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View of High Tor

Edited by discoveringbritain (Discovering Britain) | Added on 13th June 2019

Catch your breath at this vantage point. From here we can appreciate the natural beauty and grandeur of the landscape that the Derwent has carved out.

With your back to the high street below, face the aptly named High Tor. A ‘tor’ is a large, free-standing rock outcrop that rises abruptly from its surroundings, which this one looming over us certainly does!

In its Victorian heyday, Matlock Bath and its neighbouring countryside were often referred to as ‘little Switzerland’. From here we can get a sense of why, not least because of the climb up! The scene has inspired many writers and artists.

In Mary Shelley’s Gothic novel Frankenstein (written in 1818, the same year the toll road opened) the narrator describes a visit:

We … proceeded to Matlock… The country in the neighbourhood of this village resembles Switzerland; but everything is on a lower scale

A century earlier, Daniel Defoe had recorded

the prodigious height of this tor…was to me more a wonder than any of the rest in the Peak”.

Looking around and breathing in the view, how does this scenery make you feel?

Look closely at the tor and you may catch a glimpse of three white carriages silently making their way up the valley. Let’s discover where the cable car leads and why…

Walk on a short distance then turn to face the other direction from the Tor – overlooking the river and the town.

This trail was originally appeared on the Royal Geographical Society’s Discovering Britain. Thanks are due to:

Jo Kemp for creating and photographing the trail.

Rory Walsh and Caroline Millar for suggestions and advice.

Neil Theasby for images reproduced under Creative Commons License.

Lily Alsop for putting together the written guide.

www.discoveringbritain.org

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Connections in the Landscape

You can experience View of High Tor out in the Peak District or Derbyshire by visiting the location marked on the map below, or find it with the help of the Pocket Wonders app.

Connections in the Museum

The objects below can be found in the Wonders of the Peak exhibition. Each has a connection to View of High Tor.

  • Exhibit 20.4: View of Matlock Bath

Connections to other Wonders

View of High Tor is closely related to other Wonders in the collection.

For the previous chapter in the story, look back at this Wonder:

  • The River Derwent

For the next chapter in the story, continue on to the Wonder below:

  • View of Matlock Bath and Gullivers Kingdom

Save this Wonder

Saving a Wonder adds it to your My Wonders page. You can create your very own trail featuring your saved Wonders and walk it with the help of the Pocket Wonders app.

You need to be logged in to the website in order to save this Wonder.

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