Landscapes and Environment – Strategic Objectives

Since the end of the last glaciation, around 12,000 years ago, humans have impacted dramatically upon the landscape of the Derwent catchment. We can trace during this period of climatic amelioration the expansion of itinerant hunters and foragers in the early postglacial woodlands and, in later prehistory, can identify landscape changes associated with the expansion of farming and settlement, construction of ritual and funerary monuments, mining of ore deposits and exploitation of river resources.¹ All of these activities were undertaken against a background of changing climate which, in turn, underpinned changes in vegetation dynamics and catchment hydrology.² Since the earliest hunter-gatherers, who may have modified the landscape by selective burning of woodland to enhance the browsing resource for wild game,³ these natural processes have been increasingly influenced by the activities of humans: for example, by woodland clearance for agriculture, leading to soil erosion, the accumulation of alluvial and colluvial sediments and the release of contaminants by metal mining and ore processing.⁴

The legacy of natural environmental change and human activity within the Valley is manifested by a rich variety of landscape features, including palaeochannels that may preserve organically rich sediments permitting the reconstruction of past environments,⁵ together with a wide range of remains relating to human activity, including earthworks, buildings, mines and formal parklands.⁶ A general synthesis of this evidence is recommended as a means of enhancing our understanding of past environmental and landscape changes and, by providing insights into the potential impact of future climate change, assisting management of vulnerable heritage assets and natural resources.⁷ The unravelling of long and complex sequences of human activity requires a holistic approach to the collation and analysis of information, which needs to be drawn from disciplines including archaeology, history and the geosciences. Natural landscape analysis should utilise data from remote sensing, hydrology, geomorphology, geochemistry, palaeoecology, environmental modelling, historical mapping and documentary archives (including information on technological innovations to control the riverine environment). Cultural landscape analyses should take into account historical mapping and documentary archives relating to enclosure and the creation of formal landscapes, including historic parks and gardens.⁸ Supporting fieldwork should include landscape archaeological survey, dovetailing traditional approaches such as earthwork and place or field-name surveys with innovative technologies, including the mapping and identification of features using lidar: as shown below by the palimpsest of earthworks recorded in the lower Derwent Valley near Duffield.

Andy J Howard and Rachael Hall

Fig.4.50 Lidar image of the Derwent floodplain near Duffield, showing earthworks near Moscow Farm (centre right). Ridge and furrow shows particularly clearly, including a block south of the Milford Tunnel that is cut by the North Midland Railway, opened in 1840 (Contains Ordnance Survey data. Crown Copyright and database rights 2015. Source data © Environment Agency)

References

¹Barnatt, J and Smith, K 2004 The Peak District, 2 edn. Macclesfield: Windgather

² Bell, M and Walker, M J C 2004 Late Quaternary Environmental Change: Physical and Human Perspectives, 2 edn. London: Routledge

³ Bevan, B 2004 The Upper Derwent: 10,000 Years in a Peak District Valley. Stroud: Tempus, 24–37

⁴ Kossoff, D et al 2016 ‘Industrial mining heritage and the legacy of environmental pollution in the Derbyshire Derwent catchment’. Journal of Archaeological Science: Reports 6, 190–9

⁵ Strategic Objective 10B

⁶ Eg Barnatt, J and Williamson, T 2005 Chatsworth: A Landscape History. Macclesfield: Windgather

⁷ Van de Noort, R 2011 ‘Conceptualizing climate change archaeology’. Antiquity 85, 1039−48

⁸ English Heritage 2007 Understanding the Archaeology of Landscapes; https://historicengland.org.uk/images-books/publications/understanding-archaeology-of-landscapes/

The broader expanses of the Derwent’s valley floor, principally between Milford and the Derwent–Trent confluence, preserve a variety of abandoned riverine landforms that together provide significant evidence for evolution of the floodplain landscape. Some abandoned river channels survive as linear depressions that may refill with water during times of flood. Other ancient channels may be mapped from sinuous parish boundaries or hedgerows that would originally have followed the courses of rivers and streams, while yet more may be deduced from inspection of aerial photographs or of images derived from airborne lidar surveys¹: for example, as bands of darker soil correlating with organically rich channel fills. Other features deriving from past fluvial activity may also be observed on the ground or from the air, such as the distinctive ridge and swale topography that provides physical evidence for the lateral migration of rivers across their floodplains.²

Work has recently been conducted on mapping and analysis of the palaeochannels, ridge and swale earthworks and other landforms of the valley floor,³ building upon earlier work conducted previously for the Trent Valley.⁴ It is hoped that this will provide a firm foundation for future projects aimed at investigating the evolution of channel networks and the identification of locations preserving associated organic remains. Abandoned river channels provide important sediment traps and can preserve organically rich deposits containing pollen, insects and macroscopic plant remains that provide important evidence for land-use, vegetation and climatic change.⁵ Targeted sampling of organic deposits is recommended to establish the potential of the resource, together with high-precision radiometric dating of associated material. This, in turn, will provide a solid foundation for studies of landscape evolution, climate change and the impact of human activity upon the valley landscape during the twelve millennia since the end of the last glaciation.

David Knight

Fig.4.51 The River Derwent in flood, just upstream of Darley Abbey. Sinuous linear depressions in the alluvial floodplain have refilled with water, highlighting the courses of relict river channels (photograph © Lee Elliott)

References

¹ Crutchley, S and Crow, P 2009 The Light Fantastic:

Using Airborne Lidar in Archaeological Survey. Swindon:

English Heritage (https://historicengland.org.uk/images-books/publications/light-fantastic/)

² Brown, A G 1997 Alluvial Archaeology. Cambridge: CUP, 18; see Chapter 8 for more detailed description

³ Howard, A J et al 2016 ‘Assessing riverine threats to heritage assets posed by future climate change through a geomorphological approach and predictive modelling in the Derwent Valley Mills WHS, UK’. Journal of Cultural Heritage 19, 387–94

⁴ Baker, S 2006 ‘The palaeochannel record of the Trent Valley, UK: contributions towards cultural heritage management’. Internet Archaeology 20; http://archaeol ogydataservice.ac.uk/archives/view/palaeo_eh_2006/

⁵ Brown 1997,128–45

⁶ For Derbyshire field systems, see Hey, D 2008 Derbyshire: A History. Lancaster: Carnegie, 158–61, 243–8, 313–9, 335–8

The Derwent Valley’s long industrial history has impacted profoundly on its hydrological landscape. The landscape of the main valley floor and tributary streams has been modified significantly since the medieval period by field drainage, weirs, dams and channel diversions aimed at altering river volumes and speeds of flow to generate power for mills, and from the 16th to 19th centuries by the construction of soughs to drain water from lead mines.¹ More recently, dam construction in the upper reaches of the catchment has impacted upon the fluvial geomorphology of the entire valley. Many changes in the fluvial regime, including rates of erosion and deposition and changes in channel morphology upstream and downstream of weirs, may be traced back to such interventions. Moreover, many of the unintended consequences of human activity, such as the accumulation in alluvial sediments of toxic contaminants derived from lead mining, pose problems that have assumed urgency as research highlights the potential of climate change for destabilising the valley ecosystem.²

Improvements in water management strategies are crucial in order to reduce current levels of river pollution and to mitigate the geomorphic changes that might accompany predicted increases in the level and intensity of precipitation. These include fluvial redeposition of toxic floodplain sediments, erosion of valley-side archaeological sites by slope wash, landslides and other slope processes, and bankside erosion that might undermine building foundations. In addition to valley-side and floodplain environments, particular attention should be given to the intricate systems of soughs that characterise the northern part of the World Heritage Site.³ These were created to lower the water levels in lead mines, resulting in lowered ground water levels and modified discharges into rivers. They could also serve as sources of water and energy, but, as Arkwright discovered to his cost, this also created ample opportunities for conflict.⁴ Mostly constructed between the mid-17th and mid-19th centuries, soughs represent an important heritage asset, with significant conservation value. They also present both opportunities and problems for the landscapes they drain and the rivers into which they discharge. Many drain to rivers or wetlands that have SSSI or other conservation status and present both hazards (eg rapid transfer of pollutants from agricultural land) and opportunities (eg maintenance of water flows) for ecosystem management. Lack of maintenance has caused some soughs to collapse, causing disruption to water flows. Although 41 Derbyshire soughs have been identified as nationally important,⁵ natural degeneration and management responses to water resource conflicts pose major threats. Further survey to ascertain the current state of soughs is thus vitally important, as are investigations into the drainage routes of sough water.⁶

Georgina Endfield and Carry van Lieshout

Fig.4.53. The Bear Pit, built by Arkwright in 1785 to allow access to the Cromford Sough. The sough was dammed and provided with a sluice that when closed enabled water to be diverted via an underground channel to enhance the mills’ water supply (photograph © David Knight) 

References

¹ Ford, T D and Rieuwerts, J H 2000 Lead Mining in the Peak District, 4 edn. Ashbourne: Landmark

² Kossoff, D et al 2016 ‘Industrial mining heritage and the legacy of environmental pollution in the Derbyshire Derwent catchment’.  Journal of Archaeological Science: Reports 6, 190–9

³ Rieuwerts, J H 2010 Lead Mining in Derbyshire. History, Development and Drainage. 3. Elton to the Via Gellia. Ashbourne: Horizon Press; Rieuwerts, J H 2012 Lead Mining in Derbyshire. History, Development and Drainage. 4. The Area South of the Via Gellia. Matlock Bath: Peak District Mines Historical Society

⁴ Buxton, D and Charlton, C 2013 Cromford Revisited. Matlock: DVMWHS Educational Trust, 41–7

⁵Barnatt, J et al 2013 ‘The Lead Legacy: An updated inventory of important metal and gangue mining sites in the Peak District’.^. Mining History 18 (6)

⁶ Gunn, J 2014 ‘Flow losses from the River Lathkill, Derbyshire, England’. Unpublished report, Limestone Research and Consultancy Ltd (LRC Report 2012/20)

Although the British climate has been relatively stable since the last glaciation, studies of geomorphological, geochemical, palaeoenvironmental and documentary data have demonstrated significant climatic fluctuations during the last 12,000 years.¹ As rivers carry the discharge associated with changing precipitation, they are highly sensitive to climate change in terms of flood frequency and magnitude. Throughout Britain, post-glacial discharge variations have been identified by radiocarbon and dendrochronological dating of organic and cultural remains in palaeochannel fills and associated floodplain deposits. Statistical analyses of these dates have identified periods of enhanced fluvial activity, which have been correlated with other sources of palaeoclimatic data such as bog surface wetness, lake levels and geochemical signals.²

For more recent periods, documents charting flood height and extent have been analysed for the River Trent.³ Flood records for the Derwent can be correlated partially with those for the Trent, and reveal the significant damage and disruption to people, farmland and built structures caused by such events, many of which were linked to unusually heavy rainfall, storms and snowfalls preceding sudden temperature rises and rapid thaws. Belper resident James Harrison, for example, recorded several flood events, including ‘the great flood on Derwent Dec 9th 1740 which was higher by 2 feet than it ever was talked before’.⁴ Floods after snow melt also destroyed ‘the old bridge’ at Belper in 1795,⁵ while the Valley made national news following floods on the 29th and 30th December, 1901, when it was described as a ‘scene of desolation’, with floods affecting hundreds of businesses and homes.⁶ The regulation of the Derwent by 20th century dams has created a relatively benign river, but flooding may still cause serious problems, highlighting that it can still be a ‘fury of a river’.⁷ Understanding the Derwent’s past flood history is important for assessing future risk as well as for contextualising the past. The mapping and dating of landforms and sediments permits construction of long chronologies, while documentary studies are critical for assessing how communities might be affected by, comprehend and respond to future floods. Special interest may be attached to the identification of landforms relating to the Medieval Warm Period (c.900–1300) or Little Ice Age (c.1450–1850). Recent lidar mapping of ridge and furrow earthworks in the lower Derwent has shown these to extend across floodplain pasture and to be cut by now abandoned river channels that must relate to later fluvial erosion.⁸ It has been argued that this could signify expansion of arable farming to the floodplain in the more congenial climate of the Medieval Warm Period, followed by erosion during a time of enhanced fluvial activity correlating with the cooler and wetter conditions of the Little Ice Age. Such changes have major implications for understanding and managing the historic environment resource of the valley floor, and systematic radiocarbon dating of organic-rich fills is needed to test the chronology of these changes and the validity of this interpretation.

 Georgina Endfield, Andy J Howard and Lucy Veale

Fig.4.54 The Great Flood of May 1932 caused significant damage to properties in Derby and elsewhere along the Valley. This photograph of the submerged junction between the A6 from Derby to Matlock and the A610 (right) is taken from broadly the same viewpoint as the 1880 photograph of the Ambergate tollgate (Fig.4.42; photograph reproduced by courtesy of David Beevor)

References

¹ Roberts, N 1998 The Holocene: An Environmental History. Oxford: Blackwell

² Macklin, M G et al 2005 ‘Pervasive and long-term forcing of Holocene river instability and flooding in Great Britain by centennial-scale climate change’. The Holocene 15, 937–43

³ MacDonald, N 2013 ‘Reassessing flood frequency for the River Trent, Central England, since AD 1320’. Hydrological Research 44, 215–33

⁴ Derbyshire Record Office D2912/10

⁵Derbyshire Record Office D1564/S37

⁶The Times, 1 Jan 1902

⁷ Defoe, D 1724–27 A Tour Through the Whole Island of Great Britain, Divided into Circuits or Journies. London (see Vol 3, Letter 8, Part 1: The Trent Valley)

⁸ Howard, A J and Knight, D 2015 Future Climate and Environmental Change within the DVMWHS, 39-46; https://historicengland.org.uk/images-books/ publications/future-climate-environmental-change-within-derwent-valley-mill-whs/

In the upper and middle parts of its catchment, the Derwent and its tributaries cut through Carboniferous limestones, sandstones and shales forming the eastern flank of the Southern Pennine Orefield. During the Permo-Triassic period, mineralisation associated with hydrothermal activity along bedding planes, faults and joints led to the deposition of metalliferous ores. In this region, these comprise principally lead, but with some copper and zinc, all associated with fluorspar, barytes and calcite, which are used in industrial processes; trace elements are also associated with the major minerals, including cadmium and arsenic. These minerals form deposits of up to a kilometre in length, but generally only a few metres in thickness. The discovery of inscribed lead ingots indicates the exploitation of these deposits during the Romano-British period, although evidence for Bronze Age copper mining around Ecton in the Manifold Valley¹ demonstrates that the origins of metal mining are considerably earlier. Production grew steadily during the Post-Medieval period, peaking during the 17th and 18th centuries as market demand spiralled and as new pumping technologies permitted mine waters to be drained via soughs and deeper mineral deposits to be exploited; thereafter, mining began a slow decline that continued during the 19th and earlier 20th centuries.²

The Derwent Valley preserves comparatively limited evidence for lead mining, but significantly more evidence for smelting of the ore.³ The archaeological and documentary evidence for these activities⁴ and records of atmospheric pollution⁵ have been relatively well-studied, but significantly less attention has been paid to the investigation of metal contaminants in spoil heaps or reworked and stored within alluvium.⁶ There is a clear need for further studies investigating the geochemistry, contamination levels, mobility and dispersal mechanisms for metals around mining or smelting sites and within the Valley, as conducted recently in the North Pennine Orefield.⁷ This is especially urgent in the light of climate change, given the potential for redeposition of stored contaminants if rainfall levels and thus processes such as bankside erosion and landslip increase,⁸ and in view of the requirements of the Water Framework Directive.⁹ Studies should also seek to integrate geochemical and hydrological studies with the archaeological and documentary evidence for production and processing sites.

Andy J Howard

Fig.4.55 Areas of lead mining (yellow) in the DVMWHS Core and Buffer Zones in the vicinity of Cromford. Plotting against lidar data shows their relationship to valley slopes prone to disturbance by fluvial and slope processes (mining data provided by courtesy of Derbyshire. HER. Contains Ordnance Survey data. Crown Copyright and database rights 2015; source data © Environment Agency)

References

¹ Barnatt, J 2013 Delving Ever Deeper: The Ecton Mines through Time. Bakewell: PDNPA

² Ford, T D and Rieuwerts, J H 2000 Lead Mining in the Peak District, 4 edn. Ashbourne: Landmark

³ Crossley, D and Kiernan, D 1992 ‘The lead-smelting mills of Derbyshire’. DAJ 102, 6–47

⁴ Barnatt, J and Penny, R 2004 The Lead Legacy: The Prospects for the Peak District’s Lead Mining Heritage. Bakewell: PDNPA

⁵ Rothwell, J J et al 2005 ‘Heavy metal release by peat erosion in the Peak District, southern Pennines, UK’. Hydrological Processes 19, 2973–89

⁶ Crossley and Kiernan 1992, 11–12

⁷ Hudson-Edwards, K A et al 1999 ‘2000 years of sediment-borne heavy metal storage in the Yorkshire Ouse basin, NE England, UK’. Hydrological Processes 13, 1087–1102

⁸ Kossoff, D et al 2016 ‘Industrial mining heritage and the legacy of environmental pollution in the Derbyshire Derwent catchment: Quantifying contamination at a regional scale and developing integrated strategies for management of the wider historic environment’. Journal of Archaeological Science: Reports 6, 190–9

⁹ Howard, A J et al 2015 ‘Preserving the legacy of historic metal-mining industries in light of the Water Framework Directive and future environmental change in mainland Britain: Challenges for the heritage community’. The Historic Environment 6, 3–15