It is famous for Sweeps Cave; two alcoves carved into the local sandstone and were called this as they were used by local chimney sweeps to store soot. Another reason for the area's fame is the historic 105 steps down into the valley, which were originally built to provide access to the cold baths which are several hundred years old. However by the 1840's, the original steps had become covered by mud and grass and not revealed again until 1959 when the broken and missing steps were replaced. A sign stands at the top of the steps with a warning explaining how slippery the steps and banks of the valley become when they are wet - you have been warned!! I nearly slipped down them myself!
This brings us to the legend of this unique place. This is a story told to me when I was researching reports of ghosts, hauntings and folklore in the local area.
In the 1830's, Sweeps Cave was nicknamed 'the dormitories for gipsies' following the publication of a town guide. If the stories are to be believed, one of the gypsies was walking through the area late at night when a thunder storm began. She hurried towards Sweeps Cave where she sheltered from the torrential rain. Once the storm had passed, she continued on her journey and attempted to walk down the hill via the area where the 105 stairs had previously been covered with mud. As previously explained, this area was notoriously slippery when wet, which, to her dismay, she found out first hand. She had only just begun her descent down the hill, when she slipped in the mud and tumbled all the way down the rest of the hill, breaking many bones on her journey to the bottom.
Isolated, bleeding and in terrible pain, she realised she was in desperate need of help; when her shouts of help went unanswered, she began dragging herself up the steep slope she had just fallen down. When she was about halfway up, she succumbed to her injuries and died. Her lifeless body was found the morning after; the mark where her shoe had slipped in the mud could still be seen, as could the trail of blood from the bottom of the hill up to where she had managed to pull her injured body.
Since this fateful day, stories have emerged of people hearing a woman calling for help late at night, particularly when the weather is bad. A few have reported the feeling of being pushed towards the edge of the valley when in the vicinity of the steps or along the top path, and others have spoken of strange shadows around the caves themselves and the feeling of being watched.
Perhaps the scariest incident which has been reported took place in late 2015. Much in the same way as the original story, a woman named Janet was heading down the stairs late one night, taking care as it had rained earlier that evening. She had been to the localpub with her friends and was making her way home via a shortcut through Happy Valley. When she was about a quarter of the way down, she spotted movement further down the hill, just to the right of the steps. It was dark so she strained to see what it was; she initially thought it was a large animal, but as the shape came closer, she could see it was a woman pulling herself up the hill.
Ready to rush to the injured woman's aid, Janet suddenly noticed the woman's movements were strange and there seemed to be a weird black mist spiraling around her; it was as if the woman was gliding her way towards her. Janet explained to me that the woman appeared translucent and the grass around and under the body was not affected by the movements of the woman. When she saw this, Janet turned around and fled back up the stairs and to the pub where she told her friends. They immediately went back to the scene to investigate, but the woman could not be found and there was no evidence that the incident had ever taken place.
Your task is to find the ghost of Sweeps Cave by finding the answers to these questions:
1 – Memorial Bench – In loving memory of A and B Farber
2 – To the left of the left alcove, there is a date CDEF
N51 07.D F (C+D)
E000 14. (D-F) D (B+C)
Geocheck added due to issues with accuracy of GPS in the area. There are pictures of the location in geocheck. 