Great Britain -- Description and travel; Railroad travel -- Great Britain; Railroads -- Great Britain
We cannot say that the streams now swarm with trout and grayling as they did
when honest Isaac Walton sung their praises in quaint poetical prose,
although they still twine and foam along their rocky beds all overhung with
willows and tufted shrubs; but, where the waters are preserved, there good
sport is to be had.
The roadside inns are not bad. The half-mining, half-farming people are
quaint and amusing. The caverns of the Peak and the lead mines, afford
something strange and new. Altogether we can warmly commend a trip through
Derbyshire, as one affording great variety of hill and dale, wood and stream,
barren moors, and rich cultivation, fine parks and mansions, and beautiful
hamlets, cottages, and roadside gardens, where English peasant life is to be
seen under most favourable aspects.
* * * * *
HARDWICKE.--Supposing that we proceed from Sheffield, we would take the
railway to Chesterfield, which is not a place of any interest. Thence make
our way to Hardwicke, on the road to Mansfield.
Hardwicke Hall is a good specimen of the style of domestic architecture in
the time of Queen Elizabeth, which has remained unaltered since that period.
Mary Queen of Scots was imprisoned here, and some remains of tapestry worked
by her are exhibited, as well as furniture more ancient than the house
itself. It belongs to the Duke of Devonshire.
From Hardwicke we proceed to Matlock, which may be reached by an unfinished
railway, intended to traverse the vales, and thence run into Manchester.
The village and baths are in the centre of a dale through which the river
Derwent flows, along between overhanging trees, except where, in some parts,
its course lies through the narrow gut of perpendicular rocks. On either
side rise hills, for the most part adorned with wood, to the height of three
hundred feet.
The waters, which are supplied to several small and one large swimming bath,
have a temperature of from 66 to 68 degrees of Fahrenheit. They are not now
much in fashion, therefore the village has continued a village, and is
extremely quiet or dull according to the tastes of the visitor. At the same
time, there are a number of delightful expeditions to be made in the
neighbourhood, on foot or horseback, and on donkeys,--hills to be ascended and
caves to be explored.
By permission of Sir Richard Arkwright of Willersley Castle, close to Matlock
and several other river preserves, good fishing may be obtained.
From Matlock, the next halt should be at Bakewell, where there is an
excellent inn, which is a good encampment for visiting both Chatsworth and
Haddon Hall.
Chatsworth is three miles from Bakewell. The present building occupies the
site of that which was long occupied by Mary Queen of Scots during her
captivity, and which was taken down to make room for the present structure at
the close of the seventeenth century.
The park is ten miles in circumference, and is intersected by the river
Derwent, which flows in front of the mansion.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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