Winnats Pass, a narrow limestone gorge on the edge of Castleton, has been associated with a murder legend since at least the early 19th century. The story concerns a young couple, identified in various accounts as Allan and Clara, who were travelling to Peak Forest to be married when they were ambushed by a group of lead miners in the pass, robbed of around £200, and killed. Their bodies were buried in secret, later discovered by miners sinking a shaft.
The five men named in the earliest sources, Nicholas Cock, Thomas Hall, Francis Butler, John Bradshaw, and James Ashton, were each said to have met violent or miserable ends: one fell from a precipice, one was crushed by a falling stone, one died by suicide, one lost his reason, and the last made a full confession on his deathbed. The story was recorded in detail by John Hutchinson as early as 1809.
The haunting tradition attached to the pass describes auditory phenomena: screams, thuds, a dragging sound, and voices reported by travellers. Some accounts also describe two figures seen scrambling up the cliff sides of the gorge before disappearing. Clara’s side-saddle is said to survive in a glass case at the Speedwell Cavern gift shop, at the entrance to the pass.
