244 THE BRITISH ISLES. 



Wye, in a bleak but healthy situation 1,100 feet above the level of the sea, stands 

 Buxton, which has been a place of resort for three hundred years on account of the 

 virtues of its mineral waters, but owes something, too, to the vicinity of the great 

 city of Manchester Meadows, parks, and avenues of trees environ the sumptuous 

 dwellings set apart for invalids, whilst, far below, the Wye courses through a 

 savage defile, the entrance to which is guarded by the Chee Tor, a noble rock 300 

 feet in height. 



Returning to the Derwent, we soon reach Chntsu-oHh, the noble seat of the 

 Duke of Devonshire, in the midst of a park 11 miles in circuit. The house con- 

 tains a precious collection of paintings, statues by Thorwaldsen, Canova, Schadow, 

 and Gibson, and a valuable library. The great conservatory in the gardens 

 was built by Sir Joseph Paxton, the designer of the Crystal Palace, and one of the 

 fountains plays to a height of 267 feet. Higher up on the Derwent, in a charming 

 situation, stands Hathersage, where needles and fishing-tackle are made, and 

 beyond we reach Castleton, in the very heart of the Peak. Its neighbourhood 

 abounds in caverns, that of the Peak being traversed by an underground river. 

 A little lead is won in the vicinity. 



That portion of Derbyshire which lies beyond the Peak, towards the north- 

 west, is drained into the Mersey. Glossop, Hayfield, and other places in this 

 neighbourhood carry on cotton-spinning, and depend naturally upon Manchester. 



■ There are but few towns in Western Derbyshire. Wirks/rorfh and Winster are 

 the principal places of a lead-mining district of small importance, to the west of 

 Matlock. Ashbourne, in the fertile valley of the Dove, and the centre of a grazing 

 district, carries on an important trade in cheese, wool, and corn. 



Far more populous is the great industrial and mining district of Eastern Derby- 

 shire, between the Derwent and the Erwash, the northern portion of which is 

 tributary to the river Don. Chesterfield, a busy town remarkable for its " crooked " 

 or leaning spire, has coal mines and iron works, and manufactures lace, hosiery, 

 and woollen stuffs. George Stephenson, the engineer, died here in 1848, and lies 

 buried in Trinity Church. Farther south are the towns of Claycross, Alfreton, 

 Ripley, Heanor, and Ilkeston, all of them with coal mines, most of them with iron 

 works, and some of them with hosiery-mills. Ilkeston rejoices, in addition, in the 

 possession of mineral springs. 



Leicestershire is almost wholly comprised within the basin of the Soar, which 

 flows northward through its centre, and joins the Trent on the northern border of 

 the shire. Its surface is for the most part undulating, and Bardon Hill, in Charn- 

 wood Forest, to the west of the Soar, although the culminating summit of the 

 county, does not exceed a height of 853 feet. To the east of the Soar the country 

 rises gently towards the oolitic uplands of Rutland and Northamptonshire, whilst 

 in the south-west the plain of Leicester extends across the borders of the county 

 into Warwickshire. A small coal basin lies towards the north-west. Leicestershire 

 is famous for its horses, cattle, and sheep, and is the great centre of the hosiery 

 manufacture. 



Leicester, the county town, occupies the site of the Roman city of Ratae, and 



