Nothing says Christmas as much as a piece of fluorspar. At least, not in the Peak District village of Castleton, where the unique Blue John gemstone has been mined from the steep hills above the village since the late 17th century and visitors began exploring the caves in the Georgian period. The discovery of the purple-hued mineral with its distinctive colored veins, built on the local lead mining tradition dating back to the Romans.
However, since the late 1960s, Castleton has been known for something else: its festive atmosphere. Located at the head of the scenic Hope Valley between Manchester and Sheffield, the village is regularly voted one of the most festive places in Britain. Think a high street ablaze with illuminated Christmas trees, carols and brass band concerts in the show caverns and a Norman church hosting a community Christmas tree festival to bring light to the darkest month of the year.
There are plenty of gemstone gifts for sale, but there’s no expensive Christmas market or gimmicky light show to see.
“Miners in the 18th century sang the Castleton Carols, a cappella variations on traditional Christmas carols, and made offerings to T’Owd Man, a medieval miner, by lighting candles to bless the mine for the coming year,” explains Vicky Turner , director of the Trek Cliff Cavern, located on the road to the former Iron Age site of Man Tor (known locally as Shivering Mountain).
Treak Cliff has the largest Blue John sites in the UK and will be performing Christmas carols by candlelight on Christmas Eve afternoon. “Whether it’s storm, snow or flood,” smiles Vicky, whose family has lived in the village for generations, “we’re always about community and tradition.”
‘As noble as Greece or Switzerland’
The close-knit community of Castleton grew from the building of Peveril Castle, one of England’s first Norman forts. Henry II added the keep in 1176 and it became popular with visiting dignitaries as a hunting lodge, centerpiece of the Royal Forest of the Peak. The imposing ruins still tower over the community, albeit now under the care of English Heritage.
Below, Peak Cavern has Britain’s largest natural cave entrance, where evidence of its rope-making heritage is still visible. When Lord Byron visited Derbyshire in the early 19th century, he exclaimed: ‘There are things in Derbyshire as noble as Greece or Switzerland.’ Queen Victoria, however, was less effusive, despite last-minute attempts by locals to disguise the signs bearing Peak Cavern’s more famous local name – the Devil’s Ass.
The peaks and crags around Castleton reach beyond a misty horizon to Kinder Scout, home of the massive trespassing in the 1920s that led to the formation of the Peak District as Britain’s first National Park in 1951. It is an uncompromising terrain, but it possesses a deep-rooted winter beauty.
“I find the wildness of the winter landscape invigorating,” says Sharon Mosley of the National Park Authority over a coffee at the Blueberry Café, located in the Castleton Visitor Center exhibit. “But when I’m walking, just me, a dog and a bottle, I always think of our ancestors, who trekked miles across this landscape to the mines.”
After exploring the ginnels (narrow passages) in the oldest part of the village, bridges and shopfronts illuminated against the slate-grey winter sky, I walk to St Edmund’s Church, its Romanesque altar arch testifying to its 11th-century origins. I find the nave of the church lined with miniature Christmas trees, each donated by different community groups, to bring light to the winter darkness of this ancient, sacred site.
“Castleton doesn’t thrive on tinsel and glitter, but on the true spirit of Christmas,” says Reverend Louise Petherham, who will lead her congregation through three rural churches this Christmas. “My sermon will explore the parallels between our world today and the original Christmas story, suggesting that people are fundamentally good and welcome outsiders – just as members of this community have done for generations.”
The perfect gift
Miners first discovered Blue John at Treak Cliff Cavern in 1740, the name being a corruption of the French ‘bleu jaune’ as described by the groups of French migrant workers who arrived in the aftermath of the discovery. It is still used for making ornaments and jewellery, officially recognized as a semi-precious stone since the 1920s, and several historic pieces are part of the collection at Chatsworth in nearby Bakewell.
But I round off my visit at ASD Jewelers in the village, where I can’t help but admire Anthony Darwent’s baubles. He makes handmade pieces upstairs in the shop and will be working at Christmas fulfilling orders from all over the world. If I need a last-minute gift, the display cases are full of glittering earrings, cufflinks and brooches, but one of the bestsellers is the Blue John baubles – two for £28 on offer.
“Each piece is unique because of the veins of colored stripes,” says Darwent, wiping dusty hands on his apron in his hive of activity. “It is the geological mix of southern White Peak limestone and northern Dark Peak gritstone that makes them so distinctive.”
Castleton may embody the spirit of Christmas for its old-fashioned values of heritage, tradition and community, rather than flashy Christingle bling, but no one could resist Darwent’s festive, dangling baubles. I’m allowing myself a little festive retail therapy. By the way, Castleton Blue John is for life, not just for Christmas.
Where to stay
Doubles at The Maynard, Grindleford, from £90 B&B, based on two sharing (www.the-maynard.com). The family business also has a new pub with rooms, The Ashford Arms (theashfordarms.com), due to open in Bakewell next spring.
Cave visits
Treak Cliff Cavern is open all year round for tours (£11.50 online booking), plus carol concerts (www.bluejohnstone.com). Peak Cavern has concerts, on weekends at 6pm in December (www.peakcavern.co.uk/christmas-carol-concerts).
How do you get there?
Train travel offered by Northern on the Hope Valley Line (northernrailway.co.uk). More information can be found at Visit Peak District and Derbyshire (visitpeakdistrict.com).