SECTION VIII.

Money-Ash.-Marble Quarries.-Source of the Lathkil. Scene near Conksbury Bridge. Youlgrave.- Arber-Low. Bradford River. -Alport.-Tufa Rocks.

THE Marble Quarries near Money-Ash were the next objects of our excursion: we therefore retraced a part of our steps, and leaving Longstone, took the route of a newly-made road, which led us, by a very gentle descent, to Ashford; from whence we clambered over some high hills, and were repaid for the toil of ascending them by the beautiful variety of landscape we beheld from their summits.

MONEY-ASH, though but a small place of about sixty houses, was raised to the dignity of a market-town in the year 1340: a grant for an annual fair for three days was likewise bestowed upon it at the same time; but both fair and market have been long discontinued. Money-Ash is not however entirely deprived of its former consequence; it still remains the seat of the mineral court for the High Peak district in every other respect it is an insignificant village.

From Money-Ash, a ramble of about a mile brought us into the dell, where the principal part of the grey marble of Derbyshire is procured. Here we found a scene far more rude and savage than we had anticipated. We were aware that the rocks had been blasted and rent to pieces with gunpowder, and their natural features defaced; but we nevertheless supposed we should find some little spot yet unprofaned by avarice, where rock and foliage intermixed compose a beauteous picture: — we were mistaken;-neither tree nor shrub find a home in Ricklow Dale: naked crags fence it in on every side, and huge fragments torn from the cliffs above lie in disordered masses along the ground, where scarce a blade of verdure intervenes to soften the general wildness of the scene; yet even in this strange place some half-starved sheep were scrambling amongst the rocks, and endeavouring to

pick out a scanty subsistence from the narrow spaces between. The marble quarries are at the upper extremity of Ricklow Dale; they appear only to be worked occasionally, and when we saw them they were utterly deserted. Blocks of marble of different dimensions had been detached from the rocks, and lay in heaps at their base, ready to be carted to the mills at Ashford and Bakewell, where they are cut into form and polished for use.

In a continuation of this dale, about a mile and a half nearer Over Haddon, is the source of the LATHKIL, one of he most brilliant streams amongst the dells of Derbyshire. The cradle of this rivulet is pleasingly romantic: from a cavern in a mass of broken rock, whose sides and summit are adorned with branches of trees, the Lathkil issues into day; and running down a gentle declivity amongst huge stones, by which it is divided into separate currents, it is sometimes an object of considerable beauty.

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We followed the margin of this little river for several miles, and were every where delighted with its clearness, play, and spirit. About half a mile below the village of Over Haddon, where the old Ashbourne road crosses the dale, beautiful scenery occurs both above and below the bridge. The rocks on the two sides of the stream, though not lofty, are broken into pleasing forms, and fringed with trees; but the Lathkil is every where the finest feature in the scene: where it glides smoothly along it is so perfectly translucid, that every object over which it flows is not only distinctly seen, but seen in fresher colours: the flowers and herbage on its banks are but faded resemblances of those over which it runs.

It was a clear sunny day, and, anxious to enjoy the beauty of the scene, we seated ourselves on a rocky knoll covered with mountain thyme, that filled the air with fragrance. Here we passed an hour of real happiness, and every thing that had life seemed equally happy around us. The trout, with

which the Lathkil abounds, lay quietly in the river at our feet, and the bright blue dragon-fly and the kingfisher displayed their gaudy plumage to the sun as they flitted along the stream. Near the bridge we observed a number of flies rest awhile upon the water, and then take wing, yet none appeared to settle there: approaching nearer, a part of the stream, where it was stillest, was almost covered with them; and their thin transparent wings trembled with many an unavailing

effort before they bore them aloft in the air. This little insect was just changing its form and mode of being, and we watched the transition from one state of existence to another with considerable interest. Innumerable rushy tubes rose in succession from the bottom to the surface of the water; from these the fly, with a very feeble struggle, soon emerged, and then rested motionless for a moment on that element where it had been nurtured into life; after which it tried its feeble wing - then with an elastic impetus sprung upwards, and flew along the meadows in search of new enjoyments.

As we ascended the hill by Conksbury, on our way to Youlgrave, we had several pleasing views of that village, in which the tower of the church, environed with trees, was always a principal object. YOULGRAVE is situated on the side of a hill, which declines gently into an open little vale, that is watered by a brilliant stream, called the Bradford. The church is a handsome building, with a finely-proportioned tower, surmounted with eight ornamented pinnacles; and it stands in the midst of a spacious burialground, nearly surrounded with a plantation of lime-trees.

The church contains several monuments of rather a costly description, one of which is dedicated to the memory of Sir John Rossington, who was a crusader; and another of a more recent date to John Eley, Esq. of Alport, major-commandant of the artillery in the East India Company's service. The parish register contains some curious entries, amongst which there is a memoriall of the great snow," which began in January 1615, and continued, with very little intermission, to the 12th of March. The entry states, that "it covered the earth five quarters deepe upon the playne;" that "it was the fear and admiration of all the land, for it came from the four parts of the world, so that all countrys were full, yea, the south parts as well as the mountaynes. 39 We were also informed by the parish clerk, that the register contains the entries of the births of twenty-two children of Mrs. Thornhill, the grandmother of the present proprietor of Stanton; whole of whom were baptized at Youlgrave church.

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From Youlgrave, a rough and ill-made carriage road conducted us to Middleton, a small village, which, by way of distinction, is called Middleton by Youlgrave. Near this place we found the celebrated Druidical monument of ArberLow, one of the most striking remains of antiquity in any part of Derbyshire. This circle includes an area of from

forty to fifty yards diameter, formed by a series of large unhewn stones, not standing upright, like a part of those on Hartle Moor, but all laid on the ground, with an inclination towards the centre: round these, the remains of a ditch, circumscribed by a high embankment, may be traced. Near the south entrance into this circle there is a mound, or burialplace, in which some fragments of an urn, some half-burnt bones, and the horns of a stag, were found.

After spending a short time at Arber-Low, we proceeded to Gratton, a little hamlet, which, together with the appending manor, belongs to the Thornhills of Stanton. Here the Bradford rivulet first emerges into day. The whole length of this little stream is only about two miles; but it is two miles of beauty. Approaching Alport, we came to the 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. Such are the principal features in the foreground of this pleasing picture. The space beyond is composed of cottages, scattered amongst overhanging rocks and luxuriant trees, that display every variety of tint and foliage, from the light pensile branches of the libernum to the majestic ramifications of the oak and the elm. More remote, the steep bank of a narrow dell appears, whose summit is clothed with a plantation of larch and pine, interspersed with beach, birch, and mountain-ash. Still farther in distance, the lofty grounds and woody acclivities of Stanton terminate the scene. This view, it must be observed, can only be obtained from the rising ground in the meadows, on the left of the Bradford. Nearer the river, the distance is lost, and the village becomes a less interesting object.

Alport is a pleasant place, and the greater part of its inhabitants appear to be in reputable circumstances, if the houses where they reside may be regarded as a fair criterion: they are generally good stone buildings, and sufficiently spacious for all the purposes of comfort: a neat flower-garden, belted with laurel, lilacs, and libernum, lies before them, and an

230

TUFA ROCK AT ALPORT.

orchard well stored with fruit trees spreads behind. There are of course some inferior dwellings, but not the proportion usually found in a country village.

The Tufa in Derbyshire is universally regarded as a watery deposit very rapidly produced, and it contains indisputable evidences of its formation. At Alport, a large mass of rock, from forty to sixty feet high, is entirely composed of this material; and being adorned with trees, that either shoot from its sides, or take root upon its summit, it is not only a curious, but a picturesque object.

This rock appears to be a congregation of matter, chiefly vegetable, which has been formed into an immense petrefaction by the continual action of water, but at what period is uncertain, as the stream that produced it has either ceased to flow, or has changed its course. The limestone strata of Derbyshire abounds with a variety of animal and vegetable remains, which time has hardened into stone; but in the tufa rocks they are often embedded in their native state: branches of trees are frequently found within them; and in some places they appear an accumulation of sticks, straws, and weeds, closely enveloped in calcareous incrustations; amongst these the natural snail-shell, not in the least altered in appearance, is often found. In one place, where the rock had been recently broken, and the trunk of a small birch tree, about six or eight inches diameter, taken out, we noticed the impression that remained, and took from it a part of the bark that was left behind, which was not at all affected in its nature by its long imprisonment. Some few years ago, the head and horns of a stag, now in the possession of a gentleman at Bakewell, were taken entire from out the tufa rocks at this place. It is not to the geologist only that this curious lime deposit is interesting a great variety of the most beautiful plants and flowers grow upon it; it is, therefore, equally attractive to the botanist. Here the common thistle flourishes luxuriantly, and displays great beauty, the flowers being peculiarly rich in colour: wild marjoram, mountain thyme, ladies' bed-straw, and a fine variety of bright yellow stone crop the Sedum of Linnæus, are also abundant on these rocks.

While rambling about this pleasant village, we were directed in our researches by one of the inhabitants, of whom we inquired for Alport rocks. After examining this singular assemblage of matter, and looking over a small collection of the minerals and fossils of Derbyshire, some of which were