yard of Eyam is a ftone cross, fuppofed by an eminent antiquarian to be Danish. At the time the great earthquake happened at Lifbon, on November 1,1755, about ten in the morning, the rocks were fo much difturbed in the mines here, that foil, &c. fell from their joints or fiffures, and the workmen heard violent explosions, as it were of cannon. They fled to the furface for fafety, but on venturing down, found nothing ma terial had happened*. There are here fome remarkable caverns. One of them is called Boffen-hole (Boffen fignifies a Badger), but the chief is Bamforth-hole, in Charlefwork, a little weft of the former. The following is Dr. Short's defcription of it : "Charlefwork lies at the foot of a very steep rock, ninety-three yards high, and five yards above the level of the brook; its entry is fix yards high, and eight wide, when you walk on for fifty-two yards, and then come to an unpaffable deep ftagnant lake. This cave reaches quite through the mountains, and opens into Eyamdale, which is above half a mile. By another of its grottos it opens near Foolow, which is a mile and half, paffing under Eyam church. Forty-four yards above this is the entry into Bamforth-hole, 49 yards from the top of the rock, and as much from the fmall brook; the entry is five feet high, then defcending, one shoulder foremost for forty yards, you rise up for thirteen more, all this way not being above a yard wide. At last you climb a steep fix feet high, and enter into the middle of a large cave, where are great variety of ftalactitious petrifactions. Leaving the cave behind, and going 25 yards forward, you are introduced into a moft magnificent room, nine yards wide, and two high, its roof, floor and fides all fhining with endless numbers and varieties of beautiful transparent ftatues, with feveral regular ranks of fine pyramids, and other curious figures, fome upon pedestals, others reaching the roof, others reaching from the roof to the floor. In the middle of this room is a bafon three yards long, and two wide, on each fide of which is a stately pillar of ftalactites, one fine polished marble, and another in the middle upon a pedestal; through the bottom of this is a very fmall paffage a few feet down, into another entry, to several other caves still lower. The roof of this vault is beautifully adorned with all kinds of hells, here generated and generating, of fundry colours, and no lefs beauty and variety, interwrought with many other curious figures. A little beyond this is a fine stone pillar fupporting the roof. On the right hand of this cave are openings into two others, at ten yards diftance. I went 360 yards into this cave, the fame entertainment and curiosity all along, and many other caves going off on all fides, and faw no end of them, they going on under the whole mountaint.' Minerals are found in the fiffures, and between the lamina of limestone, never in the folid substance. The vein is frequently intercepted by what is called toadstone, blackftone, channel, or cat dirt, which runs between, and cuts off all communication between the upper and lower fiffures in the limestone, but being dug through, the vein is always found below it; it is however fometimes of great thickness, from fix feet to 600. Between Grange-mill and Darlhy-moor there are found the following ftrata ; Whitehurst, p. 189. + Short, p. 95: Shale is a black laminated clay, containing neither animal nor vegetable impreffions, and rarely mi merals; but has iron ftone in nodules, and fometimes ftratified. bgate kind. II Springs iffuing from it are of the chaly 4. Toad. In Tidfwell-moor, 600 feet have been funk in the toadstone, without finding the end. Mr. Whitehurst conjectures this toadstone to be lava, and to have flowed from a volcano, whofe funnel or fhaft did not reach the open air, but difgorged its contents between the ftrata in all directions. He defcribes it to be a blackifh fubftance, very hard; containing bladder-holes, like the fcoria of metals, or Iceland lava, and having the fame chymical property of refifting acids; he fays, fome of its bladder-holes are filled with fpar, others only in part, and others quite empty; that this ftratum is not laminated, but confifts of one entire folid mafs, and breaks alike in all directions; that it does not produce any minerals, or figured ftones, reprefenting any part of animal or vegetable creation; nor any adventitious bodies enveloped in it, but is as much an uniform mafs as any vitrified fubftance can be fuppofed to be; neither does it univerfally prevail, as the limestone does. It is not found in the mines at Eyam, Foolow, and Afhover, though they are funk near fifty fathoms in the limestone; nor in Rake-mine, near Tidfwell, and fome other places. In confirmation of this opinion, and of its having been once a liquid fire, he obferves, that a ftratum of clay lying under it in Moffey-meer mine, near Winster, of about four feet thick, is burnt a foot deep, as much as an earthen pot, or brick; that it is perfectly fimilar to Iceland lava in its appearance and chymical quality; that it is variable in its thickness, not univerfal, and fills up fiffures in the ftratum beneath. From the depth which has been funk on Tidfwell-moor without finding the bottom, he thinks that might be a mouth of the volcano. As a further proof of there having been fome moft extraordinary convulfion of nature in this part of the kingdom, he mentions the confufion in which the ftrata lie in the mountains of Derbyfhire, and moorlands of Staffordshire, adjoining, which appear to be fo many heaps of ruins, particularly in the neighbourhood of Ecton, Wetton, Dovedale, Ilam, and Swithamly. They are broken, diflocated, and thrown into every poffible direction, and their interior parts are no lefs rude and romantic, for they univerfally abound with fubterraneous caverns and marks of violence. The banks on the eaft fide the river Derwent, from Crich-cliff twenty miles up the river, are covered with fragments of ftone, probably ejected from their native beds by fubterraneous blafts. At Utoxeter, in Staffordshire, blocks of limeftone of four or 500 weight each, are dug up, yet there are no quarries of the kind nearer than four or five miles*. Middleton-dale terminates on the mountains of the Peak, bleak, open, and bare of trees; but even here the spirit of cultivation has introduced the plough. The extenfive hills are divided by stone walls, and oats are produced. Pafs by Wardlow turnpike; at a small distance on the left is a village of that name, through which the road runs from Bakewell. In making that road in 1759, the workmen took out of an adjoining field a heap of ftones, that had been there time inmemorial, and without any tradition concerning it, though manifeftly a work of art. moving them, places were found where the bodies of 17, or more, perfons had been depofited on flat ftones of about seven feet fix inches long, placed on the surface of the Whitehurst, p. 51, 52. On re ground; ground; fmall walls of two feet high were raised on the fides, and on these other flat tones were laid, but they extended only to the breast, except the two capital ones, which were walled up, and covered from head to foot, in the form of a long cheft. On removing the rubbish, many jaw-bones and teeth were found undecayed, but none of the larger bones of the body. The heap of ftones that covered them was circular, 32 yards in diameter, and about five feet high; the ftones forming the coffins appeared plainly to have been taken from a quarry about a quarter of a mile diftant. A part of the circle was vacant, but probably not fo originally, as feveral bones and teeth were found in that space. The Rev. Mr. Evatt, of Afhford, who communicated this account to the Royal fociety, thinks this monument not to have been very ancient, less so than a wall which is there, and enclofes the field, because that wall cut off a part of the circle, and the part fo cut off was as level as the reft of the field; and he apprehends that in building the wall, they would not have taken the pains to remove the stone in order to carry the wall ftraight*. I confefs I fhould draw a different conclufion from the pofition of the wall, and fhould think it more likely that they would carry the wall ftraight, (especially as the ftones removed furnished materials for it) than that the monument should be thrown up on both fides of fuch a wall, and be interfected by it. About a mile and a half beyond Wardlow turnpike, Tidfwell is feen on the left, and two roads turn off on the right; the nearest, which is a turnpike road, goes from Tidfwell to Sheffield; the farther leads by an old broken wall, and a few houses, called Little Hucklar, to Castleton, a town at the foot of that hill where is the famous cavern called the Devil's A-. The well at Tidfwell, mentioned as one of the wonders of the Peak, is at a distance from the town, and ebbs and flows at uncertain times; after great rains, several times in an hour; in dry weather, perhaps not once a weekt. Eden-hole, another of the wonders, is about three or four miles off, but by no means worth feeing; it is nothing more than the mouth of a very deep chafm in the earth, walled round, to prevent cattle from falling in. Cotton fays, he founded 884 yards, and found no bottom, but it is faid now that the plummet ftops at 160 yards. Short, from the found of stones thrown in, calculates it to be 422 yards‡. A fmall clear stream runs through the street at Tidfwell; except two or three houses, the buildings are mean, but the church is large. In the chancel is a flat stone in memory of John, fon of Thomas Foljambe, mentioned as having done much towards building the church. The date is 1358. There is alfo a raised tomb (on which bread is given away every Sunday) for Sampfon Meurrill, with a date of 1388; and another for Ro bert Purfglove, defcribed as prior of Gifburn abbey, prebend of Rotherham, and bishop of Hull, who died 1579. He was a native of this town, and furrendered the abbey to Henry VIII. who allowed him a confiderable penfion. He was afterwards made provost or prebend of Rotherham college, in Yorkshire; and in the beginning of Queen Mary's reign, was made archdeacon of Nottingham, and fuffragan bishop of Hull, under the archbishop of York, and had other dignities. Refufing to take the oath of fupremacy to Queen Elizabeth, he was deprived of his archdeaconry, and other fpiritualities, in 1560, whereupon he retired to this his native place, and founded here a grammar fchool,. adjoining to the church-yard, and an hospital for 12 poor people; and also founded a grammar-school at Gifburne§. His expreffion is, "to carry it level." + Short, p. 34. Ibid. p. 33. In the fouth tranfept of the church is a tomb, with whole-length figures of a man and woman, their names not known. Return about a mile of the road passed over in the way to Tidfwell, and then turn off by the broken wall mentioned before. your The defcent of the hill to Castleton is long and fteep. A fine vale is feen be-low, in which is a town with a handfome fpire, feeming to be the object of journey; but at the point of the hill, a fhort turning to the left leads by a still fteeper road to Caftleton, which appears on turning this point; the other town is called. Hope. At this point are fome objects to be attended to. The vale below is of confiderable width, fertile, and divided into corn-fields and pastures, watered by a rivulet, which fhews itself here and there. On the range of hills which rife on the oppofite fide,. (and ftretch away on the left to Caftleton, terminating in a point called Mam-Torr) near to Hope, is a pointed knob, almost circular, round which is a trench; and nearer to Castleton is another, lefs confpicuous; the former is called Win-hill, the latter Loose-hill, from the event of a battle faid to have been fought between two parties posted here, but who they were, or when it happened, the people cannot give any information. At a dip of these hills, near Hope, the entrance of another dale is feen,. which runs behind them, and is called Edale. Mam-Torr is diftinguished by an abrup precipice of brown ftone, with a large area on the top, inclofed with a double trench,. running up to the edge of it. The vulgar ftory is, that this hill is continually crumb.ling, without being diminished, and it was therefore reputed one of the wonders; they call it the Shivering hill, from the shivers of stone brought down by the froft. That it is diminished, and moft vifibly fo, I fhall mention more particularly by and by. A more wonderful thing here is a rich lead mine, which, though it has been worked much longer than any other which is known, (perhaps from the time of the Danes being here) still abounds with ore, and furnishes employment for about one hundred, people. Castleton is a small, poor town, at the foot of a hill, which rifes with a very steepafcent, the castle standing at the top of it. This hill is separated from one which rifes ftill higher, by a deep and narrow valley, called the Cave, or Cove, which runs on two fides of it; another fide is defended by the tremendous precipice which hangs over the entrance of the great cavern; but there is a narrow neck of land at the fouth-west corner of the caftle, which runs over the mouth of the cavern, and joins to a pasture,. called Calow Pasture; fo that the caftle was only acceffible by the steep afcent from the town, or by this neck of land. It was, however, little calculated for. defence, except against any fudden affault, being too fmall to hold any great number of men,、 and there are no marks of there having been any well in it; and unless they had fome contrivance to get water out of the cavern below, (of which there is no trace) it does, not appear how they could be supplied, if an enemy was in poffeffion of the town. It was, however, used as a fortification by the barons in King John's time, and was taken from them in the 16th of that king, by William Ferrers, earl of Derby, (great: grandfon of Margaret, daughter and heir of William Peverell) who held the governorfhip of it fix years*. In the 7 Henry III. the custody of it was given to Bryan de. l'Ifle, a perfon much trufted by Henry. It was again granted to him in the 13th, and again in the 16th of that kingf. The valley winds amongst the mountains for the length of a mile, being mostly narrow at the bottom, but oppofite the castle was 200 yards over. Dugd. Bar. v. i. p. 261. + Ibid. v. i. p: 737. Tradition: Tradition fays, that this caftle was built by William Peverell, natural fon of the Conqueror, who once spent a Christmas here. Mr. King thinks it of much earlier date, but it is certain that Peverell had it at the time of the furvey, by the name of the Castle of Peke, with the honor and foreft, and 14 lordfhips in this county, befides a great many in Nottinghamshire, and other countries. It feems to have been fometimes called the Castle of Hope, as John, earl of Warren and Surrey, was made governor of that caftle in 28 Edward I. and it is not known that there was any one in that place. In 4 Edward II. John, the grandfon and fucceffor of this earl, had a grant of the caftle and honor of Peke in Derbyshire, with the whole foreft of High Peke, in as ample manner as William Peverell anciently enjoyed the fame before it came to the king of England by efcheat. Peverell is faid to have held a grand tournament here, at which a king of Scotland and prince of Wales were prefent. This caftle and forest appears to have been part of the fortune given with Joan, fifter of Edward the IIId. on her marriage with David, prince of Scotland. The common opinion is, that the ftone with which this caftle is built, was brought from a place called Bur-tor, near Hucklow, by Batham-edge, down Calów-pasture, and was conveyed over a ditch of 50 feet wide, and 12 deep, formed by a point of land fhooting out from the pasture into the valley, called the Cave, by a drawbridge near the fide of the Ifthmus, to the point of the hill on which the caftle ftands. That the stone was brought from Bur-tor is indeed certain, for befides the almost infuperable difficulty of bringing it from the other fide, the stone here is found on examination to be of the fame fort as that used in this building. The path from the town to the castle is carried in traverses, to break the steepness of the ascent. A large area, called the caftle yard, was inclosed by a stone wall, running across the hill from east to west, from the cave to the cavern, and from north to fouth, along the fide of each of thofe places, fo as to meet the keep which stands at the point of a rock, jutting over the mouth of the great cavern, about 261 feet above the water which iffues from thence. This wall, towards the town, is ftill 20 feet high in fome places, but the ground within is mostly level with the top of it. A little distance from the east end of it is a part which is higher, and projects four or five feet from the wall, the top feeming to have been embattled. Between this and the north-east corner the foot of the wall is fupported by a stone buttress; near the north-weft corner, the wall is alfo higher, and in it was a door, or perhaps window, as there is no appearance of steps on the outside. From this corner up to the keep, the wall along the edge of the precipice is 10 or 12 feet high. The entrance to the caftle yard was at the northeaft corner, where was an arched way, as appears by the south fide of the arch still remaining. The walls of the keep, on the fouth and weft fides, are pretty entire, and at the north-west corner are now fifty-five feet high; but the north and eaft fides are much fhattered. On the outfide it forms a fquare of 38 feet two inches, but on the infide it is not equal, being from north to fouth 21 feet four inches, from east to west 19 feet three inches. As I can depend on the accuracy of my friend, who measured it, this difference must be accounted for from a difference in the thickness of the walls, which in general are near eight feet. It confifted of two rooms only, one on the Dugd. Bar. v. i. p. 436. + Ibid. v. i. p. 81. A° 11 E. III. Eliz. que fuit ux Tho- Menerell tenuit die quo obiit terciam partem unius meffuagii 10 acr terre cum pertinentiis in Wormhull in com. Derby de Johanna regina Angliæ, [but this must be a mistake] ut de caftro de pecco per ferjantiam vid. per homagium & per fervicium inveniendi unum hominem cum arcu & fagittis in forelta ipfius regine de alto pecco. Harl. MS. 2223. fo, 101. ground |