Lovers Leap – England - Atlas Obscura

Lovers Leap

An attempted suicide made this cliff famous. 

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One of the cliffs in the attractive limestone  gorge known as Stoney Middleton Dale in the Peak District  of Derbyshire , England has become famous for the story of the attempted suicide in 1762 when Hannah Baddaley jumped from the top of the cliff because of her unrequited love for a local man, William Barnsley.  Fortunately for her, as the story goes, her large petticoats  acted as a parachute and she survived the fall. The experience chastened her against her  desire for the man but she lived only until 1764. The local name of the place does not include the appropriate apostrophe and since she was the only “leaper” the plural spelling is quite wrong. despite this the incorrect grammar persists. 

The site is marked with a large  information board.

The name should not be confused with many other places of the same or similar names (there are around 40 in the USA alone) including one less than 30miles away in Dovedale which has a remarkably similar storey but in this case the lady in question was saved by getting her clothing hooked on a tree branch as she fell.

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