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Only its name reminds us that Peak Forest was the hunting ground of kings; today it is an isolated stone-built village of the limestone uplands.
It has one of the few churches, a 19th century one among sycamores, devoted to the memory of Charles I, with memorials to the Cavendish family who helped to build it.
In two of its windows are memorials of two tragic pages in our history, for one recalls Lord Frederick Cavendish who was murdered in Phoenix Park in Dublin, and another shows Charles I in armour, with an axe, a block, and a crown beside him.
The rare dedication of the church to King Charles the Martyr belonged also to the 17th century chapel, built perhaps by a countess whose son died fighting for the king. It was owing to the special privilege of this chapel that the village became a kind of Gretna Green and for a time its runaway marriages averaged one a week. The act of 1753 checked the runaways, but the parsons went on marrying them for another 50 years.
A mile and a half to the north is Eldon Hill, 1540 feet high, with ancient graves at the top and the remarkable Eldon Hole in the side.
One of the Wonders of the Peak it was known as the Bottomless Pit till 1770, when the bottom was first reached. It is a great tapering chasm about 180 feet deep, opening to a huge cavern which drops much lower still.
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