Description: Over thousands of years the rivers Manifold and Hamps have carved out steep sided valleys into the limestone plateau of the White Peak area of the Peak District National Park. Today one of the characteristic features of these limestone valleys is that, although the rivers are still there, for part of their length they now flow underground. They are only fully surface flowing when the rivers are in flood. The River Manifold is also partially subterranean, disappearing just past Wetton Mill and reappearing in the grounds of Ilam Hall. It originates high in the moors close to Axe Edge and flows twelve miles south through the small villages of Longnor, Hulme End, and Ilam to its confluence with the River Dove near Thorpe Mill. The Manifold Valley is more open and pastoral than the Dove, with grassland and woodland along its banks, occasionally interrupted by the impressive outcrops of reef limestone such as Beeston Tor, Thors Cave Redhurst and Ossoms crags. The Woodlands, grasslands and limestone crags of the Manifold and Hamps Valleys combine to provide a rich variety of wildlife habitats. The hills and valleys of the Manifold and Hamps area are made up of beds of limestone covered with thin layers of soil. The limestone was laid down some 360 million years ago beneath warm shallow seas and was formed by the build up and subsequent compression of the remains of millions of sea creatures and plants. You can see evidence of the way the rocks were formed by the numerous fossils, especially Brachiopods and Crinoids. There are two main types of limestone in the valleys, there are the solid masses of reef limestone, with good examples to be found at Beeston Tor and Thors Cave. More layered beds of rock were laid down in horizontal beds in the deeper parts of the sea. Evidence of past tectonic activity and earthquakes is clearly visible especially by the roadside at Apes Tor where the layered limestone strata has been crumpled and folded under immense pressure. Apes Tor is located near Ecton Hill along the side of the River Manifold, easily accessible by a minor road. (information from www.riversidevilla.co.uk/manifoldvalley.htm)