Derbyshire

Mam Tor, Derbyshire (In Derbyshire "tor" means "hill")

Derbyshire is a mountainous county bordering on Yorkshire and is the scene of several events connected with fairies.

Allhope House, the slovenly abode of the fairy prince John Hollyshoes, is somehow situate near to the village of Allhope in Derbyshire[LoGA]; the River Derwent, which is punished for its involvement in an assassination plot against the life of John Uskglass, is in Derbyshire[52]; Bretton, the home of the last Reader of the King's Letters, is there likewise; and the mad boy Duffy, who becomes such a favourite with an unknown fairy, is from the town of Chesterfield, also in Derbyshire.

Perhaps the hilly character of the district, which is generally known as 'The Peaks', accounts for the frequency with which fairies appear there. They always show a marked predilection for making their homes (or 'brughs') in hollow hills, and the Derbyshire Peaks are honeycombed by numerous caverns: some of them yield the adventurous miner a type of veined stone called Blue John, much used in the past in decorating ormolu tables, mantle clocks and such similar ornaments.

Derbyshire is not populous, with few towns of note, but it has its admirers. The wildness of the scenery, far from repelling the modern traveller, is an inducement to many: "There is not a finer county in England than Derbyshire” remarks a character in a popular novel, and she is not alone in her opinion.