Mermaid’s Pool, Hayfield

Below Kinder Downfall lies the desolate Mermaid’s Pool, where no fish live and no animals drink. Legend says that at midnight on Easter Eve, a mermaid appears to those who seek her, granting wealth for a year but cursing them never to love again. In some versions she offers eternal life—or death—by pulling visitors into the depths. The pool’s eerie atmosphere and lifeless water gave rise to claims that it connects to the Atlantic Ocean. Locals once made pilgrimages here, and the tale of its elusive spirit remains one of Derbyshire’s best-known legends.