l] INTRODUCTION 3 



of a journey across the Pennines in the early part of the 

 eighteenth century is given by Defoe (1725 : 90, et seq.y. 



Portions of five counties, namely, south-east Lancashire, 

 north-east Cheshire, north Staffordshire, north Derbyshire, and 

 south-west Yorkshire, are represented in this district; and on the 

 high moorlands several of the head-streams of the Mersey, Dee, 

 Trent, and Yorkshire Ouse take their rise. 



Types of Scenery 



The district furnishes some interesting and distinct types 

 of scenery, which depend primarily on the nature of the 

 geological strata (c£ figures 1 and 2). 



The lower hills of the north-west and north-east of the 

 district are composed of sandstones and shales belonging to 

 the Coal-measure series. It is on or near these rocks that the 

 manufacturing areas are situated. The hills of the Coal-measures 

 are usually cultivated up to their summits. Arable land, whilst 

 nowhere really common, is more abundant on the Coal-measures 

 than elsewhere ; and more wheat is grown on such soils than on 

 any other soils of the district. This is an interesting fact, as 

 the soils of the Coal-measures are usually described as cold and 

 backward (e.g., by Lees, 1888 : 66). The uncultivated parts of 

 the Coal-measures are few and often isolated, and consist usually 

 of heather associations on the sandstones and of grassland 

 associations on the shales. However, on the few areas of 

 uncultivated land of the Coal-measures at the higher altitudes, 

 heather moors and cotton-grass moors occur, as, for example, 

 south-west of Buxton. The differences therefore between the 

 vegetation of the uncultivated parts of the Coal-measures and 

 the other siliceous strata are due almost entirely to altitude, 

 and not to any differences either in the nature of the climate 

 or of the soil. 



1 The first number in brackets after an author's name refers to the year of 

 publication in which the book or paper, which is being referred to, was published. 

 The number after the colon refers to the page where the particular matter which 

 IS referred to occurs in the original work. The pages of the quoted works refer, 

 as far as is possible, to the pages of the original memoirs, and not necessarily to 

 the pages of the separately issued copies, as these unfortunately are often paged 

 differently from the original. The titles, dates, and places of publication of the 

 •works quoted will be found in an appendix (pp. 222-229). 



. 1—2 



