Regency Hot Spots: Poole’s Hole

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POOLE'S HOLE POOLE'S HOLE said to have derived its name from a notorious robber who secreted himself here from justice is a stupendous cavern at the foot of a mountain near Buxton The entrance is extremely low and narrow but it gradually opens into a spacious and lofty concavity like the interior of a Gothic cathedral In a cavern to the right called Poole's chamber is a curious echo and the sound of a rapid stream which runs through the great vault produces a fine effect The innumerable drops of water which depend from the roof and sides are also worthy of admiration for they not only reflect innumer able rays from the lights carried by the guides but being of a petrifying quality they form many fanciful resem blances of men lions dogs and other animals and of organs lanterns and flitches of bacon The Queen of Scots pillar said to have taken its name from a visit of the unfortunate Mary during her abode at Chatsworth is clear and bright like alabaster but probably partakes more of the nature of spar with which the circumjacent country abounds This pillar is the boundary of most people's curiosity but there is a steep ascent for nearly a quarter of a mile beyond it which terminates in a hollow in the roof called the needle's eye where a candle if judiciously placed appears like a star from a cloudy sky SMITH'S Wonders TAYLOR, J. (1836). The wonders of nature and art. Comprising upwards of three hundred of the most remarkable curiosities and phenomena in the known world. With an appendix of interesting experiments, in different arts and sciences, … Third edition. United Kingdom: J. Chidley.

The Cavern, or Poole’s Hole (also known as Poole’s Cavern) is a two-million year old natural limestone cave in the Peak District, a mile from Buxton.  It is now designated a Site of Special Scientific Interest, but prior to its official open as a show cave in 1853 was already a popular tourist attractions and marketed by Thomas Hobbes in 1636 as one of the “Seven Wonders of the Peak.”

An ACCOUNT of POOLE'S HOLE in DERBYSHIRE With an elegant Engraving POOLE'S Hole is deemed the se cond wonder of the Peak it a stupendous cavern fituare at the foot of a great mountain about half a mile from Buxton The entrance is so low and parrow that a person must stoop to get in but it foon di lates into a wide and lofty concavity which reaches above a quarter of a mile endways and farther as they say The guides in this dark way are old women with lighted candles The water which drops from all parts of the roof encrusts all the stones with long chrystals and flowers whence the eye forms a thousand imaginary figures as lions fonts lanthorns organs flitches of bacon & c At the end is a column as clear
as alabaster called the Queen of Scots Pillar from that unhappy princess when the visited this place if a pistol be fired near this pillar it makes a report almost as loud as a cannon The arch is of an extraordinary height The spangled roof is greatly admired by Dr Leigh Cotton and Hobbes who have exercised their wit upon it Dr Leigh calis it fret work organ and chair work The fact is the rock being every where moist and dropping some of the drops falling and others pendant upon the roof and the guides before you and behind carrying every one a candle the light of which reflected by the globular drops of water dazzleş your eyes like the dew in a fun thine morning whereas were any part of this arch to be seen by a clear light all this beauty would disap pear 1 To make this more evident by experiment take a long pole tie a cloth to the end of it and wipe the drops of water all away it will then be found that all these spangled luf tres are extinguished for a short time when other drops emerge and appear as resplendent as before A stream of water runs along the middle of the cavern among the falling rocks with a hideous noise re echoed from all fides of the hor rid concave On the left hand is a fort of chamber where they say Poole a famous robber lived and whose kitchen as well as bed cham ber they pretend to shew but the fight of this costs the curious specta tor the trouble of creeping on all fours for feme yards where this great natural curiosity is situated is Coitmoss In short those who are fond of in dulging the faculty of the imagina tion will here find sufficient scope and he may in a few minutes fancy himself furrounded by all forts of animals monsters trees pyramids & c The name of the mountain AZA The Lady’s Magazine; Or, Entertaining Companion for the Fair Sex, Appropriated Solely to Their Use and Amusement …. (1793). United Kingdom: G. Robinson.

Poole's Hole is a cavern in the mass of limestone that ranges westward of Buxton It is a remarkable cave esteemed the sixth wonder of the Peak An ancient tradi tion declares it to have derived its name from an outlaw named Poole who made it his residence The entrance at the foot of a high mountain called Coitmoss is as
mean and contracted as that of the Peak cavern is awful and magnificent Through a crevice very low and confined the curious visitant can proceed only in a stooping posture to a lofty and spacious chamber from the roof and sides of which depend a quantity of stactalite produced by droppings of water laden with calcareous matter Part of this substance adheres to the roof and forms gradually masses called stalac tites or locally water icicles another portion drops with the water to the ground and attaching itself to the floor is there deposited and becomes the stalagmite a lumpy mass of the same matter These bodies are daily increasing and it is curious to observe their diversity of figure which by the aid of fancy may be thought closely to resemble the works of nature or of art In one place says Mr Rhodes in his Peak Scenery we were shown a petrified turtle in another a flitch of bacon in a third old Poole's saddle and still further on there are other calcareous incrustations called wool packs a chair a font a pillion and the pillar of Mary Queen of Scots That these names have been dealt out and appropriated in a very arbitrary manner may easily be imagined The whale or ouzel which Hamlet points out among the clouds to poor Polonius was not more unlike in form and feature than these uncouth resemblances are to the objects they are said to represent The mass called the Flitch of Bacon occurs about the middle of the cavern which there contracts its di mensions for a short space and then spreads out both in height and width as far as the astonishing mass of stalactite denominated the Queen of Scots pillar from a tradi tion that the unfortunate Mary visited this cavern while she resided at Buxton and penetrated thus far into its recesses The remaining portion of this subterranean cavity contains few objects to compensate the labour and danger of exploring it Mr H Moore was told by his guide an aged woman that no persons had been to the ter mination of the cave for many years He therefore proceeded without the protection of his reverend directress or due regard to her Cumæan admonitions From the pillar he descended over disjointed rocks and scrambled over the disordered masses of slippery crags His intrepidity was rewarded by the discovery of the names of several who had been there before him Thus having satisfied his curiosity he began to return Sed revocare gradum superasque evadere ad auras Hoe opus hic labor est But to recall your footsteps and regain The upper air here lye your toil and pain He found no passage in the direction which he expected would conduct him back he tried another part but without success he then made a third effort but still no road could he find in several other attempts he was equally unsuccessful and in the midst of these difficulties a drop of water from the roof struck the flame of his candle and it nearly expired Fortunately his attendant Sybil was not altogether unmindful of his dangerous situation when one false step amid the rude masses of broken rocks might have been fatal She at once raised both her voice and her candle the light flashed through the small opening by which he had entered and passing by her di rections through a narrow fissure called the Eye of St Anthony's Needle he effected his return in safety The path by which visitors are conducted back to the entrance of the cavern passes underneath a considerable portion of that by which they are at first conducted In this passage there is a fine spring of water The stalactites are here numerous and appellations have been bestowed upon them which if they ever had any appropriate conformity with their shapes cannot long retain that conformity since those shapes must be continually varying in form from the depositions left by the water which constantly percolates through the roof and sides of the rock The character of this cavern is very different from that of the Peak at Castleton Its dimensions are vari ously stated Pilkington says the whole length is 560 yards 460 to the Queen of Scots Pillar and 100 beyond it Mr Moore gives 2007 feet as the extent from the entrance to the extremity while the writer in the Beauties of England and Wales asserts that the extent of the cavern does not exceed 300 yards Glover, S. (1830). The Peak Guide: Containing the Topographical, Statistical, and General History of Buxton, Chatsworth, Edensor, Castlteon [!] Bakewell, Haddon, Matlock, and Cromford; with an Introduction, Giving a Succinct Account of the Trade and Manufactures of the County; an Alphabetical List of Noblemen and Gentlemen’s Seats, and Several Road Sketches …. United Kingdom: publisher.

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