HISTORY OF STAFFORDSHIRE. 39 



hills the Dove falls in abrupt cascades. Large quantities of lime- 

 stone have fallen from the overhanging precipices into the channel 

 of the river.* 



Mill-dale, near Alstonefield, is a long narrow vale or glen of 

 great depth, the sides of which are composed of overhanging preci- 

 pices of limestone, estimated to be from 100 to 150 yards of per- 

 pendicular elevation, and so very steep that they can be ascended 

 only in very few places : the width of this glen, vale or dale, at the 

 top, scarcely exceeds the depth of its sides. 



The vale of Manyfold is situated between Wetton and Butterton, 

 where the waters of the Manyfold are absorbed by the fissures under 

 the limestone hills, and discharged again at Ham, four miles below. 

 The warmest imagination can scarcely conceive a spot more wild 

 and romantic than some parts of this vale. Thor's-house Cavern, 

 is a considerable excavation on the side of a lofty precipice ; it 

 has somewhat the appearance of the inside of a Gothic church, and 

 seems to be in part a work of art. 



The tract of country north-east of Mole-cop, is the worst part 

 of the Moorlands, and of Staffordshire, the surface of a considerable 

 portion of it being too uneven for cultivation. Large tracts of 

 waste land here, though so elevated in point of situation, are merely 

 high moors and peat-mosses; of this description is a part of Mor- 

 redge, Ax-edge, the Cloud-heath, High-forest, Leek-frith, and 

 Mole-cop, though amongst the highest land in the county. The 

 calcareous or limestone bottom ends at Morredge, and the under- 

 stratum, in the tract of country to the west, is generally sandy or 

 gravelly clay or gritstone rock. 



The summits of some of the hills in this county terminate in huge 

 tremendous cliffs, particularly those called Leek Rocks or Roches, 

 and Ipstone^ Sharp Cliffs, which are composed of large heaps of rude 

 and rugged rock piled one upon another, and have a most terrific 

 aspect : in some places single blocks of immense size are heaped to- 

 gether, and overhang the precipices, threatening destruction to 

 the traveller; and some broken masses of prodigious bulk, have 

 evidently rolled from the summits. Leek Rocks or Roches, are 



* The sides of the immense precipices of Bunster have a scattering of wood, 

 which might be increased: the ridge of this mountain terminates in some 

 places in a number of conical sugar-loaf hills of bare limestone. The highest 

 point of Bunster is estimated at 300 perpendicular yards above the Dove, and 

 the fall of that river from hence to the Trent is 100 yards more. This hill, 

 though of great elevation, is not equal to the Weaver, nor so high as some of 

 the Peak-hills over the Dove, 



