Froggatt Edge is a gritstone

Gritstone

Gritstone or Grit is a hard, coarse-grained, siliceous sandstone. This term is especially applied to such sandstones that are quarried for building material. British gritstone was used for millstones to mill flour, to grind wood into pulp for paper and for grindstones to sharpen blades. "Grit" is...

 escarpment

Escarpment

An escarpment is a steep slope or long cliff that occurs from erosion or faulting and separates two relatively level areas of differing elevations.-Description and variants:...

 in the Dark Peak

Dark Peak

The Dark Peak is the higher, wilder northern part of the Peak District in England.It gets its name because , the underlying limestone is covered by a cap of Millstone Grit which means that in winter the soil is almost always saturated with water...

 area of the Peak District

Peak District

The Peak District is an upland area in central and northern England, lying mainly in northern Derbyshire, but also covering parts of Cheshire, Greater Manchester, Staffordshire, and South and West Yorkshire....

 National Park

National park

A national park is a reserve of natural, semi-natural, or developed land that a sovereign state declares or owns. Although individual nations designate their own national parks differently A national park is a reserve of natural, semi-natural, or developed land that a sovereign state declares or...

, in Derbyshire

Derbyshire

Derbyshire is a county in the East Midlands of England. A substantial portion of the Peak District National Park lies within Derbyshire. The northern part of Derbyshire overlaps with the Pennines, a famous chain of hills and mountains. The county contains within its boundary of approx...

, England

England

England is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Scotland to the north and Wales to the west; the Irish Sea is to the north west, the Celtic Sea to the south west, with the North Sea to the east and the English Channel to the south separating it from continental...

 and situated in close proximity to the villages of Froggatt, Calver

Calver

Calver is a village in Derbyshire, England.-Overview:Calver is a small village situated in the Derwent Valley, Derbyshire. The village is bordered by the River Derwent and intersected by the A623 trunk road, responsible for carrying traffic between Manchester to the west, Sheffield to the north &...

, Curbar

Curbar

Curbar is a village in the Derbyshire Dales district of Derbyshire, a mile north of Baslow, close to Calver on the A623.The village has a street with the highest average house value in Derbyshire. Close to the east are the popular rock-climbing escarpments of Curbar Edge and Baslow Edge. To the...

, Baslow and Grindleford

Grindleford

Grindleford is a village and parish in the county of Derbyshire, in the East Midlands of England. It lies at an altitude of in the valley of the River Derwent in the Peak District National Park. On the west side of the valley is the high Sir William Hill, and to the south-east lies the gritstone...

. The name Froggat Edge applies only to the northenmost section of the escarpment; the middle and southernmost sections are called Curbar Edge and Baslow Edge respectively. The escarpment, like many in this area, is easily accessible from Sheffield

Sheffield

Sheffield is a city and metropolitan borough of South Yorkshire, England. Its name derives from the River Sheaf, which runs through the city. Historically a part of the West Riding of Yorkshire, and with some of its southern suburbs annexed from Derbyshire, the city has grown from its largely...

.

Characteristics

The escarpment forms the eastern rim of the valley of the River Derwent

River Derwent

River Derwent is the name of several rivers in England:*River Derwent, Derbyshire*River Derwent, North East England on the border between County Durham and Northumberland*River Derwent, Cumbria in the Lake District*River Derwent, Yorkshire in Yorkshire...

 in this part of its course, and when viewed from the valley below, casts an imposing impression of 'rocky crags' against the skyline. At the top of the escarpment is a part-managed heather moor, which is purple with bloom in late summer. Part of the moor management involves periodically burning sections to discourage reforestation and promote fresh heather shoots. Below the escarpment, on the valley slopes heading down towards the Derwent, is a forest of birch

Birch

Birch is a tree or shrub of the genus Betula , in the family Betulaceae, closely related to the beech/oak family, Fagaceae. The Betula genus contains 30–60 known taxa...

 trees, the bare branches of which appear maroon-purple when viewed en masse in winter. The escarpment is a place of outstanding beauty and offers excellent views across both moorland and valley. On the paths that run along both the top and bottom of the escarpment, the underlying gritstone is often exposed and subsequently worn by the passage of many feet, creating a warm-coloured sand that is characteristic of this part of the Peak District.

As with many of the gritstone edges in the Peak District, Froggatt was used as a source of millstone

Millstone

Millstones or mill stones are used in windmills and watermills, including tide mills, for grinding wheat or other grains.The type of stone most suitable for making millstones is a siliceous rock called burrstone , an open-textured, porous but tough, fine-grained sandstone, or a silicified,...

s; a number of half-completed mill stones can still be found at the bottom of this and other edges in Derbyshire.

Walking and climbing

Froggatt Edge is frequented by rock climbers

Climbing

Climbing is the activity of using one's hands and feet to ascend a steep object. It is done both for recreation and professionally, as part of activities such as maintenance of a structure, or military operations.Climbing activities include:* Bouldering: Ascending boulders or small...

 and hillwalkers throughout the year.

Joe Brown put two well known classic routes in the late 1940s, Sunset Slab (HVS 4b) and Three Pebble Slab (HVS 5a). Whilst the climbing is not difficult, a fall from either climb (particularly Sunset Slab) would result in injuries.

One of the most well-known climbs at Froggatt Edge is "Downhill Racer", a smooth and near-vertical 17 m (50 ft) slab of gritstone. It was first climbed in 1977 by Pete Livesey

Pete Livesey

Pete Livesey was a rock climber who raised the standard of difficulty in the sport in England during the 1970s. As one of the best climbers the United Kingdom has ever produced, he had an international reputation for hard routes and a professional training regime...

 and represented a breakthrough in that it combined difficulty with real danger: there is no suitable crack in the rock in which to place protection

Protection (climbing)

To make climbing as safe as possible, most climbers use protection, a term used to describe the equipment used to prevent injury to themselves and others.-Types of climbing:...

 (to anchor a rope), so a climber who slips from the small finger holds will hit the ground. It is now graded

Grade (climbing)

In rock climbing, mountaineering and other climbing disciplines, climbers give a climbing grade to a route that concisely describes the difficulty and danger of climbing the route...

E4 6a.