Peak Cavern

Known charmingly as the Devil’s Arse in past centuries, the cavern has long been seen as an entrance to the otherworld.

Legend tells how during the one winter during the Middle Ages, a swineherd lost one of his sows. In fear of what his master the Lord of Peveril Castle would do, and desperate to find his animal, he decided to enter the cavern even though he feared it almost as much as his lord.

He walked deep into the cave and eventually emerged into bright sunlight. Before him stood a broad plain in the peak of the years harvest. The weather was warm and the land seemed to be in the flourish of Summer. He managed to find his sow and the Lord of the land allowed him to return back through the cavern. He emerged into this world and back to the cold of Midwinter.

The cavern was probably venerated in the past as a sacred place where the veil between this world and the next was thin. It is likely that it became associated with the Devil in later times under the influence of the church.