Hathersage is hidden in the Dark Peak, which once formed a frontier for pre-Roman tribes and Saxon kingdoms. A Roman fort, nearby Navio guarded the approach to the Pennine passes, as Danish and Norman garrisons would later watch over Hope Valley. Bronze Age families settled on the Hathersage hillsides, medieval lords cherished the forests of the Derwent valley, and monastic houses made their granges on the moors. Buxton examines Hathersage's romanticized link with Robin Hood's Little John, and gives a modern, evidential interpretation of medieval banditry. She tells of the legendary and lawless Eyres of Padley, who emerged in the Middle Ages as quarry and lead-mine owners, and the lord imprisoned in the Tower of London.