Hollinsclough is on the upper reaches of the River Dove, at one end of a level area between the Dove and the River Manifold, not far from their sources on the eastern side of Axe Edge Moor. Here the Manifold flows through moorland on sandstone and various gritstones, before a conspicuous change at Hulme End, about 6 miles downstream, when the underlying rock changes to limestone. For all its length, the Dove marks the border between Staffordshire and Derbyshire. Not far downstream from Hollinsclough the Dove enters the limestone valley that ends in the famous Dovedale.