On passing the last house in the village a deep ravine opens to Middleton Dale, which in savage grandeur is inferior to few of the valleys of Derbyshire. The crags on the right of the Dale are boldly featured. Half-way up they are much broken, and present many projections and recesses having turrets and buttresses named Castle, High Tor, and Steeple Rocks. Above rise a lofty range of perpendicular rocks

The wild scenery of Middleton Dale was greatly enhanced by the fires of the many lime-kilns.

Meandering through the Dale is a brook that flows from Water Grove Mine. Some part of the course lies underground.

In the distance is the chasm through which the road winds to Tideswell and Buxton.

There were two cupolas for smelting lead ore, but they are now in ruins.

Whilst Lord Duncannon was riding in 1743 through Middleton Dale his horse stumbled against a piece of spar. He picked it up, and thought it a pretty ornament. He after wards sent it to Mr. H. Watson, the Bakewell statuary, suggesting it should be turned into a vase. Thus originated the manufacture of that beautiful fluor provincially known by the name of Blue John, into columns, vases, urns, and obelisks frequently to adorn the houses and the palaces of the wealthy.

End of Chapter XI: => THE LOVER'S LEAP