The Edge of High Peak
Because it's all higher than sea level, right? Except the sumps...
Viaducts at Chapel-en-le-Frith.
Crowden Clough, at the edge of Kinder Scout.
Picturesque countryside and beautiful lighting at Lee House.
Heading down into Speedwell Cavern, one of several mined entrances to the Peak Cavern system.
Speedwell is really only an attraction because of the canal. The water is artificially maintained at 1 metre depth using dams in the Speedwell part of the Peak Cavern streamways.
Tours are conducted on cramped boats that use electric motors to ferry 21 passengers to the other end of the tunnel.
Initially, the canal was a dry passage for something like 9 years. It was then used as a canal to transport minerals, before the mine ceased operation 11 years after being started, having found virtually no minerals at all. Finally, it was converted into a showcave. It claims to be the deepest show cave in Britain, but that's only it's depth below the surface at any given point, not the total amount it descends (which is what cavers would measure).
The boat trip ends at a tiny platform in a chamber where they make you wait for 20 minutes for the next boat. Below the platform, a 12 metre cascade lands in a lake at the Bottomless Pit. The white blobs are helmets dropped by visitors (erm, tour guide, I dropped my hat, what do I do now?), and are periodically cleaned out. The lake is now only about 11 metres deep, and got its name from the years of debris that were dumped in it without altering the water level. Estimates put its original depth at as much as 150 metres, and although they may be greatly exaggerated by making assumptions about the shaft width, it was originally plumbed for something like 117 metres without reaching the bottom. That would make it a British sump depth record before they filled it with all their rubbish. Thanks.
Aven climbing about 40 metres above the platform.
Stemples used by the miners to climb the aven. In JH (another mine in the same system), they used these 80 metres above the floor, on the outside wall, meaning they would need to pull up on one, stand up on it and grab the next one. 80 metres up. Crazy.
Smaller part of the aven with ... wait for it ... some stal.
Far Canal (try saying it out loud), the continuation of the level, which reaches Speedwell's Bung streamways, and the source of the canal water. Note the higher tide mark. The Speedwell water comes from a sump that is one of the deepest sumps in the UK at 70.2 metres.
Win Hill (462 metres), with its distinctive top at Win Hill Pike, a prominent rock outcrop.
Incisions in the hillside by Castleton, which would appear (like Winnats Pass) to be ravines in the coral beds that the limestone was created from.
Heading into Peak Cavern Gorge. Though only a little over 50 metres deep, it certainly is quite impressive.
The Peak Cavern entrance. The view is annoyingly blocked from here, but this is the largest cave entrance in Britain in terms of height (18 metres) and width (31 metres), though the sediment infill means that Smoo Cave manages to have a larger entrance area. Peak Cavern also holds many other records; it is the longest (17.6 km) cave in The Peak District, the deepest cave (248 metres) in England, it has the highest pitch (Titan, 145 metres) and free hanging pitch (also Titan, 141.5 metres) in the British Isles, and it has the deepest mostly-natural through trip (241 metres) in the British Isles.
The Vestibule, the massive 101 metre long entrance porch, which was used as a rope making factory from around 500 years ago until the mid 1900s. Note the spools and gallows (used to stretch the ropes to make them more flexible), the winding machines, and the artificially stepped sediment banks. Note also the blackened roof, caused by the fires that heated the animal fat, used to waterproof the ropes.
Doorway into a terrace.
Winding machine that twists the strands of hemp together to produce string, then twists those together to produce rope.
Looking out of the Peak Cavern entrance, showing its impressive size. For scale, there are some people on the walkway. On the left are two tiny cottages used by the rope makers. There's enough space for three hammocks per cottage, though it would have been a horrible place to live, given the smoke and smell from the animal fat, and accompanying livestock.
Calcited aven leading to The Mendip Beer Monster's Secret Tap Room.
Passage leading off the chamber into the rest of the main cave.
Coffin-like boat, used during the cave's early showcave period, to pass through a duck into the chamber beyond. Even Queen Victoria used one of these.
Lumbago Walk, where the passage gets lower. The duck was at the end of this, but has now been bypassed by a mined route for tourists.
The Great Cave, a huge chamber. The passage at the top is Orchestra Passage.
An attempt to show the size of the chamber. It's a little blurred, but what would you expect from a 1.3 second handheld shot?
Roger Rains House, a lofty passage.
Orchestra Passage re-entering in the roof, originally used by a children's choir, to entertain tourists.
Devils Staircase, the way down into the floodprone continuation of the cave, in what was once part of the showcave. The wooden slide is a prop used by the BBC dramatisation of The Chronicles of Narnia, The Silver Chair (Puddleglum slid down it). The name refers to the superstitious nature of the people who lived here. All caves lead to the Devil, right? Due to gurgling noises the cave made when flooding, they also called the cave The Devil's Arse. It was renamed to Peak Cavern for Queen Victoria's visit, and this is the name that cavers still use. The showcave was recently renamed back to the old name in order to get the attention of tourists.
Viaducts at Chapel-en-le-Frith.
Crowden Clough, at the edge of Kinder Scout.
Picturesque countryside and beautiful lighting at Lee House.
Heading down into Speedwell Cavern, one of several mined entrances to the Peak Cavern system.
Speedwell is really only an attraction because of the canal. The water is artificially maintained at 1 metre depth using dams in the Speedwell part of the Peak Cavern streamways.
Tours are conducted on cramped boats that use electric motors to ferry 21 passengers to the other end of the tunnel.
Initially, the canal was a dry passage for something like 9 years. It was then used as a canal to transport minerals, before the mine ceased operation 11 years after being started, having found virtually no minerals at all. Finally, it was converted into a showcave. It claims to be the deepest show cave in Britain, but that's only it's depth below the surface at any given point, not the total amount it descends (which is what cavers would measure).
The boat trip ends at a tiny platform in a chamber where they make you wait for 20 minutes for the next boat. Below the platform, a 12 metre cascade lands in a lake at the Bottomless Pit. The white blobs are helmets dropped by visitors (erm, tour guide, I dropped my hat, what do I do now?), and are periodically cleaned out. The lake is now only about 11 metres deep, and got its name from the years of debris that were dumped in it without altering the water level. Estimates put its original depth at as much as 150 metres, and although they may be greatly exaggerated by making assumptions about the shaft width, it was originally plumbed for something like 117 metres without reaching the bottom. That would make it a British sump depth record before they filled it with all their rubbish. Thanks.
Aven climbing about 40 metres above the platform.
Stemples used by the miners to climb the aven. In JH (another mine in the same system), they used these 80 metres above the floor, on the outside wall, meaning they would need to pull up on one, stand up on it and grab the next one. 80 metres up. Crazy.
Smaller part of the aven with ... wait for it ... some stal.
Far Canal (try saying it out loud), the continuation of the level, which reaches Speedwell's Bung streamways, and the source of the canal water. Note the higher tide mark. The Speedwell water comes from a sump that is one of the deepest sumps in the UK at 70.2 metres.
Win Hill (462 metres), with its distinctive top at Win Hill Pike, a prominent rock outcrop.
Incisions in the hillside by Castleton, which would appear (like Winnats Pass) to be ravines in the coral beds that the limestone was created from.
Heading into Peak Cavern Gorge. Though only a little over 50 metres deep, it certainly is quite impressive.
The Peak Cavern entrance. The view is annoyingly blocked from here, but this is the largest cave entrance in Britain in terms of height (18 metres) and width (31 metres), though the sediment infill means that Smoo Cave manages to have a larger entrance area. Peak Cavern also holds many other records; it is the longest (17.6 km) cave in The Peak District, the deepest cave (248 metres) in England, it has the highest pitch (Titan, 145 metres) and free hanging pitch (also Titan, 141.5 metres) in the British Isles, and it has the deepest mostly-natural through trip (241 metres) in the British Isles.
The Vestibule, the massive 101 metre long entrance porch, which was used as a rope making factory from around 500 years ago until the mid 1900s. Note the spools and gallows (used to stretch the ropes to make them more flexible), the winding machines, and the artificially stepped sediment banks. Note also the blackened roof, caused by the fires that heated the animal fat, used to waterproof the ropes.
Doorway into a terrace.
Winding machine that twists the strands of hemp together to produce string, then twists those together to produce rope.
Looking out of the Peak Cavern entrance, showing its impressive size. For scale, there are some people on the walkway. On the left are two tiny cottages used by the rope makers. There's enough space for three hammocks per cottage, though it would have been a horrible place to live, given the smoke and smell from the animal fat, and accompanying livestock.
Calcited aven leading to The Mendip Beer Monster's Secret Tap Room.
Passage leading off the chamber into the rest of the main cave.
Coffin-like boat, used during the cave's early showcave period, to pass through a duck into the chamber beyond. Even Queen Victoria used one of these.
Lumbago Walk, where the passage gets lower. The duck was at the end of this, but has now been bypassed by a mined route for tourists.
The Great Cave, a huge chamber. The passage at the top is Orchestra Passage.
An attempt to show the size of the chamber. It's a little blurred, but what would you expect from a 1.3 second handheld shot?
Roger Rains House, a lofty passage.
Orchestra Passage re-entering in the roof, originally used by a children's choir, to entertain tourists.
Devils Staircase, the way down into the floodprone continuation of the cave, in what was once part of the showcave. The wooden slide is a prop used by the BBC dramatisation of The Chronicles of Narnia, The Silver Chair (Puddleglum slid down it). The name refers to the superstitious nature of the people who lived here. All caves lead to the Devil, right? Due to gurgling noises the cave made when flooding, they also called the cave The Devil's Arse. It was renamed to Peak Cavern for Queen Victoria's visit, and this is the name that cavers still use. The showcave was recently renamed back to the old name in order to get the attention of tourists.