Rowtor Rocks in Birchover

 

A naturally formed tor and man made features at Rowtor Rocks

 

Leaving Darley Dale at 11:17 and alighting from the No. 172 bus opposite The Green in Birchover at 11:42, after 4 bus journeys and 3½ hours travel time from Treeton, when it would take just over an hour by car, I immediately set off to find Rowtor Rocks.

 

A geological map showing the Ashover Grit (AsG) around Birchover

When living in Bakewell, my girlfriend kept her horse at Birchover and I visited on several occasions and, although I had the task of assessing and surveying RIGS (Regionally Important Geological Sites) in the Peak District National Park for their geotourism value, I wasn’t aware of this spectacular large tor. Set on the south-western tip of the outlier of the Ashover Grit that forms Stanton Moor, it is found immediately behind the Druid Inn but is largely obscured by trees.

 

The area around Birchover on the Ordnance Survey map

Looking at the 1:25,000 scale Ordnance Survey map of the area, it can be seen that on Stanton Moor and Harthill Moor to the west, which is another outlier of Ashover Grit and has craggy features like Robin Hood’s Stride, there are numerous cairns, standing stones and stone circles that date to the Bronze Age and carvings at the west end of Rowtor Rocks are considered to be of the same date.

 

An outcrop of Ashover Grit

 
Taking the permissive footpath to the west of the Druid Inn, which is on part of the land in the area owned by the Thornhill Settlement, I soon came across an outcrop of reddened Ashover Grit where the jointing separates large blocks that have been rounded along the edges.

 

The entrance to a cave made by Thomas Eyre

Getting close to it and noting a man made threshold to the entrance of a small cave like feature, a zig zag cut into the rock and an overhang, this may have been part of the modifications to the outcrop undertaken by Thomas Eyre, but I didn’t investigate further and instead took a minor path to a small outcrop from which to photograph the landscape to the north through a clearing.

 

A view to the north from Rowtor Rocks

Retracing my steps to the main footpath and continuing round to the north side of the main outcrop, in one place the rock had been cut to form crude steps and I noted that gaps between the massive rounded blocks of Ashover Grit were infilled with well squared and coursed walling.

 

Massive rounded blocks and well squared and coursed walling

Beyond this, the path opens up into a level area of land and tooling marks in the rock face show that the overhang here has been deliberately formed and there is an opening into a man made space that is lined with simple stone dressings. 

A modified outcrop with a man made cave

 
After peeking inside, I carried on along the path and immediately encountered another set of well formed steps that lead to a part of Rowtor Rocks where a jumble of large rounded blocks have detached themselves from the main outcrop which, as along the gritstone edges, would have been been initiated by cambering and subsequent solifluction when the region was subject to periglacial conditions during the Quaternary Period.
 

Views of large detached blocks of Ashover Grit

 

There is a very steep drop on the north side and, although I didn’t feel that this was a potential hazard during my brief exploration, some care had to be taken when observing the typical weathering features of the tor exposed here.

 

A view of the north side of the Rowtor Rocks tor

Similarly, when making my way around to the south side on a well worn path, although I did see further examples of Thomas Eyre’s alterations, I didn’t notice any of the Bronze Age rock art that has been observed here.

 

An altered outcrop on the south side of Rowtor Rocks

 
Although I had spent just 20 minutes having a quick look at this wonderful rock formation, it was enough to convince me that this would be a good site to include on a potential field trip with the Sheffield U3A Geology Group, to take in Stanton Moor and perhaps Robin’s Hood Stride.

 

A view of the south side of Rowtor Rocks

With this in mind, although the well worn path did not form a circular route around the outcrop and I would return by the route I had taken if leading the group, I was content to continue around the south side to look at further examples of large blocks that were slowly slipping down the steep slope and then scramble over a few more rocks to get back to my starting point.

 

Massive loose blocks slipping down the south side of Rowtor Rocks