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CHAP. I.
The Dove.

The Erewash.

The Mease.

To which the bounty of her stream is such,

As only with a swift and transient touch,
T'enrich her barren borders as she glides,

And force sweet flowers from their marble sides.”

The Erewash rises from a bed of gravel, on the skirts of Sherwoodforest near Kirkby, it then passes through a district of blue clayey ground, and intersects the yellow limestone and the coal strata on the borders of this county. It enters upon its embankments of red marl about Stapleton mill, and forming a wide excavation, in red marl and quartz-gravel, it falls into the Trent at Barton-ferry. The principal places upon its banks are Pinxton, Codnor park, Ilkeston and Sandiacre. The course of the Erewash is to the south, and it forms a great part of the boundary between Nottinghamshire and Derbyshire.

The Mease originates in the red marl on Smithsby common. In its course, it excavates the coal-field, near Ashby-de-la-Zouch, and flows over the quartz-gravel which is found in the great red marl beds between Measham and the banks of the Trent. It falls into the Trent, north of Croxall, by a wide excavation in the red marl, partially filled with sandy quartz-gravel.—The Mease passes Packington, Stretton-in-the-fields, Edingale and Croxall.

The smaller rivers most deserving notice are those which fall into the The Amber. Derwent. Of these, the Amber is one of the most important. This stream has two considerable branches; the head branch takes its rise in the coal-shale near Ashover, and then flows through a series of denudations or exposed strata highly interesting to the geologist: these are the first limestone and its accompanying toadstone, and a long interrupted bed of limestone shale; it then intersects the whole series of gritstone, and passes through vast tracks of limestone and coal-shale until it enters the Derwent at Toad-moor bridge, upon a bed of limestone, over which the deposits of its waters form a curious bed of thin limestone and gritstone pebbles. The Nottinghamshire branch of this river, acts as a superior drainage across the great coal-field upon the eastern boundaries of this county and Nottinghamshire; and, it has been justly observed, that there is scarcely a rivulet in the kingdom, from the course of which more practical geological information may be derived.

The Bootle.

The Wye.

The Bootle, which flows into the Derwent at a short distance south of Little Eaton, also crosses the great interruption, or fault of the midland coal-field, and, in so doing, intersects the earliest gritstone.

The Wye, one of the most interesting rivers in the county, has its source among the Axe-edge-hills, and flows through a bed of shale to the north of the baths at Buxton. From that town to Mill-dale, its course is over the third limestone and the third toadstone; and the dale is a ravine in these strata and in the fourth limestone rock. The channel of this romantic stream is chiefly through confined dells with precipitous rocks, displaying all the various strata, until it empties itself into the Derwent at Great Rowsley upon the limestone shale. About a mile from Buxton is the craggy precipice known by the name of the Lover's leap, from the height of which it is fearful to look down into the chasm beneath, through which the slender stream gushes amidst the broken rocks. The Chee Tor is a vast

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perpendicular rock, and may be well denominated the Giant of the Dell. This rock is limestone, and rises abruptly to the height of 360 feet above The Wye. the river: the rocks in front rest upon a grassy elevation which embanks the Wye, and affords a pleasing contrast to the dark brows of these projections. The projections themselves take a concave sweep through a semicircular valley answering to the bold projection of the Tor. "In Millers' dale," says Mr. Rhodes, "the river, which had been pent up within a narrow chasm, appears to rejoice at its release, as it quietly spreads into a more ample stream and glides leisurely away. This is a delightful dale, and it abounds with scenes, that as they are beheld, sooth and tranquillize the mind. The stream is never turbulent-never still; and though in some places the huge branch of a gnarled oak, or a weather beaten elm, shoots from a cleft or fissure in the rock above, in a manner that suggests a recollection of the pictures of Salvator, yet the light and elegant foliage with which it is accompanied, subdues every feature of wildness, and softens down the whole to beauty: the mills-the leapings that are thrown across the river-the cottages embosomed in trees, or overhung with rock -every object in the dale is fraught with beauty." We must leave the still superior attractions of Cressbrook dale and Monsal dale to the imagination, or to the personal investigation of the reader, well assured that the former, however vivid, can scarcely exceed the sublimity blended with natural elegance, and occasionally with pastoral simplicity, which characterises this interesting stream, and that the latter will be amply rewarded. The Bradford takes its rise in shale near Elton, and flows through a The Bradchannel in the first limestone, until it meets the Lathkil in an excavated bed of tufa below Alport.-The Lathkil has its source or rather sources among the hills near Monyash: its waters flow through the third, the second, and first limestone and toadstone strata. The scenery on its banks, though it has not the grandeur and rich diversity of the Dove or the Wye, is romantic and beautiful. At a short distance below Over Haddon, the rocks on both sides of the stream are crowned with trees of various kinds, and its transparent waters flow through beds of the brightest verdure.The whole length of the Bradford is only about two miles; but, as Mr. Rhodes observes, "it is two miles of beauty. Approaching Alport, we came to a spot where it loses its name in the Lathkil. A high rock, called Bradford Tor, crested with trees and light depending branches, occupies the right of the river that washes its base. The left bank is a steep verdant slope, surmounted with a group of dwellings, half hid amongst orchard trees, ash and sycamore. Near these, a bridge leads into the village, from whose arch the Lathkil rushes impetuously, and dashing and foaming along its rugged channel, leaps into the Bradford, at the foot of the Tor. Nothing can exceed the beauty of this brilliant stream, as it bounds and sparkles along its rapid descent."*

The other less important streams are sufficiently noticed at the head of this article, and we shall therefore only further observe, that the rivers of this county are well supplied with fish, the particular species of which will be noted in a chapter on the natural history of Derbyshire. With respect

* Rhodes's Peak Scenery, Part 3. sect. 8.

ford and

Lathkil.

Rivers.

CHAP. 1. to what has been stated upon the testimony of various authors, relative to the higher temperature of the Derwent and other rivers of this district, it must be received with hesitation. It is justly observed by Mr. Farey, that there is a very inconsiderable quantity of such warm spring water, and that there is nothing like a general warmth perceivable in the strata anywhere; as far therefore as such warmth in any of the streams is perceptible, it must be attributed to the great depth and narrowness of the valleys, which preserve "this temperature longer than in more open situations." This account of the Rivers in Derbyshire may be closed with this statement of the portion of Derbyshire which each drains, viz.

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Waterfalls.

Of the cascades in this county, the following is a passage from Mr. Farey's work:

Cascades and "In some of the rocky districts of Derbyshire, there are water-falls or natural cascades in the brooks and rivulets, in wet times, or falling into chasms or water-swallows; these I noticed, at

Ponds and
Reservoirs.

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There are no lakes in this county, Lut the following is a list of the reservoirs, &c.

Barlborough NE, 4 reservoirs for the Chester-
field canal; and NW, 4 fish ponds.
Bradley S, a fish pond.

Bretby, S and E of Bretby-hall, fish ponds.
Butterley NW, bear Pentrich, a large reservoir
for the Cromford canal.

Calke N, fish ponds.
Chapel-en-le-Frith SW (Comb's-brook) a reser-
voir for the Peak forest canal.
Chatsworth Park, SW of Edensor, fish ponds
in the Derwent; and E, 2 reservoirs in the
old park.

Church Gresley NE (Milk-hill pool) old mill
pond.

Darley W NW (Flash) a reservoir for toad-hole
mills.

Eggington SW, fish ponds, in the Dove.
Formark N, a fish pond.

Foston S, near Sudbury, a fish pond.

Golden Valley, N of Codnor-park, 2 reservoirs
for the Cromford canal.

Hardwick, W and NE, in Hault-Hucknal, fish ponds.

Kedleston E, large fish ponds in the Morledge

brook.

Kelstedge W, in Ashover, a mill pond.
Locko Park, near Chaddesden, a fish pond.
Longford SE, a mill pond.

Loscoe E, near Heanor, a large mill pond.
Markeaton SE, a fish pond in the Morledge
brook.

Melbourn S, a mill pond.

Mellor W SW, in Glossop, cotton-mill pond.
New Brampton W SW, near Chesterfield, a mill
pond.

North Winfield S, (Park) mill pond.
Osmaston SW (Cottage) fish ponds.

Overseal NE, Leicestershire (Barrot pool) mill
pond; and NW (Umon) reservoir for the
Ashby-de-la-Zouch canal.

Peak Forest SE, a mill pond.
Pentrich SW, a mill pond.

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Shipley NW, large fish ponds.

pond.

Stanesby S, in Smalley, a mill pond.

Staveley W (Forge) mill pond.

Sudbury S, a fish pond.

Sutton N, in Scarsdale, fish ponds.
Swanwick SE (Delves) pond.

Tapton W, near Chesterfield, a fish pond.
Willesley W, near Measham, a fish pond.

South Winfield NE (Toad-hole furnace) mill Wingerworth (Park) fish ponds; and W (Stub

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bing) fish ponds.

Woodthorp SE, in Staveley, a mill pond."

CHAP. 1.

Ponds and
Reservoirs.

racter.

From the numerous extracts already given from Mr. Rhodes's Peak Scenic chaScenery, a tolerable good idea of the natural features and general scenic character of the county must have been obtained. The valleys possess an interesting combination of romantic wildness and rural beauty: in many there are lofty ranges of rock, where the different strata "running horizontally athwart their sides," assume tower-like and turreted forms, which so absolutely possess the appearance of "an old castellated building, that, viewed from the road below, the eye sometimes doubts whether it contemplates the work of nature or of art.' From the same author we take the following descriptive passages, 66 we had attained the summit of the highest rock. Over this we had to pass or recede. The gulf that yawned below could not be contemplated without emotions of horror. We stood on a steep shelving bank, covered with a thin slippery grass, unsafe and even dangerous to tread upon. A sheep-track was the only path that lay before us, and this was carried so near the brink of the precipice, that I could not have beheld a goat or any thing that had life placed in so perilous a situation without trembling. We were now 400 feet above the little stream that washed the base of the rock where we stood, and a glimpse into the fearful depth below was appalling and terrific."+"This deep ravine is closely hemmed in with rock on every side; and, with a solitary exception, neither shrub nor tree is to be seen within it. Rude weatherbeaten crags, with occasionally a stripe of thin mossy verdure inserted between, constitute the two sides of the dell, which, in some places, is from eighty to one hundred paces wide, and in others not more than twenty or thirty. About two-thirds up the dell, the view towards Castleton has a wildness about it that no other landscape in the same neighbourhood possesses. The castle, seated on the extreme verge of a narrow ridge of rock, looks fearfully tremendous, borrowing importance from the situation it occupies amongst the rocks and precipices that are thrown around it. Near the village, where the two sides of the dell approximate, a pleasing view is admitted of distant hills, whose shadowy summits and cultivated slopes give a character of loveliness to the remote parts of the scene."+

This will suffice to afford the reader a general view of the picturesque beauty of the vales of Derbyshire, which are strongly contrasted by the dreary and desolate tracts of country around them; but even in the barren moors are gradually yielding to the hand of cultivation. In the southern districts of the Peak this is particularly observable, and as the traveller advances towards the rich marly banks of the Trent, he finds himself surrounded with corn lands, farm houses and villages, with all the pleasing bustle of rural industry.

* Rhodes's Description of Middleton Dale.

Ibid. Banks of the Wye.

Ibid. Cave Dale.

CHAP. I. Climate.

Winds.

Rain.

The climate of this county is necessarily very various. The north-western district with its mountains elevated into the current of the clouds, receive their contents in the form of rain, hail or snow, and there the winters are generally long and severe. Mr. Farey however remarks, that in his long sojournments in the Peak hundreds, he "saw or heard none of those violent storms, and ravages on the lands by torrents of rain, which are mentioned by some, even of the most recent descriptions of the county." He, however, admits that at Buxton and in the wide valleys among the gritstone hills, there is frequently an unusual quantity of rain, particularly about July, and that the snow falls in the Peak districts at least ten days earlier, and lies on the earth ten days later, than in the southern parts of the county. In speaking of corn remaining out in the fields in the High Peak, at Christmas, he is of opinion that such occurrences must be attributed not so much to the climate as to "neglect and mismanagement on the part of the farmer."

The winds are generally brisk, and sometimes violent among the mountainous districts, but it does not appear that they come more from one quarter than another, although it has been asserted that they are seldom found to blow across the compass either from the south-east or the northwest; and it has also been remarked “that a west wind, however high or strong it may blow for a short time, seldom continues long to do so."*

Mr. Farey gives an abstract of the rain which fell at Chatsworth during 50 years past, ascertained by an excellent and well-attended Rain-Guage in the gardens at that place. The following are the yearly totals, viz. in 1761, 26-525 inches; in 1762, 23-399 inches; and in

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The total depth of water fallen in this period, including melted snow, being more than 119 feet, and giving a yearly average of 28-411 inches; the greatest yearly depths being 39-919 inches (in 1768,) 39-115 inches (in 1782,) 36-399 inches (in 1763,) 36.309 inches (in 1789,) &c.; and the least, 19.443 inches (in 1780,) 19·856 inches (in 1788,) 22-232 inches (in 1805,) 22-433 inches (in 1771,) &c.

The following table contains the mean average quantity of rain collected in Derby from the beginning of 1809 to the end of 1827, being nineteen years, by Mr. Swanwick.

Farey, Vol. I. p. 98.

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