferous reefs were more akin to the nature of shoals or mud banks covered with a mat of microscopic algae, whose filaments bound the lime mud particles together into round masses, perhaps a quarter of a mile across and a hundred feet or so thick. These reefs formed the walls of Dovedale as seem today, examples being in Narrowdale and Milldale.
[Manifold Valley] [High Peak Trail] [Tissington Trail] [Dovedale] [Well Dressings]
Ecton Hill viewed from the Manifold
Way at Hulme End.
The sheep in the foreground are grazing on the flood plain.
Ecton Hill viewed from the River
Manifold at Hulme End
on a frosty February morning 2006.
Yes, it's that time of year again!