DERBYSHIRE. 



7!4 



The gnat road from London to Manchester, Carlisle, and Glasgow 

 raters Derbyshire at Cavendish Bridge, over the Trent, nut above 

 iU junction with the Derwent, run* north-writ through Derby and 

 Asnbournc, nnd quit* the county at Hanging Bridge, ovi-r the Dove. 

 Two other roadi to Manchester branch off from that just deicribed ; 

 one at Aahbourne, which run* north-north-west through Ituxton, and 

 quita the county at Whnley Bridge ; another at Derby, which runs 

 through Mat lock, Bakewell, and Chapel-en-le-Frith. Numerous other 

 important roads pass through the county. 



Otology and 3/ixsraloyy- That part of Derbyshire which lies south 

 of a line drawn through Ashbonrne, Duffield, and Sandiacre is almost 

 entirely occupied by the red marl or new red-sandstone, the formation 

 which overspreads so large a portion of the midland counties. There 

 are a few spots in which the magnesian limestone, which ordinarily 

 underlies it, rises to the surface; and just on the Leicestershire 

 border, near Ashby-de-la-Zoucb, the coal-measures emerge from 

 beneath it, and form one or two small detached coal-fields. The 

 strata of the red marl present considerable variety : among them are 

 some micaceous gritstone beds producing a good freestone; other 

 strata are not concreted, but appear as sand, red, white, and yellow ; 

 others are more clayey, and from them bricks and tiles are made. 

 The strata of the red marl formation are generally horizontal or 

 nearly so. Several deposits of gypsum are found in this formation, 

 and are quarried in several places, as at Darley Abbey, in the tongue 

 of land formed by the Derwent and the Trent, and in the southern 

 extremity of the county. The gypsum which is quite white, or only 

 faintly streaked with red, is used by the potters of Staffordshire (as 

 platter of Paris) for their moulds ; some fine blocks are selected for 

 the turners of alabaster ornaments, and the inferior sort is used by 

 plasterers for ordinary purposes or for making the plaster floors often 

 seen in this county. Some of the best land in or near Derbyshire lies 

 on the red marl ; in general however it is inclined to be too tenacious 

 and cold. This formation also occupies a very small portion of the 

 county at its eastern extremity. 



The newer magnesian or conglomerate limestone, which crops out 

 from under the red marl of Nottinghamshire, and skirts it on its 

 western border, extends into the eastern part of Derbyshire, where it 

 occupies the part east of a line drawn north and south through 

 Bolsover. The general colour is yellow, of various shades, from a 

 bright gamboge to a light straw colour or white. Many of the beds 

 have a granular texture, nnd cannot be calcined ; they have generally 

 passed with the inhabitants for gritstone rather than limestone. This 

 limestone is quarried for building, also for flooring and staircases. 

 Toward* the bottom of the series are several beds of compact blue 

 limestone, imbedded in blue clay, and abounding with shells. This 

 blue limestone yields excellent lime : it is quarried at Bolsover, where 

 also pipe-clay is obtained : the pipe-clay separates the limestone beds. 

 The strata of the magnesian limestone form a better subsoil for arable 

 than for grass land. 



The coal-measures underlie the mngnesian limestone, and crop out 

 from beneath it on the west These coal-measures form a portion of 

 that important coal-field which occupies a considerable part of the west 

 riding of Yorkshire, and extends into Nottinghamshire and Derby- 

 shire, being bounded on the east by the magnesian limestone, and on 

 the south by the red marl. The strata range from north to south, 

 and dip to the east The Derbyshire portion of this coal-field is easl 

 of a line drawn from between Hathersage and Sheffield to Little 

 Eaton near Derby. There are twenty gritstone beds, some of them 

 of great thickness, and numerous strata of slate-clay, as shale, bind, 

 and clunch : some of the shale-beds contain rounded or ovate masses, 

 and even thin strata of argillaceous ironstone, with impressions ol 

 mussel shells, and coaly impressions of vegetables. A hard argillaceous 

 rock, called crowstonc, forms in some places the floor of the coal-beds. 

 Every variety of coal seems to be found in this field, hard stone coal, 

 cannel, peacock, and caking coal The beds which lie between the 

 cams of coal are worked for various purposes. The workings of the 

 ironstone are generally begun at the surface, and pursued until thrj 

 become dangerous from the loose nature of the stratum in whirli thai 

 lie : the ironstone which is marked with impressions of mussel shells 

 (called the mussel band) is worked as an ornamental marble. From 

 the gnUtone-beds are quarried grindstones for cutlers : the binds, 

 where theyare hard and black, are used as black chalk ; others, when 

 decomposed, make good brick earth : the olunch is sometimes of that 

 kind which is used for fire-bricks ; where it crops out to the gurface 

 It become* toft clay. Potters 1 clay of various colours and qualities 

 occurs in thii goal-field. 



MfflrtMMfrit and shale form a series of itrata, having an aggregate 

 tin. knw of about 8,0 feet; the millstone-grit, 860 feet thick 

 forming the upper part, and the shale and its associated rocks, 51 ( 

 feet, the lower part of the formation. The hills formed by it umiallj 

 present a bold escarpment, crowned by rude piles of crags, exhibiting 

 some of the wildcat rock scenery of the district. The shale c,,vm,i,- 

 a lower district between this and the carboniferous limestone, but in 

 this lower tract art occasional insulated mountains, crowned with 

 cap of millstone-grit. Kindentcout is one of them. The shale con 

 tains some alternating beds of fine-grained siliceous grit and nodulos 

 of ironstone ; and it has some subjacent and apparently local beds o 

 hale limestone, which afford a beautiful black marble. 



Carboniferous or mountain limestone occupies the tract bounded on 



he south by the red marl, and on all other sides by the millstone-grit 



and shale just described. There are one or two places in the southern 



rt of the county where the limestone crops out. On the eastern side 



if the county the itrata dip under the shale ; but on the western side. 



py a great fault, the lowest bed of the limestone is elevated and 



irought into contact on the snme level with the shale. The limestone 



s divided into four bods l>y three intervening beds of loadstone In 



each bed of this limestone thin bods of clay are found, with imlnildrd 



masses of loadstone, and various organic remains. The lowest bed, 



which is the most esteemed by the lime-burners, has very few dark 



coloured strata ; but in the three upper beds these are more common, 



and the second bed contains some very fine black strata, which are 



[Harried as black marble. The upper bed is also quarried as marble, 



*d contains white chert or china-stone, which is extensively n 



he Staffordshire potteries. The beautiful fluor spar called 'Blue 



Fohn,' from which vases and other ornaments are made, is found in a 



mountain of limestone. 



The outcrop of the carboniferous limestone forms tho lead district 

 of Derbyshire. Numerous veins have been worked in it chiefly for 

 ead ; but ores of zinc, iron, manganese, and copper also occur. Lead 

 ore is found occasionally in the loadstone which intervenes between 

 .he limestone-beds, but commonly the veins are cutoff by the toadstone- 

 ds. The veins which contain lead have generally a direction east 

 and west ; some of them approach the perpendicular (rake veins) ; 

 others are nearly horizontal (pipe veins), and are rather beds of spar 

 and ore, lying between the strata of limestone, and in most cases 

 connected with the surface by a rake vein. 



The limestone strata of Derbyshire are subject to very remarkable 

 derangements or faults. They are characterised also by numerous 

 caverns and by the frequent engulphment of the streams by subter- 

 aueous courses termed swallow holes. The caverns appear to have 

 aeen excavated wholly or chiefly by the agency of water. There are 

 several varieties of the loadstone, which sometimes panes into 

 ordinary basalt : among the substances inclosed are the quartz crystals 

 locally termed Derbyshire diamonds. 



Of the limestone caverns the most remarkable is that now generally 

 known as ' Peak's Hole,' or the ' Devil's Cave,' near Castleton. It is 

 situated at the extremity of a deep and narrow rocky chasm in the 

 valley in which Castleton stands, where craggy projections hide it 

 from the traveller until he approaches pretty near. The entrance is 

 a tolerably regular arch of about 40 feet high and above 100 feet wide, 

 extending in length nearly 300 feet. At the end of this vestibule, as 

 it may be termed, the arch contracts, and the visitor is obliged to 

 stoop until he emerges into a spacious vault, called the ' bell house.' 

 A second contraction, where the rock closes almost down upon the 

 surface of a stream of water which occupies the passage, conducts to a 

 third cavern, said to be 200 feet wide, and in some parts 12ii feet 

 Uigh : this is succeeded by a series of cavernous chambers nt tho 

 extremity of the farthest of which tho rocks close down upon tho 

 stream of water in such a way as to preclude all access to the caverns 

 which are supposed to lie beyond. The water which thus obstruct* 

 farther progress is a stream engulphed at a spot called Perry-foot, 

 three miles from Castleton, on the Manchester road ; it re-appears in 

 the innermost recess of the cavern, through the successive chambers 

 of which it flows, and emerges into daylight at the entrance. After 

 heavy rains this stream is so much swelled as to render it impossible 

 to reach the farther part of the cavern. Elden Hole is a perpendicular 

 chasm in a limestone rock near Castleton more than 180 feet deep, 

 with a sloping passage to an interior cavern or series of cavern 

 is supposed that a second chasm of unknown depth descends from the 

 bottom of this cavern. Another series of grottoes (Bagshaw Grottoes), 

 extending about 2000 feet, adorned with stalactites, was first explored 

 about the commencement of the present century. There are several 

 other caverns in the Peak. 



The mineral springs of Derbyshire are numerous and important. 

 The most celebrated warm springs are those at BUXTON an- 

 There are also warm springs at Stoney Middleton, where it is supposed 

 that the Romans established a bath. The most celebrated of the 

 sulphureous waters is at Kedleston Pork, three miles north-west from 

 Derby. They are valued for their antiscorbutic qualities. There are 

 several chalybeate springs. 



Soil, Climate, Agriculture. On the high hills and moors of Derby- 

 shire there are great tracts of rough pasture which with a ir.o 

 outlay might be improved or converted into arable laud. In the 

 valleys, or on the less abrupt hills, a very fertile red marly loam is 

 frequently met with. Of this kind are the lands about Barton, 

 Blount, and Ash, and in several placei in the southern and eastern 

 part of the county. The soil on the surface naturally partakes of the 

 nature of the rocks which arc found immediately below it ; :uul uliere 

 any particular stratum rises to the surface, or crops out as it is called, 

 the soil is chiefly made up of the same earthy substances, which have 

 more or less decomposed by the action of the air and mixed 

 with vegetal 



Most of the soils in the county may be ranked among tho clays and 

 loams of various degrees of fertility, there being but a very small 

 proportion of sandy soils in Derbyshire, Where those occur, they are 

 mostly alluvial, apparently washed out of the loam and brought 



