Eldon Hole
Known as one of the wonders of the Peak, Eldon Hole was once thought to be a bottomless refuge for the Devil. Folklore suggests that a man called Charles Cotton was lowered down the hole in the past on a rope a mile long and still didn’t reach the bottom.
Another man was lowered down and found to be unconscious when he was raised, he died soon afterwards. Investigation in the 18th Century proved the Hole to be around 60 yards deep.
Pot holes were often seen as the abode of fairies and supernatural beings in the past. These beings were later identified with the Devil.
Re: Eldon Hole
I’ve abseiled into Eldon many times and explored it. Charles Cotton (local gentry) never descended it. Legend states that a goose was once thrown down and emerged days later from Peak cavern several miles away with "it’s feathers blackened by the fires of hell"!
It’s a creepy place. In my book Classic Caves of the Peak District, I said it looks like an "open Grave". Some years there is still a 20ft snow & ice plug at the bottom of it as late as July. The sun only reaches the bottom for a few seconds each day.