Mam Tor – The Fabled Gate

Mam Tor gate, the great ridge, Mam Tor - Peak District Photography

Published: 8th April 2015 at 12:14 pm. Posted in .

Mam Tor – The Fabled Gate

A fantastic morning on Mam Tor and The Great Ridge in the Peak District National Park, with a heavy ground frost and valley fog covering the Hope Valley below. This view of the gate on Mam Tor is one of the most iconic views of the Peak District National Park, and as clichéd as it has become, it is still a must have for any Peak District landscape photographers collection.

Mam Tor is a 517m hill near Castleton, in the High Peak area of the Peak District National Park. The hill gets its nickname ‘The Shivering Mountain’ from the frequent landslips that occur on the eastern face of the hill, caused by unstable layers of shale. At the base of Mam Tor and at nearby Winnats Pass are four famous caverns where semi precious minerals such as Blue John were once mined. These caverns are known as; the Blue John Cavern, the Peak Cavern, the Speedwell Cavern, and the Treak Cliff Cavern.