56 THE DALES OF DERBYSHIRE. 
away at the bottom by the running water, the top falls in, 
and the dale is being gradually widened by the carrying 
away of the débris. In Ashwood Dale the points con- 
sidered in this paper are clearly demonstrated. Let us 
neglect the railway, the bridges, and the road—the work of 
man—and pay attention to the natural phenomena. 
Throughout Ashwood Dale, a dale is to be seen in moder- 
ately active formation. The perpendicular ridges of grey 
rock on either side, and the river, to which they owe their 
present form, babbling along at the bottom, are the first 
points to observe; but let us look a little closer. We see 
numerous springs breaking out at either side and flowing 
into the river bed. Now, as the dale is cut more deeply, 
and as the sides are widened out by subaerial influences, 
it will be found that the springs leave caverns, such as we 
met in Dovedale and elsewhere. Higher up the dale we 
reach the Lovers’ Leap, and though I would like to story- 
tell upon the name, I feel I must not digress from the 
main object of this paper, which is to see if there is 
anything in this ravine to help us to form a better idea of 
dale formation. Here, undoubtedly, some of the record is 
left. Suppose the rocks on either side of the passage, 
continuous, and the waters backed up in the great valley 
as far as the Duke’s Drive, with the formation of a great 
lake, whose deepest part would be near Sherbrook. The 
outflow of such water would undoubtedly be at the Lovers’ 
Leap; but did it get into the Wye Valley by an under- 
ground passage ?; did it fall over in the form of a waterfall 
and gradually cut its way backwards?; or did a crack or 
slip take place by which a fissure was formed, and a way 
partially made for the pent-up water to pass through ? 
I am inclined to the latter view, but although I have many 
times visited the locality, I do not wish to make a dogmatic 
statement. If on careful examination it is found that there 
are rocks in site at the bottom of the ravine, and that 
