Mystery
The Hob's House
A goblin's square house on Harland Edge.
Stand where it happened
- What's there
- A low square mound on open moor
- Legend from
- Place-name tradition
- Tone
- Eerie
Up on the moor, a goblin is said to have a house. It is square, walled, and very old.
High on Harland Edge above Beeley lies an unusual square barrow, a mound held in by drystone walls with a ditch and bank around it. English Heritage notes that 'hob', meaning a sprite, bogey or hobgoblin, appears in many Peak District place names, and that the site may have been known locally as the home of 'Hob o' th' Hurst'. Thomas Bateman excavated it in 1853 and found evidence of a cremation and two pieces of lead ore within an arc of small stones. Most Peak barrows are Bronze Age, but its odd shape has led some to suggest it is later.