SECTION V.

The river Etherow.---Broad Bottom Bridge.---Compstall Bridge.---View from Compstall House.---Cotton Printing.---Junction of the Etherow and the Goyt.---Marple Bridge.---Mellor Mill.---S. Oldknow, Esq.--Scenery of the Goyt.

WE left Glossop the morning after our arrival there, intending to visit the banks of the Etherow, one of the boundary rivers of Derbyshire, which rises at the northern extremity of the county, and after running to the vicinity of Motram in a western direction, gradually inclines towards the south, and separates Derbyshire from Cheshire. Hitherto this river has attracted but little attention from tourists, who have generally confined their observations to the Derwent, the Dove, and the Wye; it is therefore but little known.

About three miles from Glossop we passed the village of Charlsworth, which is situated on the side of a steep hill; the houses are built with a cold grey-coloured stone, and as there is scarcely a single tree amongst them, the place has altogether a very cheerless appearNear this village we had the first view of the Etherow, which was seen in occasional glimpses winding through a deep valley amongst overhanging trees.

ance.

Lady Mary Wortley Montague has somewhere remarked, that the

most beautiful scenery is always found along the channels of rivers, and as far as the observation applies to the Peak of Derbyshire, it is peculiarly correct: nature indeed hides her most romantic scenes in deep recesses and sequestered dells, amongst rocks and woods, and streams of living water.

As we deviated from the road that leads to Marple Bridge we had a rich diversity of landscape spread before us; and at a short distance on our right, the choicest beauties of the Etherow appeared to be combined. Our path was narrow, steep, and rugged, and but ill adapted for travelling in a tilbury; we however moved cautiously, and came upon the margin of the river at Broad Bottom Bridge.

Man scarcely ever meddles with the scenery of nature without impairing its beauties, and at this place he has been eminently successful. Rocks have been removed, and a situation scooped out of the picturesque banks of the Etherow for the erection of mills, and the noise and clatter of machinery have succeeded to the solemn stillness that once pervaded this retired dell.

The Etherow is here a broad and rapid stream; its banks are high and rocky, and at their nearest approximation, a stone bridge, which is a noble structure of one immense arch, crosses the river. The view from below this bridge was once eminently rich and picturesque ; but the mills of Messrs. Kelsall and Marsland, and the buildings connected with them, have strangely marred the prospect: they are obtruded into the very middle of the stream, and are so situated as effectually to hide the river and its finely-wooded banks, at a place where the greatest beauty prevails.

The perpendicular rock on the Cheshire side of the Etherow, at Broad Bottom Bridge, is called CAT TOR. This precipice is nearly one hundred feet high; its craggy summit is crested with trees, and the more friable soil on which the top-cliffs rest, nourishes the roots of a variety of shrubs and brambles that grow upon its sides--

"Around its broken summit grew
The hazel rude and sable yew,

A thousand varied lichens dyed
Its waste and weather-beaten side,
And round its rugged basis lay,
By time or thunder rent away,
Fragments, that, from its frontlet torn,
Were mantled now with verdant thorn."

SIR W. SCOTT.

The bed of the river near the bridge is covered with stones of various dimensions, amongst which we found many specimens of quartz and granite, some of them weighing several hundred pounds; but the Cornwall and the Aberdeen granite are most abundant. It may here be observed, that the whole of this district is a micacious and sandstone grit, and that no granite rock is known to exist within more than one hundred miles of the Etherow.

The pile of buildings above the bridge so entirely intersected our view, that we obtained permission of Mr. Marsland to pass through his premises to explore the scenery still higher up the valley. The Etherow is here a deep and truly noble stream; and the trees on its banks, where nothing puny or insignificant is to be seen, are of the most luxuriant description. A weir is thrown across the river in a semicircular direction, over which an immense mass of water is precipitated into an ample bason below, and dashed into the whitest foam.

Above the weir the banks are in some places extremely steep, in others perpendicular; and the thick foliage of the oak, and the lighter branches of the ash, were reflected from the watery mirror below in all the freshness of nature; the whole presenting an inverted landscape, gay with a thousand intermingled hues, and rich with a variety of lovely objects.

In the immediate vicinity of Broad Bottom Bridge, within the rocks that form the channel of the Etherow, globes of red sand-stone from twenty to fifty or sixty inches in diameter, are frequently found; and a practice prevails of covering them over with paint, and marking them with the more prominent indications of the human countenance; they are then placed in the most conspicuous situations, upon gate-posts and walls, to "grin a ghastly smile" at the stranger as he passes along. Nothing can be more grotesque in appearance, or ludicrous in effect, than these shapeless heads and staring faces.

From Broad Bottom Bridge we ascended the hill, and regained the road we had left. During a ride of a few miles only, we had occasionally some pleasing views of the Etherow winding through a delightful vale that lay on our right; and as we approached Marple the scenery became eminently beautiful---a fine river---a rich and fertile valley---and hills covered with wood---made up the nearer parts of the landscape; beyond, the distance was soft and shadowy, yet sufficiently distinct to exhibit the undulations of the ground, and the dim outline of the various objects with which it is adorned.

We again descended to the margin of the Etherow at a place called Compstall Bridge, near which there is an extensive factory for cotton

View from Compstall House.

45

printing, belonging to T. Andrews, Esq. at whose hospitable mansion we spent the remaining part of the day, and rested for the night. The residence of Mr. Andrews is situated on the declivity of a hill, with beautiful woody scenery rising far above, and a verdant slope below, that declines to the river. Compstall Bridge, a good modern structure, lies on the left of the house: above it, the banks of the Etherow are high and rocky---their upper cliffs are covered with trees, and the eye, as it ranges into distance, passes over a rich variety of landscape, terminating in remote eminences, that mingle with the far-off horizon. The mansion is sufficiently elevated to command a fine view of the surrounding country; and, from the terrace-walk near the principal front, the high-wooded banks of the Goyt, every where marked with beauty, present a very rich, and in some places, a magnificent picture; and where the river, after passing Marple Bridge, and winding through the meadows, withdraws from the scene, the aqueduct of the Peak Forest Canal spans the busy stream, that frets and foams over its rocky channel in the glen below. This elegant structure has the appearance of a Roman bridge of three arches, and it emerges from the woods with uncommon grace and dignity. A finer object in landscape is but seldom seen; and when the mild radiance of an evening sun is playing amongst the trees with which it is nearly environed, and tipping the topmost branches with light, whilst all below is reposing in shadow, the view from Compstall House is one continued scene of beauty.

On the following day we visited Mr. Andrews' manufactory, for the purpose of observing his manner of printing cottons, which is here done by cylindrical copper rollers, on which the different figures are engraved. The process of this mode of printing is so rapid that pieces