Peak District
Barker Bank
426M
1398FT
About Barker Bank
Rising above the village of Peak Forest, this modest limestone hill offers a quiet alternative to the busier edges nearby. Part of the White Peak’s upland plateau, its grassy slopes provide a clear vantage point over the industrial scale of Great Rocks Dale and the looming, quarried bulk of Eldon Hill.
Key Statistics
Rank
140th Highest in Peak District
Parent Range
The Peak District
Prominence
?
34
Nearest Town
Castleton
Geology
Barker Bank is built from layers of mudstone, siltstone, and sandstone. These rocks form the Bowland Shale and Mam Tor Beds beneath your boots.
Classifications
Find It
OS Grid Reference
SK138846
Latitude
53.3519°N
Longitude
1.7740°W
Did You Know?
- •The name likely derives from the occupational surname Barker; 'barkers' were tanners who used crushed oak bark to cure leather, an industry that historically operated in the valleys surrounding the limestone plateau.
- •The summit provides a starkly specific view of Tunstead Quarry to the south, one of the largest limestone extraction sites in the UK, which sits in deep contrast to the pastoral peace of the hill's own slopes.
- •Walkers often combine a visit here with the nearby Gautries Hill and Eldon Hill, the latter being the highest point of the Peak District's limestone region.
- •The surrounding terrain is typical of the White Peak, featuring 'rakes'—linear remains of historical lead mining—and the intricate network of drystone walls that have partitioned this grazing land for centuries.
- •As an obscure 'Tump' with no official summit marker, it offers the rare Peak District experience of absolute solitude, provided you don't mind the suspicious stares of the local sheep.