Where is Lover's Leap, Stoney Middleton?

Middleton Dale cliff above the village, Stoney Middleton, Derbyshire, England (53.27678, -1.65961).

Is the Lover's Leap, Stoney Middleton story fact or fiction?

Fact & fiction. Research-draft coordinate for the named cliff; verify against an OS or heritage record before treating it as survey-grade.

Where is Lover's Leap, Stoney Middleton today?

Lover's Leap, Stoney Middleton is in Stoney Middleton parish, Derbyshire Dales, Derbyshire, Derbyshire, in the Derbyshire Dales parliamentary constituency (OS grid reference SK 227 755). Nearby: St Martin's Church, Stoney Middleton (0.5 km), Eyam Hall (2.2 km), Chatsworth House (5.9 km).

The Map→Al Fresco & Wild→Lover's Leap, Stoney Middleton

Al Fresco & Wild · Stoney Middleton, Derbyshire

Lover's Leap, Stoney Middleton

Spice 1/5 · Chilled

Stoney Middleton's Lover's Leap has something most cliffs with that name lack: a woman traceable in the parish record, a reported fall, and a story that ends in survival rather than romantic invention.

StatusFact & fiction

Date1762

The peopleHannah Baddeley

The siteMiddleton Dale cliff above the village

Coordinates53.27678, -1.65961 (confidence 4/5)

SpiceSpice 1/5 · Chilled

The story

In local tradition Hannah Baddeley leapt from this limestone cliff in 1762 after being jilted and survived when her clothing and the vegetation broke the fall. Unlike most Lover's Leap stories, this one has a woman who can be followed in parish records. That does not authenticate every picturesque detail, but it makes Stoney Middleton the strongest anchor for a national family of legends usually attached to dramatic scenery after the fact.

Visiting today

Stoney Middleton is a village in the White Peak area of the Peak District, south-east of Eyam and north-west of Calver. It stands on the A623 at the foot of Middleton Dale, a steep limestone valley.

Council: Derbyshire Dales, Derbyshire
Parish: Stoney Middleton
County: Derbyshire
Region: East Midlands
Nation: England
Constituency: Derbyshire Dales
OS grid reference: SK 227 755

Landmarks nearby

St Martin's Church, Stoney Middleton · 0.5 km — Grade II* listed parish church
Eyam Hall · 2.2 km — Grade II* listed country house in Eyam
Chatsworth House · 5.9 km — Seat of the Dukes of Devonshire since 1549

Directions in Google Maps →

Sources

Nearby on the map

Scandal & SocietyChatsworth (Georgiana's ménage à trois)Bakewell, Derbyshire · EnglandSpice 4/5 · Hot

For some 25 years the celebrity duchess Georgiana shared her marriage and her home with her husband and her best friend Bess Foster in the most famous ménage à trois of the age; Georgiana's own affair with the future PM Charles Grey produced a secret daughter.

Documented history Queer HeritageMillthorpe (Edward Carpenter & George Merrill)Millthorpe, Derbyshire · EnglandSpice 2/5 · Warm

The market-garden home where the socialist philosopher Edward Carpenter lived openly with George Merrill decades before decriminalisation — sandal-making, vegetarianism and 'the intermediate sex' in the Derbyshire hills. A touch on the backside from Merrill, E.M

Documented history Al Fresco & WildLover's Leap, Ashwood DaleBuxton, Derbyshire · EnglandSpice 1/5 · Chilled

Ashwood Dale's Lover's Leap carried an elopement story and helped sell Buxton's picturesque landscape—the named place is historic, but the lovers belong to folklore.

Legend

Spotted an error, or hold a better source? Write to marquis@marquisdemayfair.com — corrections are made, never defended. Our methodology.