as far back as the Bronze Age and even earlier have been found in such places as the Harborough Cave, Thor’s Cave, Thor’s Fissure and Beeston Tor (St. Bertram’s) Cave. None of these, however, is of such outstanding importance as regards evidence of prehistoric conditions as the famous series of caves in the Magnesian Limestone at Creswell in east Derbyshire well beyond the boundary of the National Park. It is their detailed features, including calcite curtains of varying hue, cavities lined with fluorspar, diverse forms of stalactites and stalagmites and the subterranean streams which give to the caves their popular appeal. The Peak Cavern has been famous for centuries. It is referred to as a “marvel of England” in Henry of Huntingdon’s
Historia Anglorum, which was written in the twelfth century. Just as generations ago the Cavern earned a reputation among travellers as one of the wonders of The Peak, so today thousands of people each year are attracted to this and other caves which are exploited as commercial ventures. The caves in this category at present open to the public are the Blue John Mine, the Peak Cavern, the Speedwell Cavern and the Treak Cliff Caverns, all in the neighbourhood of Castleton, the Bagshawe Cavern near Bradwell, Poole’s Cavern at Buxton, the Cumberland, Masson and Rutland Caverns at Matlock Bath, and the Fern Cave and Roman Cave at High Tor, Matlock.
