The Sun.
London, England, 1847-03-01 00:00:00

THE SUN

EXTRAORDINARY AND PERIL-
OUS ADVENTURE IN A SNOW STORM.
We were recently put in possession of the details 1
of one of the most suit:tiler and perilous adventures
during a snow storm, which we recollect to have heard.
The parties concerned are highly respectable and well-
known gentlemen in this neighbourhood,—James Side-
bottom, Esq. of Waterside, near Glossop, and Mr. Ed-
ward Wrigley. colliery surveyor and civil engineer, of
Cross-street, Manchester ; and though these gentle-
mennaturallyo
e t makingto
sa w
themselvesnesppe
a
the weresudrjects f a y, such as
report may be calculated to give them, yet Mr.
Wrigley was induced, from a representation that the
notice might operate as a caution to other parties,
at this inelement season of the year, not hastily to
place themselves in a similar position to the very dan-
gerous one from which they have escaped, to give us
the particulars of a story, an outline of which had
reached our reporter through another channel. It may
I be remarked that the scene of this adventure is on the
same bleak and loftyrange of hills, forming the boundary
between Derbyshire and Yorkshire, and only five or six
miles from the spot. on which a soldier of the 69th
regiment perished a few weeks ago, under circumstances
not unlike those we are about ti relate. Mr. Wrigley,
on this occasion, was on a professional journey, one
of the objects of that journey being to search for the
inlet of the brook known by the retiree of the Great
Crowden Br-ok, into the river Etherow. He was
accompanied by Mr. Sidebottom, and they reached
Woodhead Station, the nearest point to their
destination they could attain by a travelling convey
ance, by about nine o'clock on Monday morning, by the
train of the Manchester, Sheffield, and Lincolnshire
Railway, which leaves Manchester at a quarter before
eight. From thence they walked down the turnpike
road towards Huddersfield, as far as the summit of
llolme Moss, and turned westward on to the moors, en
deavouring to follow the boundary between the coun-
ties of Derby and York ; but whilst they were thus en-
gaged, a snow storm came on, and they were completely
beeildered. They took a direction which they con-
ceived would lead them into the valley down which the
Great Crowden flows ; but after a cold and
fatiguing walk, they came to the turnpike
road from Greenfield to Holmfirth, a distance of
several miles from the place at which they aimed. The
snow was coming down at this time very fast; there
are neither paths nor vegetation in the desolate coun-
try they had traversed, and the snow prevented them
from obtaining a sight of any landmarks by which to
direct their course. They had a copy of the ordnance
map, however, with them, and after some considera-
tion as to the course they should tike, they again left
the turnpike road to cross the moors. This was about one
o'clock on Monday, and they had reason to believe that
their best guide to the point of which they were in search
was to walk in the teeth of the snow. To their astonish-
ro,ent and disappointment. however, after traversing a
rough and precipitous country for nearly three hours,
they came, at nearly four o'clock, upon the turnpike road
to Greenfield, at little more than a mile from the point at
which they had first left. Mr. Wrigley now suggested
that they should desist from the furtheryrosecution of
their search till more favourable weather, mid that they
should pursue the road to Greenfield, and from thence get
home by way of Staly bridge, which place they could have
reached in time for a railway train. Mr. Sidebottom, how-
ever, had confidence in his knowledge of the country, and
the snow having abated for a time, thought they should
still be able to reach the p pint at which they had aimed.
They consequently returned again upon the moors, and
had been engaged for nearly three hours in the object
of their excursion, when they came upon a book, which
they were led, to hope was the Crowden. With great
difficulty they reached the bed of the brook, down a
precipitous and dangerous ledge of rocks, with the in-
tention of following the course of the stream. But
darkness had overtaken them nearly two hours before
this, and they at length found it impossible, under
such circumstances, to surmount the obstacles pre-
sented by the immense rocks in the course of the
stream. In crossing one of these rocks, Mr. Wrigley met
with a serious accident. A portion of it was covered with
ice, but both the snow and the darkness tended to con-
ceal it, and the consequence was, that he was precipi
tated with almost stunning violeece into the water which
in this place must have been four or five feet deep. In-
deed, it would be difficult for any one not placed in
similar circumstances to conceive the danger and diffi-
culties with which they had to contend after darkness
had set in. The moors in this place are covered with
peat to the depth of from five to fifteen feet, often
affording a treacherous footing to the traveller; and in
these great gullies (locally called " gruffs"), have
been washed from time to time by the rains. Many
of these gullies are eight or ten feet deep, and several
yards in width, but they ale now, in some places
partially, and in others wholly choked up with snow,
adding to the fatigue as well as danger of crossing
them. Mr. Sidebottom, who is a stout man, had begun
to feel the fatigue of the journey much more than his
companion when they arrived at the brook, and was so
overcome by it and the cold together, that as they sat
in a recess formed by the rocks, at the side of the brook,
an almost irresistible drowsiness stole over him, and he
proposed to pass the night there. That they should
both have bees fatigued and worn out is no wonder,
for they frequently lost their footing, and had severe
falls. Mr. Sidebottoin slipped down a ledge of rocks
ten or twelve feet in depth, and had many heavy
falls, and Mr. Wrigley, who fared little better,
stunk at one time into the bog to his armpits, be
sides getting wet in the brook, as before mentioned.
Mr. Wrigley resired the proposition to pass the night
in the recess, which only partially sheltered them from
I the weather, believing that from the state they were
then in, one or both of them could as,urectly never
I survive till the return of day ; and with some diffieulty
I . induct d his companion to make au effort to find the
' turnpike road, or a more suitable place of shelter.
1 They thee climbed the rock, to an elevation of probably
a hundred feet about the level of the stream, and it
then became evident that Mr. Sidebottom was too
much benumbed and exhausted to move much further.
In this dilemma, it is a singuler circumstance
that Mr. Wrigley, who had seated himself on .a
ledge of rock, regardless of the snow, to wait for his
o epanion (who had called upon him to stop, declaring
his inability te continue the journey), feeling an opening
beneath his feet, which he could not fathom even by
holding on the reek with the hands, was led to hope
there was some recess in which they could obtain shelter
for the remainder of the night. In the darkness, how-
ever, it was impossible to see of what delth it might be;
and they were afraid to trust themselves to a descent
which might involve serious injury, or lose of life. At
length Mr. Sidebottom, taking hold of the hands of Mr.
Wrigley, was let down, and et.abled to touch the bottom
with his feet, and both of thenti descending, found them-
selves immediately in a cavern of the reeks, of irregular
shape, but about 3 yards in length and l} yards in
width. Here they at once resolved to pass the night.
It was difficult to say which was in the worst condition
for such a resting place. Mr. Wrigley was wet to the
skin, but had a top-coat and gloves on; Mr. Sidebottom
had left home without either of these useful cover-
ings. They could not see the time by their watches,
but imagined it to be about eight o'clock when they
discovered the cave. To keep out the snow, which
blew into their retreat with bitter coldness, the only
thing available to form a door was the ordnance map,
which had been wet through in Mr. Wrigley's pocket
when he fell into the brook; and this, on being held to
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they should he able, with the heat obtained in this way,
to resist the effects of the cold, but they found it neces-
sary at intervals to get upon their feet and move about,
and stamp on the floor, to induce a circulation of the
blood. Even with these aids, however, they found the
cold so piercing about midnight, as to induce them to
try other mean., and one of these was to wrap their
handkerchiefs over their faces anti mouths, as veils, to
obtain the benefit of warmth to the face from the breath
thus confined to teat locality. For several hours, Mr.
Sidebottom lay across Mr. Wrigley's knees, as that gen-
tleman sat on the floor of the cave with his back against
one of the sides, and his right arm resting on a shelf of
the rock; anti additional warmth was obtained by each 1
in this way. The great difficulty was to keep off sleep,
which each felt must be fatal to the party indulging in it;
and to keep off this friend so refreshing to the tired
frame under ordinary circumstances, but now dreaded as
the worst enema that could insinuate itself, they found
it necessary continually to ask each other the question.
In spite of all their efforts, however, they seem to have
been so benumbed and cold as only to have retained
half-consciousness, and day-light, at seven o'clock, sur-
prised and gladdened them by its appearance, when
th. y supposed it to be only three in the morning.
With the return of light, on Tuesday morning, they
nearly
ventured forth from their wretched retreat, but so
deprived
of
theof countrysensibility,
they
had that
to
ec
at
traverse.
reae o a h
they
t. could withsThe They
the
nature p
difficulty walk. Nor was that difficulty lessened by
followed the course of the brook which theeyrshe.a
doy
sup-
posed to be the Crowden, till they came
track on the southerly side, and here they made the
disappointing discovery, that they were several miles.
from the pint they had supposed themselves to have
reached. Instead of finding themselves on the Great
Crowden Brook they found it was the Greenfield
Brook ; and the object by which they first
made this discovery was the plantation at no
great distance, at the top of which stands the
house known by the name of Bills-
'o
-Jack's, the
scene of a notorious murder, committed some years
ago upon a father and son, the perpetrators of which have
never 3et been discovered. They pressed forward as fast
as they couid, having discovered the locality, and soon
arrived at a farm-house called Ashway Gap, where they
broke a fast which had been protracted to twenty-six
hours' duration ! If they walked with difficulty and
pain, however, before reaching this shelter, they had still
greater deficulty in walking atom sitting bee Ore a warm
fire for a time. They tried in vain to obtain a convey.
fence on the road, and had to walk to Stale bridge, a dis-
tance of eight or nine wiles, from vvhenc - they took " the
rail" to their respective homes. Mr. Wrigley had left
home, stating that he might probably be away all
night, and his absence created no uneasiness; but Mr.
Sidebottom had given no such intitnatien to his family,
and the alarm in which his protracted absence hit placed
them may be conceived. Both of the gentlemen have
gat-red severely from the effects of cold and bruises
since—Mr. Sidebottom in particular—but we believe
they are now fast recovering from them. It is a sin-
gular circumstance, that though they must have
walked a distance of not less than nine or ten
miles on the Monday night, after leaving the Green-
field turnpike road, the cave in which they shel-
tered is not more than half a mile from the point they
started from, and at which they had a second time
found themselves at four o'clock; so that they seem to
have journeyed, probably from some peculiarity of the
country, continually in a circle. The rocks in which
the cave is situated are marked upon the ordnance
map, and are called "Seal Bark Rocks;", about a %