Found a cool man-made cave (Hurker Woods, Darley area)

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Oct 5, 2020
31
25
Peak District
Apologies for lack of original images - writing this on mobile and can’t figure out how to upload them - will link 3rd party image below:

farley_hurker01.jpg


Popped out for a day hiking above Darley Dale/Matlock and ended up in Hurker Woods for the first time - lovely little wood full of pine and birch.

Whilst finding a place to light a fire and get the stew on we stumbled across an intriguing man-made cave - it’s been hewn into one solid boulder and has two sets of windows and a main entrance.

After a little digging it turns out it was used as a hiding place by Sheffield robbers in the 1850s, although clearly not to much effect as they were eventually caught there - no idea who originally carved this out of the rock but it must have taken considerable time and effort.

Will link to the site we found the info on here - there’s an image on there that shows it quite well!


Anyway - was a really cool place to have a bite to eat and get out of the drizzle - anyone else found anything interesting or unexpected recently?
 
Last edited:

TLM

Bushcrafter (boy, I've got a lot to say!)
Nov 16, 2019
3,089
1,620
Vantaa, Finland
Nice and interesting find. Nothing like that here, granite is too hard for cave carving. The little lime stone (or actually microcrystalline marble a geologist told me) that is above ground has been dug up ages ago by farmers. Some marble around though closest outcrop by wayside a click away.
 
Oct 5, 2020
31
25
Peak District
[mention]Toddy [/mention] seems that way doesn’t it - I’d love to know how long it took them and what tools they’d have used!

Interestingly enough we knew about the actual hall itself and set out with that in mind - we thought we had found the boundary wall so followed that and it led us to the Hermit’s Cave/Summer House.

If anyone is interested it’s co-ordinates are:


LAT: 53.1538
LONG: -1.5533


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demographic

Bushcrafter (boy, I've got a lot to say!)
Apr 15, 2005
4,688
708
-------------
Theres one called Lacy Caves near Lazonby and another near Wetheral as as well.
Me and a mate once camped in Lacy caves over a Christmas holidays.
Was freezing kipping in our German army sleeping bags (the dead heavy ones with arms in em) and we... ahem... liberated two straw bales from a nearby barn to keep us off the ground.

Some footage I found on Youtube showing the general idea of the place.
 
Oct 5, 2020
31
25
Peak District
Theres one called Lacy Caves near Lazonby and another near Wetherall as as well.
Me and a mate once camped in Lacy caves over a Christmas holidays.
Was freezing kipping in our German army sleeping bags (the dead heavy ones with arms in em) and we... ahem... liberated two straw bales from a nearby barn to keep us off the ground.

Some footage I found on Youtube showing the general idea of the place.

Great stuff - they look far more impressive! Can imagine it was f**king freezing!


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk
 

Paul_B

Bushcrafter through and through
Jul 14, 2008
6,140
1,533
Cumbria
I think I've kayaked that stretch of Eden. Is it the place with face carvings on the crag too or am I mistaken?
 

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