The Stone Age

So let's get on with the history and start right at the beginning with the Stone Age - say up to 2500 BC.  There is no direct evidence of habitation here but it seems highly likely for two reasons. 
 
Firstly there have been plenty of archeological finds from this period in the surrounding districts - flint arrowheads, knives and burial mounds and so on.

The WeirSecondly the good facilities for Stone Age survival:

There is a good supply of fresh water from the River Dove, and a ford across it (if you know where to find it).

The land is very fertile.  It was on the edge of the Needwood Forest that would supply timber for building and animals for food. 

The forest was famous for holly and oak in particular and it was the home of deer, wild cattle, wild boar, wolves and even bears which were later transported to the Roman amphitheatres.  The forest  was greatly reduced in the late Middle Ages when the oaks were used for shipbuilding as England's Navy was being built up.

To protect all these desirable things there is the defensive potential which we have mentioned already.

So the nature of the site and the evidence from other parts of Staffordshire and Derbyshire suggest that human settlement here was very probable.