Editing Mam Tor

{{Short description|Hill near Castleton in the High Peak of Derbyshire, England}}
{{About|a peak|the English independent comic book publisher|Mam Tor Publishing}}
{{Use dmy dates|date=April 2022}}
{{Infobox mountain
| name = Mam Tor
| photo = Mam Tor Castleton.jpg
| photo_caption = Mam Tor, July 2011
| elevation_m = 517
| elevation_ref =
| prominence_m = 62
| prominence_ref =
| parent_peak = [[Kinder Scout]]
| listing = [[Dewey (hill)|Dewey]]
| map = United Kingdom Peak District#United Kingdom Derbyshire
| map_caption = Location in the Peak District##Location in Derbyshire
| map_size = 200
| label_position = right
| location = [[Derbyshire]], England
| range = [[Peak District]]
| coordinates = {{coord|53.34914|N|1.81069|W|type:mountain_scale:100000|format=dms|display=inline,title}}
| grid_ref_UK = SK127836
| topo = [[Ordnance Survey|OS]] ''Explorer'' OL1
[[Ordnance Survey|OS]] ''Landranger'' 110
| type =
| age =
| last_eruption =
| first_ascent =
| easiest_route =
}}

'''Mam Tor''' is a {{convert|517|m|ft|0|abbr=on|adj=on}} hill near [[Castleton, Derbyshire|Castleton]] in the [[Peak District National Park|High Peak]] of [[Derbyshire]], England.<ref>{{cite web |url=https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/articles/cz0119xgzxyo |title=Parking chaos and poo: The price of Mam Tor's fame|publisher=BBC |date=4 May 2025 |first=Caroline |last=Lowbridge |access-date=5 May 2025}}</ref> Its name means "mother hill",<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.castleton.co.uk/Mam_tor.aspx|title=Mam Tor (Shivering Mountain)|publisher=Peak Hideaways|access-date=6 April 2016}}</ref> so called because frequent [[landslide|landslips]] on its eastern face have resulted in a multitude of "mini-hills" beneath it.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://peakdistrict.nationaltrust.org.uk/mam-tor |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20090302112627/http://peakdistrict.nationaltrust.org.uk/mam-tor |url-status=dead |archive-date=2 March 2009 |title=Mam Tor |publisher=National Trust |access-date=9 January 2013 }}</ref> These landslips, which are caused by unstable lower layers of [[shale]], also give the hill its alternative name of Shivering Mountain.<ref>[https://books.google.com/books?id=mtKvnPNNKTcC&pg=PA11 ''Natural Curiosities of Derbyshire''], in: ''The Every-day Book and Table Book; or, Everlasting Calendar of Popular Amusements, Sports, Pastimes, Ceremonies, Manners, Customs, and Events, Each of the Three Hundred and Sixty-Five Days, in Past and Present Times; Forming a Complete History of the Year, Months, and Seasons, and a Perpetual Key to the Almanac, Including Accounts of the Weather, Rules for Health and Conduct, Remarkable and Important Anecdotes, Facts, and Notices, in Chronology, Antiquities, Topography, Biography, Natural History, Art, Science and General Literature; Derived from the Most Authentic Sources, and Valuable Original Communication, with Poetical Elucidations, for Daily Use and Diversion. Vol III.'', ed. William Hone, (London: 1838) p&nbsp;11–16. Retrieved on 24 June 2008.</ref>

In 1979, the continual battle to maintain the [[A625 road]] ([[Sheffield]] to [[Chapel en le Frith]]) on the crumbling eastern side of the hill was lost when the road officially closed as a through-route, with the Fox House to Castleton section of the road being re-designated as the [[A6187 road|A6187]].

The hill is crowned by a late [[Bronze Age]] and early [[Iron Age]] [[univallate hill fort]], and two Bronze Age [[bowl barrow]]s.<ref name="nhle">{{National Heritage List for England |num=1011206 |desc=Slight univallate hillfort and two bowl barrows on Mam Tor|access-date=15 February 2014}}</ref> At the base of the Tor and nearby are four show caves: [[Blue John Cavern]], [[Speedwell Cavern]], [[Peak Cavern]] and [[Treak Cliff Cavern]] where [[lead]], [[Derbyshire Blue John|Blue John]], [[fluorspar]] and other minerals were once mined. Mam Tor was declared to be one of the [[Seven Wonders of the Peak]] by [[Thomas Hobbes]] in his 1636 book ''De Mirabilibus Pecci''.<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://www.wondersofthepeak.org.uk/objects/2-36/|title=De Mirabilibus Pecci: Being the Wonders of the Peak in Darby-shire|website=www.wondersofthepeak.org.uk|access-date=2020-04-29}}</ref>

==Geography==
[[Image:Mam-tor-from-castleton.jpg|thumb|Mam Tor dominates the skyline west of [[Castleton, Derbyshire|Castleton]]]] 
Mam Tor is on the southern edge of the [[Dark Peak]] (sandstones) and overlooks the [[White Peak]] (limestones), including the dry gorge of [[Winnats Pass]]. It is a dominating link between the eastern end of [[Rushup Edge]] and the western end of the [[Great Ridge]], which together separate the [[Hope Valley, Derbyshire|Hope Valley]] to the south from [[Edale]] to the north, and is a popular ridgewalk.

Mam Tor is made of rocks of [[Carboniferous]] age, approximately 320 million years old. The base of Mam Tor is composed of black [[shale]]s of the [[Bowland Shale Formation]] of [[Serpukhovian]] age overlain by [[Turbidite|turbiditic]] [[sandstone]] of the Mam Tor Sandstone Formation of [[Bashkirian]] age.<ref>{{cite book |last1=Waters |first1=C. N. |last2=Davies |first2=S. J. |date=2006 |chapter=Carboniferous: extensional basins, advancing deltas and coal swamps |editor-last1=Brenchley |editor-first1=P. J. |editor-last2=Rawson |editor-first2=P. F. |title=The Geology of England and Wales |edition=2nd |location=London |publisher=The Geological Society |isbn=1-86239-200-5}}</ref>

==Landslides==
[[File:SubsidedRoad.jpg|thumb|Section of the abandoned road]]

A feature of Mam Tor is the active [[landslide]] which invades its southeast side almost to the summit, and interrupts the ramparts of the hillfort, unless its builders used it as part of the defences. This rotational landslide began roughly 4,000 years ago. The toe is a [[debris flow]]. The landslide is due to weak [[shales]] underlying [[sandstones]], a common phenomenon all around the Dark Peak, notably at [[Alport Castles]], [[Longdendale]], [[Glossop]] and [[Canyards Hills]], Sheffield. Indeed, three larger landslides occur on the north side of Mam Tor, one of them cutting the main ridge at Mam Nick which allows a minor road over into Edale; another creates the striking crag of Back Tor well seen from Mam Tor.<ref>{{cite book |last1=Cooper |first1=R. |last2=Jarman |first2=D. |date=2007 |chapter=Mam Tor, Derbyshire |title=Mass Movements in Great Britain (Geological Conservation Review Series No. 33) |publisher=JNCC |pages=167–183 |url=https://data.jncc.gov.uk/data/c9bdfe0b-ca6f-4a90-87a6-d03f64e8124c/gcr-v33-mass-movements-c5.pdf |isbn=978-1-86107-481-2 |location=Peterborough |access-date=20 November 2024}}</ref>

Evidence for the continued movement of the slide mass is demonstrated graphically by the severe damage to the old [[Mam Tor road]] that traversed this flow. The road was built at the beginning of the 1800s and was subsequently relaid until local authorities closed it in 1979. Layers of tarmac and gravel are up to {{convert|2|m}} thick in places, demonstrating the numerous efforts to keep the road open. A short tunnel could readily have been made avoiding the landslip zone, but the opportunity to exclude heavy business and lorry traffic from the middle of the National Park was preferred. A local diversion for light vehicles follows the limestone gorge of Winnats Pass. This is one of the most extreme cases of geological problems affecting main transport systems in Britain, comparable with the railway at [[Dawlish#Transport|Dawlish]].

Current mean annual movement is "up to 0.25 m; this increases greatly when winter rainfalls exceed thresholds of both 210 mm/month and 750 mm in the preceding six months".<ref>{{cite journal |last1=Waltham |first1=A. C. |last2=Dixon |first2=N. |date=2000 |title=Movement of the Mam Tor landslide, Derbyshire, UK |journal=  Quarterly Journal of Engineering Geology and Hydrogeology|volume=33 |issue=2 |pages=105–123 |doi=10.1144/qjegh.33.2.105|bibcode=2000QJEGH..33..105W }}</ref> The debris flow poses no threat to any inhabited buildings; however, small farm buildings lying in the flow's path may soon be overwhelmed assuming a flow rate similar to that of the present. The 2000 study suggests that deep drainage may be the most effective means of stabilising the flow, though this may not completely stop movement.

==Prehistory==
The [[topographical summit|summit]] of Mam Tor is encircled by a late [[Bronze Age]] and early [[Iron Age]] [[univallate hill fort]]. [[Radiocarbon]] analysis suggests occupation from around 1200 BC. The earliest remaining features are two Bronze Age burial mounds, one just below the summit and the other on the summit itself, though now buried under the paving. At a later stage over a hundred small platforms were levelled into the hill near the summit, allowing inhabited timber huts to be constructed. The hill fort and burial mounds are a [[Scheduled Ancient Monument]].<ref name="nhle" />

==Gallery==
<gallery>
File:Castleton from Mam Tor.jpg|View of the village of Castleton from Mam Tor with [[Hope, Derbyshire|Hope]] cement works in the background
File:Mam Tor, trail towards Hollins Cross, overlooking Hope Valley.jpg|Panoramic view overlooking Hope Valley from a trail heading towards [[Hollins Cross]]
File:Hope Valley, Derbyshire.jpg|View of the Hope Valley
File:Mam Tor, overlooking the Hope Valley and Castleton.jpg|Panoramic view of the Hope Valley and Castleton
File:Mamtor-paragliding.jpg|Paragliding from Mam Tor
File:Mamtor-valley.jpg|View from Mam Tor looking north towards the [[Vale of Edale]]
File:Mam tor path.JPG|Path leading to Mam Tor from [[Lose Hill]]
File:Mam tor top.JPG|View of the summit from halfway
File:Mamtorsign.JPG|National Trust Sign
</gallery>

==See also==
* [[Breast-shaped hill]]
* [[List of hill forts in England]]
* [[Shining Tor]]

==References==
{{Reflist}}

==Further reading==
* {{cite journal |last1=Coombs |first1=D. G. |last2=Thompson |first2=F.H. |year=1979 |title=Excavation of the hillfort of Mam Tor, Derbyshire |journal=Derbyshire Archaeological Journal |volume=99 |pages=7–51 |ref=none |doi=10.5284/1066415}}

==External links==
{{Commons category|Mam Tor}}
* [http://www.bgs.ac.uk/science/landUseAndDevelopment/landslides/MamTor.html Mam Tor Landslide] British Geological Survey
*[https://www.mudandroutes.com/routes/walking-route-mam-tor-castleton/ Walk up Mam Tor] Description of the walk up from Castleton

{{Derbyshire Places of interest}}
{{Peaks of the Peak District}}
{{Iron Age hillforts in England}}
<!---{{coord|53.34914|-1.81069|type:landmark_region:GB_source:enwiki-osgb36(SK127836)|display=title}}--->

[[Category:Castleton, Derbyshire]]
[[Category:Hill forts in Derbyshire]]
[[Category:Mountains and hills of Derbyshire]]
[[Category:Mountains and hills of the Peak District]]
[[Category:Archaeological sites in Derbyshire]]
[[Category:Landslides in the United Kingdom]]
[[Category:Scheduled monuments in Derbyshire]]
[[Category:Bronze Age sites in Derbyshire]]