Peak Experience

Picture of Peak Forest School  Picture of Peak Forest Church

 

If you visit Peak Forest’s churchyard you can find the site of the chapel that offered the Peaks our very own ‘Gretna Green’ marriage facility!  Between 1728 and 1754, Peak Forest became an ‘extra parochial’ chapel, exempt from all the normal Church authority rules, and anyone could be married immediately and at any time of day or night! Uniquely, the vicars were answerable to no superiors.

 

The marriage facility soon became known all over England, and people came to take advantage of the ‘foreign marriage service’.  On average there was one marriage ceremony a week rising to a peak of 105 in 1745.  Most couples came from within a 50-mile radius of the Peak.  The vicar earned £100 a year for the service.

 

Not all couples made it – Allan and Clara were murdered before they reached the vicarage.

 

The chapel where the marriages took place was built in 1657, financed by the Duchess of Devonshire, and was eventually given to the minister.  It was situated on the west side of the present churchyard until 1880.  You can see the original font in the current church.

Peak Forest School is found on the A623 just north of the Devonshire Arms pub.  On Shrove Tuesday (Pancake Day) in the Peak District, the ‘pancake bell’ would ring at 11 a.m., to remind housewives to mix the pancake batter.  Children were let out of school for the afternoon and a mass football match took place involving the whole village.

 

The old tradition of ‘barring out’ caught one strict head teacher out.  By tradition, the teacher would be locked out of school until they gave permission for the holiday.  Although Mrs Marlow ended the custom in Peak Forest, the strongest lads locked her out of school anyway and all took the afternoon off.  She caned all the pupils the next day in punishment.

Picture of Eldon Hill  Picture of Eldon Hole

 

You can walk round Eldon Hill (or ‘Elves Hill’, SK115812) just north of Peak Forest.  It is one of several places in the Peak District believed to be haunted by elves and goblins.  Elves Hill is first recorded in the 1200s AD, and it is the site of a prehistoric barrow.

As you walk around Eldon Hill you might just see Eldon Hole (SK116808)  – one of many caves and caverns throughout the Peak believed to be inhabited by the Devil.  The largest open pothole in Derbyshire, it is one of the ‘Seven Wonders of the Peak’ described by the poet Charles Cotton in 1682.  It was thought to be bottomless and home to evil spirits.  In the 1500s the Earl of Leicester had a man lowered on a rope to find the true depth.  He went crazy and died speechless shortly afterwards.  It is 245 feet (75 metres) deep, and was first explored in 1780.  A traveller was fatally thrown in here after being robbed by two villains in the 1700s.

 

Local legend also tells how a goose was thrown down Eldon Hole and reappeared inside Peak Cavern (also called the Devil’s Arse) 2 miles (3 km) away.  It had been singed down to its pimples by some infernal flames.

There is a pub, Post Office and general store.

 

Public transport information for all locations can be found by calling Traveline on 0871 200 2233.

To plan your journey to Peak Forest, which has direct bus services from Buxton and Manchester, visit Traveline.