Mary, Queen of Scot's Pillar

The fairest, brightest Queen, that ever
On English ground unhappy footing set,
Having to th' rest of th' Isles eternal shame;
Honoured this stone with her own splendid name...
Charles Cotton, Wonders of the Peak, 1641

The tragic Queen of Scots is the most celebrated of Poole's Cavern's visitors. The huge flowstone feature in this section of the cave is said to have been named following her visit in 1580. Mary had by then succumbed to rheumatism brought on by long incarceration in cold, wet castles. Staying with her benevolent gaoler the Earl Of Shrewsbury in Sheffield and at his country lodge in Buxton, (now The Old Hall Hotel), Mary took advantage of the town's healing spa waters. The only direct evidence for her presence in the Cavern - apart from the eponymous rock feature - comes from Cotton's poem, written 100 years later. But folklore always thrives in the void caused by historical silence. Even in recent years some tour guides claim to have heard ghostly footsteps by the Pillar when the cave was otherwise empty.

Perhaps the question is not 'Did she visit?' but rather 'Has she left?'....