The writing of local history in the Peak District of England has a long existence with the origins going back to the ancients. In this short essay I will study examples of local history from the works of Ranulphi Higden (c.1332) to Daniel Defoe (early eighteenth century) assessing their particular presentation of the history of Derbyshire and focusing, for comparative reasons, upon the often repeated topic 'Wonders of the Peak'. Additionally, I will examine each selected text to see if these particular extracts conform to generally accepted views on the historic developments in the writing of local history.

Ranulphi Higden was a Benedictine monk and chronicler famous as the author of 'Polychronicon'. Higden was an omnivorous reader, a 'literary glutton', equally at home in the chronicles, the scientific writings of the thirteenth century, or in the great mass of medieval homiletic literature. Higden's 'Polychronicon' mirrored the reading of his life, a commentary 'from within' upon their age and times. The 'Polychronicon' may be described as a chronicle that belongs rather to literature. Higden's work throwing light on the general historical, geographical and scientific cultures of the age. Higden admitted that his history was compilation, he took passages from every writer, classical and christian alike and arranged them in roughly chronological sequence. It as been estimated, from the number of surviving manuscripts, that hundreds of copies of Higdens work were struck off by professional scribes. It was a medieval 'best seller'. The short passage that I have selected for study, was taken from Churchill Babington's 1869 edition of 'Polychronicon Ranulphi Higden'. Babington presents, alongside a copy of the original, two translations from Latin. The first of these translations by Trevisa c.1387 and the second by an unknown scholar of the fifteenth century. The later translation is identified as (Harl. 2261.) Considering the Trevisa translation I would suggest that the document reads:

'In Britain are hot wells, well arranged and intended for the use of mankind. Mistress of these wells is the great spirit of Minerva. In her house fire remains always, that never changes to ashes, but when the fire dies down, it changes into stony lumps. In Britain are many wonders. Nonetheless, four are the most wonderful. The first is at the Peak. There such a strong wind blows out of the cracks in the earth, that it throws up again cloths that men threw in. The second is at Stonehenge near Salisbury. There great stones, wondrously huge and they are arranged as if they are gates ....'

Trevisa does not refer, in this particular text, to Derbyshire. However, by close association within the document, Higden may perhaps be describing the warm springs at Buxton within the Peak. Higden's first book in the 'Polychronicon' consists of a descriptive geography of the entire, then known, world. Higden's understanding of 'the world' may be better comprehended by reference to his map which displays the world as a flat disk centred upon Jerusalem.
Higden described Britain as: 'a land of many wonders' and considered the miracle at the Peak as outranking Stonehenge. There is no evidence that Higden visited the Peak to study natural phenomena. Much of Higdens reference to the Peak is derived from Gervase of Tilbury, who about the year 1211 wrote his 'Otia Imperialia'. In this book Gervase describes William Peverel's castle in the Peak and locates the notorious Peak's Hole (foramen pech famosum). Gervase tells us that stormy winds sometimes blow from the cavern. Evidence may been found in the Domesday Book that this particular cavern was known in 1086 as: 'Pechesers' [Peak's Arse].


William Camden (1551-1623) may be described as a pioneer of historical method. In 1586 Camden first published his 'Britannia' which was first translated into English by Philemon Holland in 1610. Camden was an active member of the Society of Antiquaries, founded c.1588, laying the foundations for the school of 17th century historians. Camden was the leading historical writer for a generation influenced by the Renaissance eager to learn of its Roman past, and who, for the first time, saw historical precedent as a guide to present action. Stuart Piggott views 'Britiannia' as a milestone in the history of British antiquarian thought, describing the changing nature of antiquarianism in the seventeenth century in these words:

' The appearance of the English versions of the 'Britannia' show in themselves a changing antiquarian public in this country. The original Latin work was addressed to the world of European scholarship ... But by Jacobean times a new class of reader had grown up in England, anxious to read antiquarian literature in English: a taste which the 'Britannia' itself had gone far to create.'

The Derbyshire section of the 1637 edition of 'Britiannia', translated by Philemon Holland, is limited to only seven pages containing a brief topographical-historical survey of the county. However, later translations by Richard Gough (1789 and 1806) contain many additions. In general Camden's entry for Derbyshire is both informative, interesting and amusing. Camden describes the topography of Derbyshire, reviews the history of leading families and paints with broad strokes the function of the principal towns. Camden describes the River Derwent as:

' ... his blacke waters stained with the Soile and earth that it passeth by, rumbleth downe apace into the Trent.'

Camden's descriptions of lead smelting, limestone burning and the production of grindstones are technically informative. The map of Britain, that was published with Camden's 'Britannia' in 1607 is illustrative of developments in cartography.

Roman coins that have been found at Little Chester, just outside Derby, are discussed together with some indication of Camden's great interest in the origin of place names. Whilst Camden does quote astrology he is of the clear opinion that it had been: ' with ridiculous error written ...'Below is a reproduction of text taken from the 1637 translation of Camden's 'Britannia'. In presenting the first four lines of verse, accredited by Camden to Alexander Necham, he writes:

'But whosoever have written that there should be certain tunnels and breathing holes out of which wind does issue, they are much deceived.'

It will be observed that the 'miracle', recorded by Gervase in 1211, has been recycled by Higden, Necham, Camden and possibly many more. In both the Holland (1637) and Gough (1789) translations reference is also made to 'Devil's Arse in Peak' Camden informing us that:

'Gervase of Tilbury, whether out of ignorance, or in lying humour, tells that a shepherd saw a spacious country, with many rivulets and vast pools of water .'

The second verse, in the illustration of Camden's text, defines six wonders of the Peak, to this list Camden added the tidal well at Tideswell. This particular well was reputed to ebb and flow four times in the space of one hour, or thereabouts, and was much discussed by later poets and local historians.

John Speed, (1552-1629), enjoying the patronage of Sir Fulke Greville, devoted himself whole-heartedly to his cartographic and related concerns. Speed was concerned with the face of Britain in both the past and the present.
Speed made little claim to originality and many of his county maps display a small label crediting the map to John Norden 'augmented' by I. Speed. However, the map of Derbyshire (c.1610), with a copy of the text contained on its reverse side, does not contain such a reference. The maps could be used in an office of government for administrative purposes or kept in a private library. However, because of their size and weight I would argue that they would have been of little practical use to the traveller. Speed, in a similar manner to Christopher Saxton, indicated relief by scattered mole-hills that give only a general idea of form. Rivers are emphatically designated, towns are marked by groups of buildings and villages by symbols. The boundaries of the hundreds, the units of local government, are carefully marked and each map contains a detailed town plan, often our first information on their appearance. Deer Parks and Estates are clearly shown, in exaggerated form, to flatter targeted customers for these expensive volumes. In 1666 an abridged version of 'A Larger Volume Done by John Speed ' was printed which was a more convenient pocket book size. Unfortunately, there is no indication, within the volume, who actually compiled this particular edition. However, the maps, reproduced in the pocket book edition, are identical with a set produced by Peter DeKaer in 1599. Accompanying these rather mediocre maps the condensed 'Speed' presents brief information, appertaining to the county, in a numbered paragraph form. Included in the information for Derbyshire are details that may be compared to later 'Directories' One particularly interesting entry for Derbyshire reads:

'As in other counties devotions of the religious have been made apparent in the erection of places for Gods peculiar service ... whose peace and plenty stood secure from all dangers, till the blustering winds arising in the reign of King Henry VIII blew off the pinnacles of their beauteous buildings and shook asunder the revenues of those Foundations which never again are like to be laid ...'

The longest paragraph within the Derbyshire section is devoted to: 'Things of stranger note' The author, with obvious delight, again recycling: ' ...the pretty tales of Grevase of Tilbury'. Speed's single uncoloured maps remained in great demand particularly by armies of both sides in the Civil War.

In 1608 Thomas Hobbes of Malmesbury (1588-1679) became tutor and 'page' to Bess of Hardwick's grandson, young William Cavendish the future second earl of Devonshire. Hobbes was then twenty years of age and only two year older than William. Thomas Hobbes, with the exception of his flight to France in 1640, remained with the Cavendish family for all of his life. De Mirabilibus Pecci: Being the Wonders of the Peak etc., was written by Hobbes about 1627 but was not published until 1636. The Peak, written in Latin verse, was dedicated to Hobbes's pupil the second earl of Devonshire. Rogow comments: '.. the Peak has little value as poetry and reveals nothing of Hobbes's maturing thought.'

In 1681 Charles Cotton's 'Wonders of the Peak' was published. This poem, very similar in historical content to Hobbes's 'De Mirabilibus Pecci' was dedicated to Elizabeth Countess of Devonshire. This poem also received literary criticism. Buxton commenting : ' ... it is not a great poem, but it is very characteristic.' These statements may be correct, however, I will argue that both descriptive poems contain so many contemporary references to the Peak District that, if considered in association with other sources for this period, are valuable to local historians.

The title page of the 1678 edition of the Peak, states: 'Wonders of the Peak in Derbyshire, Commonly called The Devil's Arse of Peak' . As early as 1086 Peak Cavern had been known locally by this name. However, the poem contains only passing references to Peak Cavern. Therefore, I would argue that this subtitle is little more than a booksellers ploy to boost sales. The first seven pages of the Peak are dedicated to proclaim the glories of Chatsworth, the first wonder of the Peak. The opening line of the poem likened the Peak District to the Alps. Much historic information may be gleaned from Hobbes's description of Elizabethan Chatsworth including details of the primitive indoor plumbing and running water. Hobbes praises famed Shrewsbury's great Countess and much tribute is extended to the second earl and his wife, Christian, and their three children. Cotton, as an outsider, is perhaps more critical than Hobbes of Chatsworth. Cotton commenting that Chatsworth had been: 'built in a barren vale... nothing but winter ten months of the year.' However, his description of the building, its owners and its contents are supplemental to Hobbes. One particularly interesting comment being contained in the following lines:

' And all these Glories glitter to the fight
by the advantage of a clearer Light.
The Glaziers work before substantial was
I must confess, thrice as much Lead as Glass.'

One by one Hobbes portrays the remaining six wonders, his descriptions revealing as muchabout himself as the subject. Hobbes misses no opportunity to compare hills and caves to parts of the female body. However, perhaps centuries ahead of his time, Hobbes was health conscious advocating moderation in diet, detoxification and regular strenuous exercise. It is, therefore, hardly surprising that the warm springs at Buxton were included in his particular list of 'wonders'. Hobbes applied scientific reasoning to the so-called 'tidal-well' at Tideswell and came to the conclusion that interlinked subterranean streams and some form of syphonic action in caverns, below the well, were responsible. Hobbes dismissed speculation that it was linked to the sea and dependent on the moon. Charles Cotton, addressing these deduction wrote:

' And He [Hobbes] who is in nature the best read,
Who the best hand has to the wisest head,
Who best can think, and best his thoughts express
...
Does but, perhaps, more rationally guess,
It never would but in wet weather flow;
Yet in the greatest droughts the Earth abides,
It never fails yet to yield less frequent Tides.'

Celia Fiennes (1662-1741) and Daniel Defoe ( c.1662-1741) travelled extensively throughout England writing about the various counties they saw. References made to locations, condition of roads, technicalities of local industries and general living conditions, by these two early eighteenth century travellers, are often quoted by historians. However, as I will argue, care must be employed when using these particular sources due to a certain degree of factual inaccuracy in their accounts of Derbyshire. Focusing upon the 'Wonders of the Peak' both Fiennes and Defoe, according to their accounts, visit the site of all seven of these curiosities. In general Fiennes reports with little personal comment on the so-called 'wonders' However, when describing the 'Flowing and Ebbing Well' at Tideswell, Fiennes believes that the water from the sea through the 'channels of the earth' are responsible for its action. When describing her visit to St. Anne's Well the town of Buxton received particularly harsh criticism from Fiennes for its high prices and poor accommodation:

' ... the beer they allow at meals is so bad that very little can be drank ... two beds in a room, some three beds and some four ... so if you have not company enough of your own to fill a room they will be ready to put others into the same chamber, and sometimes they are so crowded that three must lie in a bed. '

Defoe, as may be expected, is far more critical of the 'wonderless wonders' of Derbyshire demolishing each in rapid succession. The wonder of Chatsworth, according to Defoe, is that such a magnificent palace should be built in such a wild location. However, for some curious reason, Defoe grants, but does not qualify as to why, that Eldon Hole may be justly called a wonder. Defoe is obviously well informed about Derbyshire quoting Gervase of Tilbury, Camden, Hobbes and Cotton. Reconstructing Defoe's visit to Derbyshire the author travels from Nottingham to Derby: '... keeping midway between the Trent on the left and the mountains on the right ...' Even allowing for the writers flamboyant style the 'mountains' seen from the road between Nottingham and Derby are questionable. Following his descriptions of Derby; Defoe next treats the reader to a visit to Cotton's Dove. Unfortunately, Defoe, either misinformed by the locals or for some other reason, does not visit the part of the river that Cotton both dwelled by and described. This particular reference is very interesting when we consider that Celia Fiennes also confuses this particular location when describing her journey from Ashbourne to Uttoxeter: ' ... just before we came to Uchater [local dialect for Uttoxeter] we pass by a very exact house and gardens of one Mr Cotton' . Charles Cotton lived at Beresford Hall the site of which is many miles north of Ashbourne, Uttoxeter being a similar distance due south. Both writers are actually describing Doveridge. Defoe, continuing north towards Quarndon from Derby, informs us that:

' ... the Derwent is a frightful creature when the hills load her current with water ... we keep our distance and content ourselves with hearing the roaring of its waters.'

The River Derwent, prior to the building of the three dams in North Derbyshire which now control it, may have been a frightful creature. However, the land between Quarndon and Derby is relatively flat and even now subject to flooding. With all respects to Defoe this particular stretch of river is hardly conducive to 'roaring'.

Whilst I am convinced that both Fiennes and Defoe are good sources for the local historian I personally believe that travellers, then as now, exaggerate their hardships. By comparing how people, from many different backgrounds and disciplines, have considered one particular topic of local history I will argue, in my conclusions, that much information on the subject may be gained to illustrate general developments in the writing of local history.


Ranulphi Higden, a fourteenth century monk, compiled the works of many previous scholars his 'Polychronicon' mirrored the outlook of the educated clergy of the time. The contents of the 'Polychronicon' revealing just what world history meant in Higden's time. The popularity of Higden's work ended the demand for copies of the early histories, and in the second half of the fourteenth century history was written as a continuation of the 'Polychronicon'. Taylor maintains it is doubtful whether the 'Polychronicon' would have enjoyed the success it did had not the interests of the educated clergy also been changing during this period. Whether it be called pre-humanist or not, a growing interest in classical authors and in ancient history was undoubtedly present amongst the educated clergy. The 'Polychronicon' was translated was translated into English but Trevisa's translation never equalled the popularity of the Latin text.
Considering, in particular, Higden's reference to local history: ' At the Peak ... strong winds blow out of the cracks of the earth'. This, when taken in conjunction with place name evidence (Peak's Arse) is good evidence that some phenomenon may at one time actually have existed at Peak Cavern Castleton, Derbyshire.
William Camden at one time headmaster at Westminster School was a leading historical writer for a generation influenced by the Renaissance and a public who now saw historical precedent as a guide to present action. Stuart Piggott argues that: 'The appearance of the English versions of the Britannia show in themselves a changing antiquarian public in this country. The original Latin work was addressed to the world of European scholarship ... But by Jacobean times a new class of reader had grown up in England, anxious to read antiquarian literature in English.'

When considering local history Camden dismisses Gervase of Tilbury's revelations of the wide and large country with rivers and brooks to be found inside Peak Cavern and also argues that: ' ...whosoever have written that their should be certain tunnels and breathing holes out of which wind does issue, they are much deceived. ' However, Camden does record that: ' ... a wonderful well in the Peak Forest, not far from Buxton, which ordinarily ebbeth and floweth in the space of one hour, keeping his just tide : and I know not whether Tideswell a Mercate Town hereby hath his name thereof.'

Of Eldon Hole Camden informs us that: 'there is nothing to be wondered at'. From a detailed study of Camden's work I would argue that many later 'local histories of Derbyshire' closely followed his presentation of the so-called 'wonders'.

John Speed's 1610 detailed map of Derbyshire is, in my opinion, of far greater historical interest and merit to the local historian than his brief contribution to the written history of Derbyshire. Speed copied much from Camden's descriptions of Derbyshire including Camden's references to lead mining taken from Pliny. On 'Things of stranger note', by far the largest section of Speed's contribution to the description of Derbyshire, Speed recycles much from Gervase of Tilbury. Speed describes the formation of stalactites in Pool's Cavern near Buxton, a subject not covered by Camden. However, Speed confuses the name of this cavern incorrectly calling it Eldon Hole.

Thomas Hobbes's contribution to local history is limited to his poem 'De Mirabilibus Pecci' written, in Latin, around 1627. The poem may be said to be an account of a journey made by Hobbes and the second earl of Devonshire to Peak Cavern and the surrounding area and contributes much detail to earlier local histories of the Peak. Somewhat embarrassed in later life by his effort to celebrate the tour in writing, Hobbes did not favour the translation into English of 'De Mirabilious Pecci' in 1678. However, the translation was an immediate success and circulated widely; the only book by Hobbes in the library of Isaac Newton. Two particular characteristics may be observed in Hobbes's 'De Mirabilious Pecci'. Hobbes attempted to find scientific explanations to the so-called 'wonders' and Hobbes's many rather crude sexual remarks when describing Peak Cavern and Eldon Hole. Rogow commenting: ' References to human anatomy in the Peak do not establish that Hobbes and the second earl shared an interest in the more intimate physical aspects of life, but we may doubt that Hobbes would have included these references had the earl ... been displeased with them.' The above references to Hobbes's application of scientific reasoning and his preoccupation with sex may be viewed as a reflection, perhaps, on the period.

Charles Cotton's poem 'Wonders of the Peak' was published some five years later than the English translation of Hobbes's 'De Mirabilious Pecci'. In contrast to Hobbes Cotton attempts to romanticise the location of the various 'wonders' then ridicules the fables surrounding them. However, Cotton rejects Hobbes's scientific reasoning. Cotton, on the opening page of his poem, describes Derbyshire as:

' ... a place where nature only suffers in disgrace.
A country so deformed, the traveller
would swear those parts natures Pudenda were:
Like warts and wens, hills on one side swell,
to all but natives inaccessible.'

The poems of both Hobbes and Cotton did much to encourage people to visit the Peak.These visitors to Derbyshire included Celia Fiennes and Daniel Defoe.
Fiennes visit to St Anne's Well Buxton is good evidence, for the local historian, on the growth of Buxton and in the popularity, during this period, of Spas. Morris commenting that:
'The growth of wealth, comfort and leisure has often coincided with a growth of hypochondria; and in the seventeenth century there was general agreement that among the "Wonders" of England were her "Spaws" or mineral waters.'
Moir, when discussing the journeys of Fiennes, writes: ' ... apart from one passing reference to Camden she is clearly oblivious to the writings of other topographical writers.' The above statement by Moir is quite incorrect. I would argue that whilst Fiennes does not directly mention Cotton a detailed analysis of her presentation and descriptions of the 'seven wonders' reveals that she is very closely following Cotton's descriptions. However, sufficient new details is added by Fiennes that convinces me that she did actually visit the sites of the 'wonders'.
Defoe's visit to his 'wonderless wonders' of Derbyshire is, in my opinion, problematic. He is well read but clearly prone to exaggerate. However, Defoe's descriptions of the various caverns, wells, etc. lacks originality and why he should stress the importance of Eldon Hole is, to anyone who knows this particular location, very confusing. Defoe's contribution to Derbyshire local history must not be underestimated his descriptions of the lead miners on Carsington Pasture being of particular interest.