Castleton - August 2005

Castleton, a small and yet busy village that is set amongst the most beautiful of Peakland landscapes. Scarcely could any visitor pass through, without having walked along the delightful narrow lane beside Peaks Hole water with its large Brown Trout. Both eventually converge on the towering limestone cliff face and the dark gaping mouth that signifies the reaching of Peak Cavern.

This cavern was known in the seventeenth century under two names, the Devil's Hole and the Devil's Arse. Earlier still, at around the time of the Doomsday Book, it was called the Peak's Arse. And the river that flows through it subterranean passages is known as the Styx.

Peak Cavern

Further, Thomas Hobbes recognizes Peak Cavern as being one of the Seven Wonders Of The Peak. During the nineteenth century, visitors to the cavern, owned by the Duchy of Lancaster, were charged 2s 6d or twelve and a half pence in today's money to gaze on its mysteries.

Besides being an attraction, the cavern was once lived and worked in, where for hundreds of years, whole families preoccupied themselves with rope making, the remnants of which can be seen in situ inside the cavern mouth.

The Hope valley is very much a working environment today, where sheep farming forms one of the local traditions maintained in the countryside around Castleton. Here, on the A625 west of the village, these sheep seem eager to find out what's going on outside their enclosure.

One can almost imagine what they maybe saying to each other: "Look! Look, someone is trying to take our photograph." "Where? Where?" "Ouch! I've gone and got me head stuck!"

The early Victorian cast iron mile post announces that it is only 6 miles to Chapel-en-le-frith and 5 miles to the tiny hamlet of Sparrowpit. Of course, these distances no longer apply, since the road that once skirted Mam Tor is now closed due to subsidence with total collapse of the road itself.

The road that winds its way past the Speedwell Cavern and up through the Winnats, becomes very steep reaching one in four near its upper end. This magnificent pass with its lofty limestone buttresses reaching up into the sky, is an extremely popular place for both walkers and tourists alike during the summer months.

Long ago, the Winnats bore witness to a foul deed when two runaway lovers, hoping to get married at the village of Peak Forest, were waylaid by five miners who had noticed the wealth they carried with them, when they had stopped at a Castleton Inn earlier in the day.

Their bodies had remained hidden for over ten years, and but for the confession of one of these men, would have remained so.

Speedwell Cavern is unique in being the only cave in Britain, where its visitors are transported along its passageways, by boat. The water here is quite shallow being about 3 feet deep.

This cavern was formerly brought into being by late eighteenth century miners, who in their search for lead ore, hand drilled and blasted their way through 150 feet of solid rock to finally break through into the Bottomless Pit, an amazing feat of engineering for the time.

Peveril Castle, the ancient building which overlooks the village from which Castleton gained its name.

Built on a commanding site by William Peveril, the illegitimate son of William the Conqueror, he used this castle as a means to subdue the English and maintain a grip over the feudal system that was put into place at the time of the conquest. William not only served as the bailiff for the Royal Forest of the Peak, but he also acted as overseer to the lead mining within the area.

Looking towards the north and the Dark Peak, we can clearly see the long high ridge favoured by walkers. This runs all the way from Mam Tor at the west end of the valley, through Hollins Cross and finally Lose Hill which stands at 476m.

It is the peak at the centre of this photograph. Just over this ridge and approximately four kilometres away as the crow flies, the walker will find themselves at Edale and discover the starting point of one of the most popular walks in all England, The glorious Pennine Way.

This stunning view of the shivering mountain (Mam Tor) and Treak Cliff draws tens of thousands of tourists every year. If you look carefully, you can just make out the fortification edge to the Iron Age Hill Fort on the grassy slope coming down from the horizon to the right.

Where the face of Mam Tor has collapsed forming what is commonly know as a Landslip, you can see alternating layers of sandstone and mudstone.

Treak Cliff Cavern is located where you can see the buildings on the hillside to the left of the image. This is one of a number of caves where the semi-precious stone known as 'Blue John' is found.

Blue John is a form of fluorspar that has bands of blue, dark red, purple or yellow colouring running through it. The cavern, and indeed many of the shops in Castleton itself, have some fine and striking examples of Blue John carved into ornaments and jewellery and offered for sale.

In the cleft towards the far right of Treak Cliff and beneath Mam Tor, the visitor will discover Odin Mine and the remains of a Gin Circle and wheel. This is where the ore, once removed from the mine, was taken to be crushed.

Castleton has a market square, but sadly as with many villages throughout the Peak District, it no longer functions as a working market.

Castleton celebrates Garland Day on May 29th (Oak Apple Day) in which two people, a King and Queen, are dressed in Stuart clothing in readiness for their horse back procession through the village.

The King alone wears the actual Garland, a costume consisting of flowers picked earlier in the day. This important local ceremony has continued unbroken for more than three hundred years.