From Anglo-Saxon times until its collapse in the nineteenth century, millstone manufacturing was one of the High Peak's major industries. The millstones were hewn from the course gritstone quarried locally using simple hand tools. They were turned by man, animal, water and later wind power to grind corn.
Abandoned semi-finished and fully finished millstones can be found scattered throughout the area - their massive weight ensuring they've stayed exactly where they were left at the time of the industry's callapse.
