The view of Glossop may certainly be taken to prove that the old town had its houses arranged in irregular blocks round the large church as a centre (1). The parish church of Glossop was completely rebuilt between 1831 and 1853; it is not, therefore, possible to say how far the outline in the map is accurate. It is, however, fair to assume, with regard to the churches as well as the houses, that the artist made some effort to represent the reality, or otherwise the series of little pictures would hardly have had so great a variety.
With regard to Hayfield church, the like difficulty arises, for the old building was demolished in 1836; and here again it is difficult to believe that the delineator drew this form of a church out of his own imagination (2). In this case a portion of the hamlet on the left-hand side has been torn off.
No. 2.
The third pictured town in this division is Mellor, and in this instance, too, the church was entirely rebuilt at the beginning of last century, save for the western tower (3). A proof is here afforded of some measure of accuracy, for in this case the western tower is represented in its right place, and not as rising from the centre of the building, as shown in the cases of Glossop and Hayfield. There are, also, traces at the top of Mellor tower of its having formerly supported a small spire, as is here shown.
No. 3.
In the second division of the forest, viz., that of Ashop and Edale, there are two of these township pictures, viz., Castleton and Hope. Castleton is, unfortunately, mutilated; the parts to the left hand of the castle are missing. As to Peak Castle, it is fairly obvious that some effort, however poor, has been made to reproduce the actual buildings (4). The old Norman keep of the time of Henry II. is evidently intended to be shown in the centre of the background. The fore-part shows the later substantial enclosing of the inner bailey, probably of Edwardian date, most of which has long ago disappeared. Perhaps the most interesting detail of this, the oldest picture of the celebrated fortress, is the building within the bailey which is surmounted by a cross, and is, therefore, clearly a detached chapel. There are two or three entries in the record history of the Peak Castle which have not yet been made public, which refer to this chapel as in use in the fourteenth and fifteenth centuries. As to the church in the town below, it is difficult to offer any conjecture as to how the drawing can coincide with the present remains of the ancient church. The draftsman seems to have had very exaggerated ideas as to the size of the south porch.
With regard to the picture of Hope, little more can be said than that here again it is very difficult to fit in this outline drawing with the fabric of the church as it now exists, except that the western tower still bears a low broached spire (5).
