{{no footnotes, date=July 2010 Roaches Grit is a coarse

sandstone Sandstone is a Clastic rock#Sedimentary clastic rocks, clastic sedimentary rock composed mainly of grain size, sand-sized (0.0625 to 2 mm) silicate mineral, silicate grains, Cementation (geology), cemented together by another mineral. Sand ...

which outcrops widely throughout the western part of the

Peak District The Peak District is an Highland, upland area in central-northern England, at the southern end of the Pennines. Mostly in Derbyshire, it extends into Cheshire, Greater Manchester, Staffordshire, West Yorkshire and South Yorkshire. It is subdivi ...

of northern

England England is a Countries of the United Kingdom, country that is part of the United Kingdom. It is located on the island of Great Britain, of which it covers about 62%, and List of islands of England, more than 100 smaller adjacent islands. It ...

and gives rise to several significant landscape features in the area. Its counterpart in the eastern part of the

National Park A national park is a nature park designated for conservation (ethic), conservation purposes because of unparalleled national natural, historic, or cultural significance. It is an area of natural, semi-natural, or developed land that is protecte ...

is the Ashover Grit. The combined Roaches Grit and Ashover Grit are amongst the most widespread sandstone

unit Unit may refer to: General measurement * Unit of measurement, a definite magnitude of a physical quantity, defined and adopted by convention or by law **International System of Units (SI), modern form of the metric system **English units, histo ...

s within the

Millstone Grit Group Millstone Grit is any of a number of coarse-grained sandstones of Carboniferous age which occur in the British Isles. The name derives from its use in earlier times as a source of millstones for use principally in watermills. Geologists refer to t ...

of the Peak District. Along with other similar sandstones, such as the immediately overlying Chatsworth Grit, it is assigned to the Marsdenian sub-

stage Stage, stages, or staging may refer to: Arts and media Acting * Stage (theatre), a space for the performance of theatrical productions * Theatre, a branch of the performing arts, often referred to as "the stage" * ''The Stage'', a weekly Brit ...

of the

Namurian The Namurian is a stage in the regional stratigraphy of northwest Europe, with an age between roughly 331 and 319 Ma (million years ago). It is a subdivision of the Carboniferous system or period, as well as the regional Silesian series. The Na ...

stage within the

Carboniferous The Carboniferous ( ) is a Geologic time scale, geologic period and System (stratigraphy), system of the Paleozoic era (geology), era that spans 60 million years, from the end of the Devonian Period Ma (million years ago) to the beginning of the ...

period Period may refer to: Common uses * Period (punctuation) * Era, a length or span of time *Menstruation, commonly referred to as a "period" Arts, entertainment, and media * Period (music), a concept in musical composition * Periodic sentence (o ...

. The two units which, prior to the doming and erosion of the central Peak District were once one, are interpreted as delta-top sandstones. The deposited material was brought down from a northerly source by braided rivers.

Landscape features

Amongst the features for which the Roaches Grit is responsible are Axe Edge,

The Roaches The Roaches (from the French ''les roches'' – the rocks) is a prominent rocky ridge above Leek and Tittesworth Reservoir in the Staffordshire Peak District of England. The ridge with its rock formations rises steeply to . Along with Ramsha ...

, Hen Cloud, Ramshaw Rocks, Back Forest and Hangingstone. The natural chasm of Lud’s Church is developed within the Roaches Grit whilst it also forms the lower slopes of

Shutlingsloe Shutlingsloe is a hill near the village of Wildboarclough, in the east of the county of Cheshire. It stands to the south of Macclesfield Forest, on the edge of the Peak District and within the Peak District National Park.

. Equally the Ashover Grit contributes to the landscape in the form of

Stanton Moor Stanton Moor is a small upland area in the Derbyshire Peak District of central northern England, lying between Matlock and Bakewell near the villages of Birchover and Stanton-in-Peak. It is known for its megaliths – particularly the Nine ...

and Harthill Moor. The former is home to gritstone quarries whilst the latter boasts Robin Hood’s Stride and Cratcliffe Tor. Much of the country around

Edensor Edensor (pronounced ) is a village and civil parish in Derbyshire, England. The population of the civil parish at the 2011 census was 145. Much of the village is privately owned, by the Dukes of Devonshire, the Cavendish family. Most of the dec ...

and

Baslow Baslow is a village in Derbyshire, England, in the Peak District, situated between Sheffield and Bakewell, just over north of Chatsworth House. It is sited by the River Derwent, which is spanned by a 17th-century bridge, alongside which ...

(though not Baslow Edge) and around

Ashover Ashover is a village and civil parish in the English county of Derbyshire. It is in the North East Derbyshire district of the county. The population of the civil parish taken at the 2011 Census was 1,905, increasing to 1,959 for the 2021 censu ...

, from whence it derives its name, is underlain and shaped by this rock.

References

*Aitkenhead, N. et al. 2002 ''British Regional Geology: the Pennines and adjacent areas'' (4th Edn) (British Geological Survey, Nottingham) *Various of BGS 1:50,000 scale geological map sheets Stratigraphy of the United Kingdom