ST. ANNE’S WELL.
This well, the usual resort of the company who frequent Buxton to drink the waters, has been classed among the wonders of the peak, on account of this singularity, that within five feet of the hot spring by which it is supplied, a cold one arises. This is not, however, the only well of the kind, since hot and cold springs rise near each other in many parts of England, and in other countries. The water is conveyed to the well, which is an elegant classical building, in the Grecian style, from the original spring, by a narrow passage, so close and well contrived as to prevent it from losing any considerable portion of its heat, and is received in a white marble bason. It is not so warm as the Bath water, its temperature being about eighty degrees of Fahrenheit.
THE CRYSTALLIZED CAVERN.
The crystallized cavern, the new wonder of the Derbyshire Peak, was discovered some years ago in the vicinity of the village of Bradwell. We extract the following particulars of this singular and beautiful natural excavation, from Hutchinson’s tour in the High Peak.
The entrance is rather terrific than grand; and the descent, for about thirty paces, very abrupt. The visitor has then to pass along the inclined way for nearly a quarter of a mile, the opening being so low that it is impossible to proceed, in particular parts, in an erect posture. The different crystallizations which now attract his attention on every side, soon make him forget the irksomeness of the road, and banish every idea of fatigue. New objects of curiosity crowd one on the other. In a place called the Music Chamber, the petrifactions take the semblance of the pipes of an organ; while in other parts, these stalactites are formed into elegant small colonnades, with as exact a symmetry as if they had been chiseled by the most skillful artist. Candles judiciously disposed within them, give an idea of the imaginary palaces of fairies, or of sylphs and genii, who have chosen this for their magnificent abode.
Still he has seen nothing comparable to what he is now to expect; for, at the distance of about a hundred paces further, by a rugged descent, he enters what is called the Grotto of Paradise. This heavenly spot, for it can not be compared to anything terrestrial, is, of itself, a beautiful crystallized cavern, about twelve feet high, and in length twenty feet, pointed at the top, similar to a Gothic arch, with a countless number of large stalactites hanging from the roof. Candles placed among them give some idea of its being lighted up with elegant glass chandeliers; while the sides are entirely incrusted, and brilliant in the extreme. The floor is checkered with black and white spar. It has, altogether, a most novel and elegant appearance. This glittering apartment would be left by the visitor with a certain degree of regret, did he not expect to see it again on his return.
Still continuing a route similar to the one he has passed, in the course of which his attention is occasionally arrested by the curiosities of the place, and by the gentle droppings of the water, which scarcely break the solemn silence of the scene, he at length reaches the Grotto of Calypso, and the extremity of the cavern, upward of two thousand feet from the entrance. To see this grotto to advantage, he has to ascend about six feet, into a recess. There, the beautiful appearance of the different crystallizations, some of them of an azure cast, and the echoes reverberating from side to side, make him fancy he has reached the secluded retreat of some mythological deity.
Returning by the same path for a considerable distance, another cavern, which branches in a south-west direction from the one already explored, presents itself. The roads here are still more difficult of access, but the stalactites are certainly most beautiful. Many of them, more than a yard in length, are pendent from the roof, and the greater part do not exceed the dimension of the smallest reed. The top and sides of this cavern are remarkably smooth, particularly at the part called the Amphitheater. In general, the stone is of a very dark color, to which the transparent appearances before mentioned, with each a drop of water hanging at its extremity, form a fine contrast.
SPEEDWELL LEVEL.
In the Speedwell Level, or Navigation Mine, in the vicinity of Castleton, art has been combined with the subterraneous wonders of nature. Being provided with lights, the guide leads the visitor beneath an arched vault, by a flight of one hundred and six steps, to the sough or level, where a boat is ready for his reception, and is put in motion by pushing against pegs driven into the wall for that purpose. After proceeding about one-third of a mile through various caverns, the level bursts into a tremendous gulf, the roof and bottom of which are invisible, but across which the navigation has been carried, by throwing a strong arch over a part of the fissure where the rocks are least separated. Here, leaving the boat, and ascending a stage erected above the level, the attention of the visitor is directed to the dark recess of the abyss beneath his feet; and firm indeed must be his resolution, if he can contemplate the scene unmoved, and without an involuntary shudder. To the depth of ninety feet all is vacuity and gloom; but beyond that commences a pool of Stygian waters, not unaptly named the Bottomless Pit, the prodigious range of which may in some measure be conceived, by the circumstance of its having swallowed up more than forty thousand tuns of rubbish, made in blasting the rock, without any apparent diminution either of its depth or extent. The guides assert that the former has not been ascertained; but there is reason to believe that its actual depth in standing water is about three hundred and twenty feet. There can not, however, be a doubt but that this abyss has communications with others still more deeply situated in the bowels of the mountain, and into which the precipitated rubbish has found a passage. The superfluous water of the level falls through a water-gate into this profound caldron, with a noise like a rushing torrent.