Daniel and the Cave Dwellers

I found this story whilst researching a walk in Derbyshire which I undertook last weekend.It is a circular walk of about 5 miles near Babbington midway between Wirksworth and Carsington Water.This true story is by Daniel Defoe,one of our greatest writers,whilst visiting Harborough rocks which was on the above walk.I have included a photo of Harborough Rocks at the end.

'While at Harborough Rocks, outside Brassington, Defoe and his party spot three young children and a dog in a makeshift garden beneath the cliff face. Yet there is no sign of habitation nearby.
Suddenly, a woman appears from a small opening in the rock with a youngster in her arms and another at her side. It transpires that the family had made their home in a cave. While being shown round the humble dwelling, Defoe is impressed with how clean and neat it was.
The woman tells him her husband works in the lead mines where, if lucky, he could earn 5d a day. She, herself, washes the ore for 3d a day whenever she is able. The author and his party are so moved by the family’s plight that they have a whip-round and present the miner’s wife with almost 5s. Overcome by their kind gesture, she bursts into tears.
The group then sets off to find one of the open shafts by which the men descended into the mines. They are gathered around one such opening when, suddenly, “a hand, and than an arm, and quickly after a head, thrust up out of the very ground we were looking at”.
The man who emerged is “clothed all in leather, had a cap of the same without brims, some tools in a little basket he drew up with him”, and carries a great weight of ore. So strong is his dialect that Defoe admits: “Nor indeed could we understand any of the man’s discourse so as to make out a whole sentence.”
The services of an interpreter have to be employed. According to the writer’s description, the miner is “lean as a skeleton, pale as a dead corpse, his hair and beard a deep black, his flesh land and, as we thought, something of the colour of lead itself”.
The man tells them he is working on veins of ore at a depth of 60 fathoms (360ft) and that some of his colleagues are even deeper. Having already counted their blessings at the sight of the cave-dwelling family, Defoe and his party now thank God they did not have to make a living this way.
In exchange for a sample of ore, they give the miner 2s. A little later on, they meet him again in a local alehouse spending the cash on “good Pale Derby”. '
Daniel Defoe published his impressions of Derbyshire in the third and final volume of A Tour Through the Whole Island of Great Britain in 1726. His travel book proved a tremendous hit in its day. It remains the most frequently quoted work for the social and economic history of those times. And, thanks to the author of Robinson Crusoe, we get a glimpse of what life was like in the country three centuries ago.

You do find some interesting stuff, omega! Great pic too

Thanks for your comments,Seahorse.
Its the power of the internet that allows me to gather lots of information nowadays.
Generally I look for a circular walk and then expand on the information given.Lottery and EU funding have opened up the countryside and there are many well documented and well managed sites of interest.(In my picture,just beyond the rusty farm machinery,is a stone wall marking the edge of the Limestone Way.One such route under stewardship.)
My particular interest are the Hominid bearing caves of the magnesium limestone outcrops on the Notts/Derby border.(Asleep yet?)Put any of the following terms into your search engine - Ash Tree Cave/Burnhill Grips or Markland Grips or Dead Mans Cave/Anston Stones Wood.Scroll down to the Megalithic Portal and link to the site.Don't go directly to the Megalithic Portal because its hard to search within it.Someone called trust5629 has some good photos and info there.
The Megalithic Portal and Megalithic Map also has lots on stone circles,long barrows etc that may be of interest.

I am still hoping to go on the Anchor Church walk (that you put on here a while back) sometime this summer. I haven't been totally lazy though, i've managed a few local walks round the Vale of Belvoir and in the Tealby area. I am really having withdrawal symptons from not being to Derbyshire at all this year - I love it there....... maybe later............

we are going to Derbyshire in a couple of weeks going to walk from Edale to Kinder Downfall then back down Jacobs Ladder then off to the pub for a few pints.