From either Sheffield or Manchester a most delightful journey is open through
Derbyshire to a good pedestrian, or to a party of friends travelling in a
carriage with their own horses. For the latter purpose an Irish outside car,
fitted either with a pole or outrigger for a pair of horses, is one of the
best conveyances we know. The front seat holds the driver; two ladies and
two gentlemen fill up the two sides. The well contains ample space for the
luggage of sensible people; umbrellas and waterproof capes can be strapped on
the intermediate cushion, and then, if the horses are provided with military
halters and nosebags, you are prepared for every eventuality. To other
impedimenta it is not amiss to add a couple of light saddles, so that, if
necessary, some of the party may ride to any particular spot.
This mode of travelling is particularly well suited for Derbyshire, Wales,
Devonshire, and all counties where there are beautiful spots worth visiting
to which there are no regular conveyances, and which, indeed, are often only
accidentally discovered. By this mode of travelling you are rendered
perfectly independent of time and taverns, so long as you reach an inn in
time to go to bed; for you can carry all needful provant for both man and
beast with you.
Derbyshire is in every respect one of the most beautiful counties in England,
and deserves a closer investigation than can be obtained from the outside of
a coach, much less from the windows of a flying train, whenever the promised
railway line, which we propose to traverse, shall be completed.
Derbyshire possesses two kinds of scenery totally distinct in character, but
both remarkably picturesque, several natural curiosities of a very striking
character, two very pleasant bath towns,--Buxton and Matlock; beside the
antiquarian glories of Hardwicke and Haddon, and the palatial magnificence of
Chatsworth, with its porticoes, its fountains, its pleasure grounds, its
Victoria Regia, and the House of Glass that has been the means of making
Joseph Paxton famous all over the civilized world.
While the country round the Peak is wild, bare, and rugged, the line of
valleys and dales on which lies the road from Matlock to Burton and
Manchester, presents the most charming series of pictures of undulating
woodland scenery, adorned by mansions and cottages, that it is possible to
imagine. The high road continually runs along the steep side of valleys,--on
one side are thick coverts climbing the rocky hill-sides, all variegated with
wild flowers, briars, and brushwood; on the other side, sometimes on a level
with the road, sometimes far below, a river winds and foams and brawls along;
if lost for a short distance, again coming in sight of the road, enlivening
and refreshing the scene.
In the main avenue of the Crystal Palace, Mr. Carrington exhibited a model
which represented with extraordinary accuracy all this country, and which
gave a very exact picture of Derbyshire, with all the undulations of its
hills and rivers worked to a scale. Those who have never been in the county
should endeavour to see it, as it will teach them that we have a Switzerland
in England of which they knew not.
One charm of this part of Derbyshire is the intermixture of cultivation and
wild nature, or woods so planted as to well emulate nature. On bits of level
space you meet a cottage neatly built of stone, all covered with roses and
woodbines, which flourish wonderfully on the loose soil in the showery
atmosphere. The cottages of Derbyshire are so pretty that you are at first
inclined to imagine that they are for show,--mere fancy buildings. But no;
the cheapness of good building stone, the suitability of the soil for
flowering shrubs, and perhaps something in the force of example, create
cottage after cottage fit for the dwellings of Arcadian lovers. And every
now and then the landscape opens on a villa or mansion so placed that there
is nothing left for the landscape gardener to do.
The farm buildings, and corn mills, and silk mills, are equally picturesque:
game abounds. Early in the morning and in the evening you may often see the
pheasants feeding close to the roadside, and, in the middle of the day, the
sudden sharp noise of a detonating ball will set them crowing in the woods
all around.
We cannot say that the streams now swarm with trout and grayling as they did
when honest Isaac Walton sung their praises in quaint poetical prose,
although they still twine and foam along their rocky beds all overhung with
willows and tufted shrubs; but, where the waters are preserved, there good
sport is to be had.
The roadside inns are not bad. The half-mining, half-farming people are
quaint and amusing. The caverns of the Peak and the lead mines, afford
something strange and new. Altogether we can warmly commend a trip through
Derbyshire, as one affording great variety of hill and dale, wood and stream,
barren moors, and rich cultivation, fine parks and mansions, and beautiful
hamlets, cottages, and roadside gardens, where English peasant life is to be
seen under most favourable aspects.
* * * * *
HARDWICKE.--Supposing that we proceed from Sheffield, we would take the
railway to Chesterfield, which is not a place of any interest. Thence make
our way to Hardwicke, on the road to Mansfield.
Hardwicke Hall is a good specimen of the style of domestic architecture in
the time of Queen Elizabeth, which has remained unaltered since that period.
Mary Queen of Scots was imprisoned here, and some remains of tapestry worked
by her are exhibited, as well as furniture more ancient than the house
itself. It belongs to the Duke of Devonshire.
From Hardwicke we proceed to Matlock, which may be reached by an unfinished
railway, intended to traverse the vales, and thence run into Manchester.
The village and baths are in the centre of a dale through which the river
Derwent flows, along between overhanging trees, except where, in some parts,
its course lies through the narrow gut of perpendicular rocks. On either
side rise hills, for the most part adorned with wood, to the height of three
hundred feet.
The waters, which are supplied to several small and one large swimming bath,
have a temperature of from 66 to 68 degrees of Fahrenheit. They are not now
much in fashion, therefore the village has continued a village, and is
extremely quiet or dull according to the tastes of the visitor. At the same
time, there are a number of delightful expeditions to be made in the
neighbourhood, on foot or horseback, and on donkeys,--hills to be ascended and
caves to be explored.
By permission of Sir Richard Arkwright of Willersley Castle, close to Matlock
and several other river preserves, good fishing may be obtained.
From Matlock, the next halt should be at Bakewell, where there is an
excellent inn, which is a good encampment for visiting both Chatsworth and
Haddon Hall.
Chatsworth is three miles from Bakewell. The present building occupies the
site of that which was long occupied by Mary Queen of Scots during her
captivity, and which was taken down to make room for the present structure at
the close of the seventeenth century.
The park is ten miles in circumference, and is intersected by the river
Derwent, which flows in front of the mansion.
This place has long been celebrated for its natural and artificial beauties,
but within the last few years the Duke of Devonshire has largely added to its
attractions, by alterations carried on at an immense expense, under the
direction of Mr. Joseph Paxton, which, among other things, include the
largest greenhouse in the world--the house where the Victoria Regia was first
made to flower, and a fountain of extraordinary height and beauty.
These grounds, with the house, containing some fine pictures, are open to the
visits of all well-behaved persons. Indeed, from the arrangements made for
the convenience of visitors, it would seem as if the Duke of Devonshire has
as much pleasure in displaying, as visitors can have in examining, his most
beautiful domains, which is saying a great deal.
Haddon Hall, one of the most perfect specimens of a mansion of the fifteenth
and sixteenth centuries, is situated on the left bank of the Wye, at a short
distance from Bakewell. The "interiors" of Mr. Joseph Nash have rendered the
beauties of the architecture of Haddon Hall well known, but it also enjoys
the advantage of a very fine situation, backed by old trees. It is the
property of the Duke of Rutland, uninhabited, but perfectly preserved. Good
fishing is to be obtained near Bakewell, through the landlord of the hotel.
BUXTON may be the next halt, the Leamington of Manchester, but although more
picturesquely situated, it has not enjoyed anything like the tide of
prosperity which has flowed for the Warwickshire watering place. The thermal
waters of Buxton have been celebrated from the time of the Romans.
The town is situated in a deep basin, surrounded by bleak hills and barren
moors, in strong contrast to the verdant valley in which the village of
Matlock lies. The only entrance to and exit from this basin is by a narrow
ravine, through which the river Wye flows on its way to join the Derwent
toward Bakewell.
The highest mountains in Derbyshire are close at hand, one of which is one
thousand feet above the valley in which Buxton stands, and two thousand one
hundred feet higher than the town of Derby. From this mountain four rivers
rise, the Wye, the Dove, the Goyt, and the Dean.
Buxton consists of a new and old town. In the old town is a hall, in which
Mary Queen of Scots lodged whilst visiting the Buxton waters for her health,
as a prisoner under charge of the Earl of Shrewsbury. A Latin distich, a
farewell to Buxton, scratched on the window of one of the rooms, is
attributed to the hand of that unhappy princess.
The new part of the town commences with the Crescent, which contains two
houses, a library, an assembly-room, a news-room, baths, and other buildings,
and is one of the finest structures of the kind in the kingdom. The stables,
on a magnificent scale, contain a covered ride, a hundred and sixty feet
long. This immense pile was built by the late Duke of Devonshire in 1781,
and cost 120,000 pounds.
The public baths are very numerous and elegant; and indeed every comfort and
luxury is to be obtained there by invalids and semi-invalids, except that
perpetual atmosphere of amusement, without form, or fuss, or much expense,
which forms the great charm of German watering places.
We cannot understand why at the present moderate price of all kinds of
provisions in England, a tariff of prices, and a set of customs of expense
are kept up, which send all persons of moderate fortune to continental
watering places, or compel them to depart at the end of a fortnight, instead
of staying a month.
Why do we English,--after dining at a table d'hote, all the way from Baden-
Baden to Boulogne, for something not exceeding half-a-crown a-head, without
drinking wine, unless we like,--find ourselves bound, the moment we set our
foot in England, to have a private or stereotyped dinner at five or six
shillings a-head, and no amusement. In London, for gentlemen only, there are
three or four public dinners at a moderate figure. When will some of our
bell-wethers of fashion, to whom economy is of more consequence than even the
middle classes, set the example at Leamington, Tunbridge Wells, Buxton, and
Cheltenham, of dining with their wives and daughters at the public table? How
long are we to be slaves of salt soup, fried soles, and fiery sherry?
The decayed watering places, ruined by the competition of the continent,
should try the experiment of commercial prices, as an invitation to idlers
and half-invalids to stay at home.
Another great help to our watering places and farmers, would be the repeal of
the post-horse tax. It brings in a mere trifle. The repeal would be an
immense boon to places where the chief attraction depends on rides and
drives. It would largely increase the number of horses and vehicles for
hire, and be a real aid to the distressed agricultural interest, by the
increased demand it would make for corn, hay, and straw. Besides, near a
small place like Matlock, or Ilfracombe, in Devonshire, farmers would work
horses through the winter, and hire them out in summer. It is a great tax to
pay four shillings and sixpence as a minimum for going a mile in any country
place where flies and cabs have not been planted.
The environs of Buxton afford ample room for rides, drives, picnics, and
geological and botanical explorations. Beautifully romantic scenes are to be
found among the high crags on the Bakewell road, overhanging the river Wye.
Among the natural curiosities is a cave called Poole's Hole, five hundred and
sixty yards in length, with a ceiling in one part very lofty, and adorned
with stalactites, which have a beautiful appearance when lighted up by Roman
candles or other fireworks. As Buxton is only twenty-two miles from
Manchester, travellers who have the time to spare should on no account omit
to visit one of the most romantic and remarkable scenes of England.
* * * * *
MACCLESFIELD.--From Buxton it will not be a bad plan to proceed to
Macclesfield, and again in Cheshire, on the borders of Derbyshire, take
advantage of the rail. The turnpike road to that improving seat of the silk
manufacture is across one of the highest hills in the district, from the
summit of which an extensive view into the "Vale Royal" of Cheshire is had.
The hills and valleys in the vicinity of Whaley and Chapel-en-le-Frith are
equally delightful. Macclesfield has one matter of attraction--its important
silk manufactories. In other respects it is externally perfectly
uninteresting. The Earl of Chester, son of Henry III., made Macclesfield a
free borough, consisting of a hundred and twenty burgesses, and various
privileges were conferred by Edward III., Richard II., Edward IV., Elizabeth,
and Charles II.
One of the churches, St. Michael's, was founded by Eleanor, Queen of Edward
I., in 1278. It has been partly rebuilt, but there are two chapels, one the
property of the Marquis of Cholmondeley, which was built by Thomas Savage,
Archbishop of York, whose heart was buried there in 1508. The other belongs
to the Leghs of Lyme. A brass plate shows that the estate of Lyme was
bestowed upon an ancestor for recovering a standard at the battle of Cressy.
He was afterwards beheaded at Chester as a supporter of Richard II. Another
ancestor, Sir Piers Legh, fell fighting at the battle of Agincourt. We do
not know what manner of men the Leghs of Lyme of the present generation are,
but certainly pride is pardonable in a family with an ancestry which took
part in deeds not only recorded by history, but immortalized by Shakspeare.
There is a grammar school, of the foundation of Edward VI., with an income of
1500 pounds a-year, free to all residents, with two exhibitions of 50 pounds
per annum, tenable for four years. But there must be some mismanagement, as
it appears from Parker's useful Educational Register, that in 1850 only
twenty-two scholars availed themselves of these privileges; yet Macclesfield
has a population exceeding thirty thousand.
The education of the working classes is above average, and music is much
cultivated. We abstain from giving the figures in this as in several other
instances, because the census, which will shortly be published, will afford
exact information on all these points.
The establishment of silk factories on the river Bollen brought Macclesfield
into notice in the beginning of this century. Unhampered by the restrictions
which weighed upon the Spitalfields manufacturers, and nurtured by the
monopoly accorded to English silks, the silk weaving trade gradually attained
great prosperity between 1808 and 1825. At that period the commencement of
the fiscal changes, which have rendered the silk trade quite open to foreign
competition, produced a serious effect on the prosperity of Macclesfield.
In 1832 the number of mills at work had diminished nearly one-half, and the
number of hands by two-thirds. Since that period, after various
vicissitudes, the silk trade has acquired a more healthy tone, and we presume
that the inhabitants do not now consider the alterations commenced by
Huskisson, and completed by Peel, injurious to their interests; since, at the
last election, they returned one free-trader, a London shopkeeper, in
conjunction with a local banker and manufacturer.
Macclesfield has now to contend with home as well as foreign competition, for
silk manufactories have been spread over the kingdom in many directions.
We may expect to see in a few years, as the result of the universal extension
of railway communication, a great distribution and transplantation of
manufacturing establishments to towns where cheap labour and provisions, or
good water or water-power, or cheap fuel, offer any advantages, There is
something very curious to be noted in the manner in which certain of our
principal manufactures have remained constant, while others have been
transplanted from place to place, and in which ports have risen and fallen.
The glory of the Cinque Ports seems departed for ever, unless as harbours of
refuge, while Folkestone, by the help of a railway, has acquired a
considerable trade at the expense of Dover. The same power which has
rendered Southampton great has reduced Falmouth and Harwich to a miserably
low ebb. The sea-borne trade of Chester is gone for ever, but Birkenhead
hopes to rise by the power of steam.
No changes can seriously injure Hull, although railways will give Great
Grimsby a large share of the overflowings of the new kind of trade created by
large steam boats and the repeal of duties on timber; and so we might run
through a long list of commercial changes, past, present, and to come.
Macclesfield has shared largely in these influences. Having acquired its
commercial importance as one of the glasshouses in which, at great expense,
we raised an artificial silk trade, when it lay at a distance of at least
three hours from Manchester for all heavy goods, and at least three days from
London; it has now communication with London in five hours, and with the port
of Liverpool, through Manchester, in two hours if needful. Thus it enjoys
the best possible means of obtaining the raw material and sending off the
manufactured article.
In the time of Queen Charlotte, the wife of George III., it was contrary to
the laws of the palace for any servant to wear a silk gown; but extended
commerce and improved machinery have rendered it almost a matter of course
for the respectable cook of a respectable lawyer or surgeon, to afford
herself a black silk gown without extravagance or impertinence,--which is so
much the better for the weavers and sailors.
We shall not attempt to describe the silk manufacture, which is on the same
principles as all other textiles, except that less work can be done by
machinery. But it is one of the most pleasant and picturesque of all our
manufacturing operations. The long light rooms in which the weaving is
conducted are scrupulously clean and of a pleasant temperature,--no dust, no
motes are flying about. The girls in short sleeves, in the course of their
work are, as it were, obliged to assume a series of graceful attitudes. The
delicacy of their work, and the upward position in which they hold them,
render their hands white and delicate, and the atmosphere has something of
the same effect on their complexion. Many of the greatest beauties of
Belgravia might envy the white hands and taper fingers to be found in a silk
mill.
Unfortunately this trade, which in factory work is healthy and well paid, is,
more than any other, subject to the vicissitudes of fashion. The plain
qualities suffer from such changes less than the rich brocades and fancy
patterns.
It must be remarked that, although the repeal of protective duties to
eighteen per cent. produced a temporary depressing effect on the trade of
Macclesfield, the general silk trade has largely increased ever since 1826,
and has spread over a number of counties where it was before unknown, and has
become an important article of export even to France.
An example of the readiness with which, in these railroad days, a manufacture
can be transplanted, was exhibited at Tewkesbury four years ago. The once-
fashionable theatre of that decayed town was being sold by auction; it hung
on the auctioneer's hammer at so trifling a sum that one of the new made
M.P.'s of the borough bought it. Having bought it, for want of some other
use he determined to turn it into a silk mill. In a very short space of time
the needful machinery was obtained from Macclesfield, with an overseer. While
the machinery was being erected, a bevy of girls were acquiring the art of
silk weaving, and, in less than twelve months, five or six hundred hands were
as regularly engaged in this novel process, as if they had been so engaged
all their lives. Without railroads, such an undertaking would have been the
work of years, if possible at all.
Raw silk is obtained from Italy, from France in small quantities, as the
exportation of the finest silk is forbidden, from China, from India in
increasing quantities, and from Brusa in Asia Minor through Constantinople.
The raw silk, imported in the state in which it is wound from the cocoons,
has to be twisted into thread, after being dyed, so as to approach the stage
of yarn in the cotton manufacture. This twisting is technically called
throwing, and is one of the departments in which the greatest improvements
have been introduced, as shown by silk throwers from Macclesfield in the
machine department of the Great Exhibition; and, by the improvements, the
cost of throwing, or twisting, has been reduced from 10s. per lb. to 3s.
It takes about twelve pounds of cocoons to make one pound of reeled silk, and
that pound will produce from fourteen to sixteen yards of gros de Naples.
Many attempts have been made to naturalize the silk-worm in this country,
but, after rather large sums have been expended on it, it is now quite clear
that, although it be possible to obtain large quantities of silk of a certain
quality, the undertaking cannot be made to pay: the climate is an obstacle.
For centuries the silk-worm was only known to the Chinese,--the Greeks and
Romans used the substance without knowing from what it was produced or whence
it came. In the sixth century, in the reign of Justinian, the eggs of the
silk-worm were brought secretly to Constantinople from China by the Nestorian
monks in a hollow cane, hatched, and successfully propagated. For six
centuries the breeding of silk-worms was confined to the Greeks of the Lower
Empire. In the twelfth century the art was transferred to Sicily, and thence
successively to Italy, Spain, and France.
Great efforts were made in the reign of James I. to promote the rearing of
silk-worms in England, and mulberry trees were distributed to persons of
influence through many counties. The scheme failed. But in 1718 a company
was incorporated, with a like purpose, and planted trees, and erected
buildings in Chelsea Park. This scheme also failed. Great efforts were made
to plant the growth of silk in the American colonies, and the brilliant
prospects of establishing a new staple of export formed a prominent feature
in the schemes for American colonization, of which so many were launched in
the beginning of the eighteenth century. But up to the present time no
progress has been made in it in that country, although silk-worms are found
in a natural state in the forests of the Union. Indeed, it seems a pursuit
which needs cheap attentive labour as well as suitable climate. Some
attempts have been made in Australia, but there again the latter question
presents an insurmountable obstacle. If the mulberry would thrive in Natal,
where native labour is cheap, it would be worth trying there, although we
cannot do better than develop the resources of the silk-growing districts of
India, where the culture has been successfully carried on for centuries.
At the Great Exhibition an extremely handsome banner was exhibited,
manufactured from British silk, cultivated by the late Mrs. Whitby of
Newlands, near Southampton, who spent a large income, and many years in the
pursuit, solely from philanthropic motives, and carried on an extensive
correspondence with parties inclined to assist her views; but, although to
the last she was sanguine of success in making silk one of the raw staples of
England, and a profitable source of employment for women and children, we
have seen no commercial evidence of any more real progress than that of
gardeners in growing grapes and melons without glass-houses.
Almost every country in Europe has made the same attempts, but with very
moderate success. Russia has its mulberry plantations, so has Belgium,
Austria Proper, Hungary, Bavaria, and even Sweden; but Lombardy and Cevennes
in France bear away the palm for excellence, and there is an annual increase
in the quantity and quality of silk from British India. But no matter where
it grows, we can buy it and bring it to our own doors nearly as cheap as the
natives of the country, often cheaper.
In Macclesfield every kind of silk article is produced, including ribbons,
narrow and richly-ornamented satin, velvet, silk embroidered for waistcoats
and gown pieces.