Wonders of the Peak Revisited in the Footsteps of Daniel Defoe

This is a book for the more discerning tourist (or the curious resident), who want to enrich their visit by delving deeper into the history and culture behind the places they visit or live close to. It provides a light, anecdotal dip into the history of each 'wonder', its associated legends and literary connections, as well as advice on features of particular interest for today's visitor in the area where each is located. This richly illustrated book quotes substantially from the writings of the famous novelist Daniel Defoe as well as earlier writers such as Charles Cotton and Thomas Hobbes. William Camden, author of 'Britannia' (1586) wrote that Derbyshire was '...all rocky, full of barren mountains and wild'. The novelist Daniel Defoe called 'The Peak District' a 'houling Wilderness.' Charles Cotton, writer, fisherman and resident of Derbyshire condemned it as 'A country so deformed, the Traveller Would Swear those parts Nature's Pudenda were.' Yet even before Cotton wrote his 'Wonders of the Peak' (1681); generally regarded as the Peak District's first ever travel guide, tourists were flocking to the Peak District in huge numbers. So why did they come? What was the attraction? Landscape painters had yet to romanticise the beauty of the scenery and there were equally grand and awe inspiring wildernesses elsewhere. But the secret of the Peak's attraction to these early visitors lay not in its beauty, but in its reputation. In an age fascinated by mystery and steeped in superstition, the seven wonders, excluding perhaps Chatsworth, had been identified as sites of strange, mysterious and sometimes sinister goings on. Inexplicable vents of wind were said to issue from holes in the ground, springs ebbed and flowed for no apparent reason and caves lead to the centre of the Earth where resided the Devil himself. Visitors came in search of wild sensational experiences, to be terrified out of their wits and go home with a tale to tell. Daniel Defoe did much to debunk these tales of wonder: 'The wit that has been spent on this Vault or Cave in the Earth, has been well enough to raise the expectation of Strangers, and bring Fools a great way to creep into it; but it is ill bestowed...' he complained of Poole's Cavern in his 'A Tour through the whole Island of Great Britain' (1724-1726). But despite his scepticism about the many tales associated with 'the wonders', his writings provide a fascinating insight into the Peak District at this time. This book invites the reader to follow in mind or body, the journey taken by Defoe and other writers who visited the Peak District hundreds of year ago. At the site of each 'wonder', they are invited to explore through the evidence left by these early writers Peak local history, folklore and the legends and outlook of these earlier times. Updates are provided on what each wonder and the area where it is located has to offer today's visitor.