Castleton~a Hollow Country
It was Sir Arthur Conan Doyle, creator of Sherlock Holmes, who first described the countryside around Castleton as a ‘hollow country’. ‘Could you strike it with some gigantic hammer, it would boom like a drum or possibly cave in altogether’, he wrote, showing a keen appreciation of the local geology.Castleon is the Peak’s under-ground’ - the place where thousands of visitors every year experience yet another, unseen, aspect of the landscape. Show caverns, some discovered by prospecting leadminers, reveal the subterranean wonderland created by centuries of dripping water percolating through the permeable limestone.
These caves are also the only place in the world where the semi-precious mineral Blue John is found, and worked into delicate items of jewellery for visiting tourists.
The spectacular Winnats (‘wind gates’) Pass to the west of the town is thought to be the remains of a collapsed cave system, and provides an impressive introduction to the medieval planned township at the head of the Hope Valley.
Castleton was founded by William Peveril, an illegitimate son of William the Conqueror, shortly after the Conquest. It was a planned town, contained within a ditch and watched over by the castle on the hill above, but it never really succeeded. The present castle, the finest medieval landmark in the Peak, dates from 1176, and is an early example of a stone keep.
Castleton today is a popular destination for day-trippers and school parties, many of whom used the facilities of the National Park Study Centre at Losehill Hall. Every May, the streets of the busy little town are the scene of the mysterious and ancient Garlanding ceremony, when a man known as the King rides through, completely encased in a bell-like cone of flowers.
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