During the nineteenth century the Black Rocks overlooking
Cromford were often referred to as Stonnis. Local tour guides
and booklets would describe the rocks much as Thomas Holmes
did around 1875:
"BLACK ROCKS, OR STONNIS, midway between Cromford and
Wirksworth. - From the summit of these dark gritstone rocks
most extensive and magnificent views may be obtained, for in
that species of beauty, which the landscape approaches to grandeur,
it is unequalled in Derbyshire[1]".
1894.
The fields on the Middleton hillside behind Black Rocks
still had the same stone wall
boundaries in the 1950 image below. The sky on the original
is more of a pale lilac colour. |
Rock climbing in Derbyshire developed as an outdoor pursuit
at the beginning of the twentieth century. In 1915 J.
Charles Cox observed: "It is only during the last ten
years that the crags of Derbyshire have become well known to
climbers ; but the county has now a good place on the list
of climbing districts. Wherever the gritstone crops out it
affords climbs more or less severe, but the best collection
of them is found near Matlock, viz., at Alport Stone, the Black
Rocks, and Robin Hood's Stride[2]".
He went on to say that "the cliffs are 80 ft. high, and
the walls are either vertical or overhanging ; parts of the
face have fallen away, leaving a series of natural bastions,
five in number, all pointing due north, with gaps between of
varying width and slope". Cox observed that "they
afforded an excellent variety of climbing" and "Anyone
who can do the Stonnis crack unroped must be a first class
climber".
Despite it being war time, Black
Rocks proved attractive in late May the same year when parties
of intrepid climbers from the cities of Manchester, Nottingham,
Sheffield spent their weekend negotiating some of the most
difficult climbs. On the plus side the absence of wind, as "a
gale nearly always prevails",
ensured that several of the more difficult ascents were able
to be attempted by novices in mountaineering[3].
Below are two climbers on the Rocks around 1950. The view
glimpsed down into the valley below, past the Wirksworth road,
is stunning.
There ia another view from the rocks in the Matlock section
of this web site:
 "The
Varied Fortunes of a Derbyshire Spa", a 1963 magazine article
There are also references to Stonnis, or the Black Rocks on
the web site:
"Bemroses'
Guide" to Matlock, Bakewell, Chatsworth, Haddon
Hall.
"All
About Derbyshire", by Edward Bradbury.
"Picturesque
Excursions from Derby to Matlock Bath and its vicinity; being
a Descriptive Guide".
Whites'
Directory, Cromford, 1858 |
