Peak District

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The Peak District is an upland area in central and northern England, in the United Kingdom. Most of the area became the first national park in the nation. It is conventionally split into the northern Dark Peak, where most of the moorland is found, and the southern White Peak, where most of the population lives. It has some of the most spectacular scenery that can be found in the UK.

The White Peak is underlain with early Carboniferous limestone, which produces numerous caves. Under the Dark Peak lie shales and sandstones of the late Carboniferous millstone grit. Much of the Peak, and its adjacent areas, approximates to the structure of an eroded dome. The coal measures of the carbonifous lie just outside the district, especially on the eastern edge. Then, moving inwards, come the gritstone edges, the shales, and in the central region the limestone of the White Peak.

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The Park boundaries were drawn to exclude large towns from the park. However, Buxton is nearly entirely surrounded by the park.