Description: Getting married was an uphill struggle for the young men of Baslow. They once had to climb the Eagle Stone, northeast of the village, before any young lady would accept their advances. Climbing the stone won the men favour with the witches, so they would soon be able to marry. (Information from www.peakdistrictview.com).
A quarter plate photograph by John Hartley Brackenbury from Sheffield.
This comes from a set of 14 photographs of Derbyshire, copied by Austin Brackenbury in 2008/9, direct from an album prepared by his parents in 1921. They are a collection following a visit from America of his mother's brother, Albert Berwick and his American wife; Albert was in the American Army. For reasons unknown, the album was never sent to Mr and Mrs Berwick and remained in the possession of Austin's parents.
The photographer used a quarter plate camera on tripod, using the traditional black cloth to focus the image on the ground glass screen, getting someone else to press the release if he wanted to appear in the photograph himself.