• Skip to main content
  • Skip to footer

Wonders of the Peak

Buxton Museum & Art Gallery

  • Objects
    • Search by Location
    • Dig!
    • My Museum
    • Go Mobile
  • Facts & Stories
    • Search by Location
    • Choose a Theme
    • View Films
    • Go Mobile
  • Artworks
  • News
  • The Museum
    • Shop
    • Partners
    • Learning
  • My Wonders
    • My Museum

Gang Mine Nature Reserve

Edited by DerwentWISE | Added on 12th February 2019

Spring Sandwort. Copyright Shirley Freeman. WildNet

Lead mining is the reason Arkwright built his Mills in the Derwent Valley. The water that pumped out of the mines to Cromford was always warm providing water for the Mills that never froze. The history around the Mills has left many unique features for Wildlife. Gang Mine Nature Reserve is part of Middleton’s ancient lead mining area.

Today the lead spoil heaps are of little agricultural use, and only a small number of plants are able to tolerate the high concentration of minerals. Among the species that thrive here are the nationally rare spring sandwort, and alpine pennycress – known as leadwort.

Alpine Pennycress. Copyright Philip Precey, WildNet

In some areas, lichens dominate the ground cover, while in others colonising species such as kidney vetch and thyme have taken over. These open areas provide ideal conditions for ground-hunting invertebrates such as wolf spiders and ground beetles.

The dew pond, a traditional drinking place for livestock, has been restored and adds an interesting feature to the reserve, providing permanent water, a valuable habitat for amphibians including the rare great crested newt. Metal-rich grasslands such are uncommon across Europe and because of this the area has been designated not only as a Site of Special Scientific Interest but also under European Law as a Special Area of Conservation.

Take a further look at Gang Mine

What other Derbyshire Wildlife Trust reserves would you like to visit along the Derwent Valley?

Derbyshire Wildlife Trust, Sandy Hill, Main Street, Middleton, Matlock, Derbyshire, DE4 4LR

Tel: 01773 881188. Email enquiries@derbyshirewt.co.uk

Tweet

Connections in the Landscape

You can experience Gang Mine Nature Reserve out in the Peak District or Derbyshire by visiting the location marked on the map below, or find it with the help of the Pocket Wonders app.

Save this Wonder

Saving a Wonder adds it to your My Wonders page. You can create your very own trail featuring your saved Wonders and walk it with the help of the Pocket Wonders app.

You need to be logged in to the website in order to save this Wonder.

Login

Footer

Did you know ...

© 2022 Derbyshire County Council (DCC) unless otherwise attributed
Unless otherwise indicated, DCC content is released under the Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives 4.0 License
Creative Commons Licence
Produced by Ben Bedwell and powered by WordPress | Status