Before leaving Derbyshire the ruin of Beauchief Abbey, which gave the
name of Abbey Dale to one of the pleasant vales on the eastern border of
the county, must not be forgotten. It was built seven hundred years ago,
and there remains but a single fragment of this famous religious house,
the arch of the great east window. Singularly enough, under the same
roof with the abbey was built an inn, and at a short distance there is a
hermitage: the hermit's cave is scooped out of a rock elevated above the
valley and overhung with foliage. We are told that a pious baker lived
in the town of Derby who was noted for his exemplary life: the Virgin
Mary, as a proof of his faith, required him to relinquish all his
worldly goods and go to Deepdale and lead a solitary life in Christ's
service. He did as he was told, departed from Derby, but had no idea
where he was to go; directing his footsteps towards the east, he passed
through a village, and heard a woman instruct a girl to drive some
calves to Deepdale. Regarding this as an interposition of Providence,
the baker, encouraged, asked where was Deepdale; the woman told the girl
to show him. Arrived there, he found it marshy land, distant from any
human habitation; but, seeking a rising ground, he cut a small dwelling
in a rock under the side of a hill, built an altar, and there spent day
and night in the Divine service, with hunger and cold, thirst and want.
Now, it happened that a person of great consequence owned this
land--Ralph, the son of Geremund--and coming to the woods to hunt, he
saw smoke rising from the hermit's cave, and was filled with
astonishment that any one should have dared to establish a dwelling
there without his permission. Going to the place, he found the hermit
clothed in old rags and skins, and, inquiring about his case, Ralph's
anger changed to pity. To show his compassion, he granted the hermit the
ground where the hermitage stood, and also for his support the tithe of
a mill not far away. The tradition further relates "that the old Enemy
of the human race" then endeavored to make the hermit dissatisfied with
his condition, but "he resolutely endured all its calamities," and
ultimately he built a cottage and oratory, and ended his days in the
service of God. After his death, Ralph's daughter prevailed upon her
husband to dedicate Deepdale to religious uses, and he inviting the
canons, they built the abbey. We are told in Howitt's _Forest Minstrel_
of the wonder caused by the construction of the abbey, and also how in
later years the monks became corrupted by prosperity. A place is shown
to visitors where the wall between the chapel and the inn gave way to
the thirsty zeal of the monks, and through an opening their favorite
liquor was handed. The _Forest Minstrel_ tells us they
"Forsook missal and mass
To chant o'er a bottle or shrive a lass;
No matin's bell called them up in the morn,
But the yell of the hounds and sound of the horn;
No penance the monk in his cell could stay
But a broken leg or a rainy day:
The pilgrim that came to the abbey-door,
With the feet of the fallow-deer found it nailed o'er;
The pilgrim that into the kitchen was led.
On Sir Gilbert's venison there was fed.
And saw skins and antlers hang o'er his head."