peak district local history, customs, wildlife, transport

Neolithic man later brought new skills to our shores and by about 3,500 to 3,000 BC was settled on the limestone uplands of the Peak. Small communities cleared the lightly-forested limestone, built timber and turf huts, kept domesticated dogs and reared sheep, goats, pigs and cattle. These people were our first true farmers, growing winter cereals of wheat and barley for themselves and their livestock. This gave them the beginnings of control over their food-supply. This was a giant and revolutionary step forward from hunting and gathering food wherever it could be found.

The crops they grew may have included the earliest known cultivated variety of barley - Einkorn. Another variety of early wheat which has been found on many Neolithic sites is Emmer. Examples of early grain crops can be seen growing at Caudwell’s Mill, Rowsley in the summer.

The animals would have been very similar to the wild goats, sheep and pigs of the time. Shaggy coated wild goats can still be seen in Wales. There are no wild boar in the Peak now though there were plenty of them in medieval times.
Animals a bit like them have been brought back recently to Cales Dale. During the winter of 2001 a group of Tamworth cross pigs, dark in colour, long legged and hairy were being used to clear recently felled woodland ready for farming, as it is thought the first farmers would have done. They were busy turning up stones and tree roots with their snouts. They could be seen eating the plants and roots, breaking up the ground and clearing the land ready for use.

Numerous axe heads have come to light, a great many are of a greenish volcanic Lake District stone, with others made from stone natural to North Wales, Cornwall and even County Antrim. Neolithic man obviously had trading routes.

Archaeological finds that help to show whether corn was being used include querns for grinding grain and stone mortars and pestles.

Fragments of pottery confirm another imported skill, where coils of local clay were built up into round-bottomed bowls which were decorated before firing.