This is the seventh in a series of events taking us to the sites of forts in Derbyshire, with this one bringing us to the site of Lismore Fields, in Buxton.
Forts were commonplace in Derbyshire from the Iron Age through to the Roman occupation & beyond. They pre-date more substantial castles, which were introduced by the Normans. Although forts were built primarily for defence, settlements often grew up around them & when the soldiers moved on, these settlements sometimes remained. Others were abandoned & are now hardly recognisable.
Lismore Fields has been included in this series although it is technically more of a settlement than a fort as it dates from the Mesolithic period of the Stone Age, around 6,000 years ago, meaning that it pre-dates Stone Henge! Lismore means "great ring fort" in Gaelic, which is where the confusion may have arisen. The settlement was discovered as recently as 1984 when archaologists were searching for a Roman road! They found the remains of floors, post holes & pits of a timber roundhouse & two longhouses. There was evidence of grain storage; the earliest evidence of farming found within the Peak District. As far as the defences of the settlement are concerned, this plateau area was picked for having a good view over the Wye Valley & the surrounding dense forest was cleared to help protect the settlement's livestock from large predators like wolves & bears, which would have been common at that time. The site is a Scheduled Monument.
This event will allow us to meet up safely outdoors to chat & exchange trackables. I have provided a parking waypoint at the nearest pay & display car park, although you may well be able to find closer street parking. As always, please park considerately. Buxton also has good public transport links by bus & train. There are several footpath entrances to the fields, to the south, east & north. There is a good range of cache types in the area if you haven't found them previously. I have chosen July for this event, when hopefully the temperatures in Buxton will have finally reached double-figures!