Derbyshire is everywhere fruitful in natural curiosities, among the most
striking of which may be reckoned the moors of Hope parish, inasmuch as
they afford an extraordinary instance of the preservation of human
bodies interred in them. In the year 1674, a grazier and his female
servant, in crossing these moors on their way to Ireland, were lost in
the snow, with which they were covered from January to May, and being
then discovered, the bodies were so offensive that the coroner ordered
them to be buried on the spot. After a lapse of twenty-nine years, when
the ground was opened, they were in no way changed, the color of the
skin being fair and natural, and the flesh as soft as that of persons
newly dead. For twenty succeeding years they were occasionally exposed
as a spectacle, but carefully covered after being viewed. They lay at
the depth of about three feet, in a moist soil or moss. The minister of
Hope parish was present in 1716, forty-two years after the accident, at
a particular inspection of these bodies. On the stockings being drawn
off, the man’s legs, which had not been uncovered before, were quite
fair: the flesh, when pressed by the finger, pitted a little; and the
joints played freely, without the least stiffness. Such parts of the
clothing as the avidity of the country people, to possess so great a
curiosity, had spared, were firm and good; and a piece of new serge,
worn by the woman, did not appear to have undergone any sensible change.