Mount Famine is a
gritstone
Gritstone or grit is a hard, coarse-grained, siliceous sandstone. This term is especially applied to such sandstones that are quarried for building material. British gritstone was used for millstones to mill flour, to grind wood into pulp for ...
hill between the villages of
Hayfield and
Chinley
Chinley is a rural village in the High Peak Borough of Derbyshire, England, with a population of 2,796 at the 2011 Census. Most of the civil parish (called Chinley, Buxworth and Brownside) is within the Peak District National Park. Historicall ...
in the
Derbyshire
Derbyshire ( ) is a ceremonial county in the East Midlands, England. It includes much of the Peak District National Park, the southern end of the Pennine range of hills and part of the National Forest. It borders Greater Manchester to the no ...
Peak District
The Peak District is an upland area in England at the southern end of the Pennines. Mostly in Derbyshire, it extends into Cheshire, Greater Manchester, Staffordshire, West Yorkshire and South Yorkshire. It includes the Dark Peak, where moorl ...
. The summit is above sea level. The hill's name originates from the period of the
Enclosure Acts
The Inclosure Acts, which use an archaic spelling of the word now usually spelt "enclosure", cover enclosure of open fields and common land in England and Wales, creating legal property rights to land previously held in common. Between 1604 and 1 ...
(from the late eighteenth century) when tenant farmers struggled to make a living from poor farming land.
A round
Bronze Age
The Bronze Age is a historic period, lasting approximately from 3300 BC to 1200 BC, characterized by the use of bronze, the presence of writing in some areas, and other early features of urban civilization. The Bronze Age is the second pri ...
burial mound on the west side of the hill is about wide. It was identified by J Barnatt in 2014.
The hilltop area was acquired by the
National Trust
The National Trust, formally the National Trust for Places of Historic Interest or Natural Beauty, is a charity and membership organisation for heritage conservation in England, Wales and Northern Ireland. In Scotland, there is a separate and ...
in 2006 and is designated as access land for the public.
The
Pennine Bridleway
The Pennine Bridleway is a National Trail in Northern England.
It runs roughly parallel with the Pennine Way but provides access for horse riders and cyclists as well as walkers. The trail is around long, extending from Derbyshire to Cumbria ...
runs along the south and west sides of Mount Famine.
Since 2005, there has been an annual fell race each May from Hayfield around Mount Famine and
South Head.
Mount Famine is one of the 95
Ethels hills of the Peak District, launched by the countryside charity
CPRE in 2021.
References
{{Peaks of the Peak District
Mountains and hills of the Peak District
Mountains and hills of Derbyshire