England as "the largest example of limestone heathland in the Peak District National Park" and "the best of only a very few remaining areas of this unusual type of vegetation". It is considered to be of "particular importance" for its lichens, including Centraria islandica, rare in the Peak District and in lowland Britain in general. Within the confines of the moor are three scheduled monuments, namely the remains of Cackle Mackle Lead Mine and two bowl barrows. In the far west of the parish is a section of the Cressbrook Dale SSSI, part of the Derbyshire Dales National Nature Reserve. In the north-east, the southern bank of Coombs Dale falls within the parish boundary; among its notable species are woolly thistle Cirsium eriophorum ("a southern species, rare in Derbyshire"), the limestone fern Gymnocarpium robertianum and the rare fingered sedge Carex digitata. Finally, a tiny and isolated area of the Wye Valley SSSI falls partly within the parish boundary next to Castlegate Lane. There was a railway station, built by the Midland Railway in 1863 when it extended the Manchester, Buxton, Matlock and Midlands Junction Railway towards Buxton. Originally known as "Longstone", in 1913 it was renamed "Great Longstone for Ashford" (Ashford-in-the-Water). It closed in 1962, but the building, designed to match the nearby Thornbridge Hall, survives as a domestic residence, and the trackbed through the station is part of the Monsal Trail, a walk and cycleway. See also Listed buildings in Great Longstone References External links "Stop destroying my Peak District", Roy Hattersley, The Observer, 27 March 2005 Great Longstone village website Quarrying on Longstone Edge Save Longstone Edge Campaign Villages in Derbyshire Towns and villages of the Peak District Civil parishes in Derbyshire Derbyshire Dales