Edward Bradbury, the son of master tailor John Bradbury and his wife Harriett, was born in Derby in 1853. His working life began in the employment of the Midland Railway and his enthusiasm for railways remained with him his entire life. Bradbury was with family, who were then living at 93 Osmaston Road, in the 1881 census; he was employed as a Railway Clerk at that time. By 1891 he had moved to Buxton and was living at 1 Hartington Terrace, West Street - advertising himself in the Directories as Edward Strephon Bradbury. He had become a journalist and author and was writing about the railway for numerous newspapers and magazines. His articles often appeared under the pseudonym Strephon. He published several books. He died of pneumonia at his home in Buxton on 3 March 1905, aged 55. An obituary notice said that "he was an ardent lover of Derbyshire and his descriptive pictures of the beauty spots of the county were extremely vivid". Another stated that "he was intimately acquainted with every part of the Peakland, and no man has done so much to popularise the Switzerland of England as he".

He wrote in the foreward, on New Year's Day 1884, that the "present volume is composed of fugititive essays contributed at casual intervals" to a number of journals and newspapers including "The Derbyshire Times".

From Chapter 21

pp.299 - 303, with engravings

pp.304 - 306, with engravings

pp.307 - 309, with engravings

Additional Images

R. Keene's Platinotype view of High Tor

Engraving of High Tor