Poole's Cavern

Poole's Cavern forms part of the Wye system, and has been designated a Site of Special Scientific Interest.

[2] The name derives from an outlaw, Poole, who reputedly used the cave as a lair and a base to rob travellers in the fifteenth century.

Some of the finds have been interpreted as suggesting that one of the chambers was used for religious purposes by Romano-Britons; an alternative explanation is that the cave was a metal-workers' workshop.

Features of interest include large stalactites/stalagmites called the Flitch of Bacon and Mary Queen of Scots' Pillar,[6] as well as stalagmites with a porous texture and "poached egg" colour, which has been attributed to minerals leached from lime-burning on Grin Low above.

[9] Referring to Hobbes' and Cotton's earlier work, the writer Daniel Defoe dismissed the cavern as merely "another of the wonderless wonders of the Peak".