Search  Updates  View Map   | Castles   Houses  Misc  People  Religious  | Links   About   Home

Peveril Castle - Castleton, Derbyshire (EH)

Peveril Castle now stand high above the town of Castleton on a highly defensible position, guarding the Peak Forest lead-mining area. It was founded by William Peverel, one of William the Conqueror's most trusted knights and it precedes the town below by about a hundred years. The entrance presently used, via a  steep and winding path up the hillside, was the back entrance while the castle was in use, the main gate originally beside the Keep. The earliest parts now remaining are the north wall with early herring-bone layered stone, facing the town, and part of the Chapel and Old Hall. Parts of the Chapel and the south curtain wall were built in the early twelfth century and the Keep itself, the Old Hall and the Gatehouse were built in the late twelfth century, when the castle and land had passed back to the Crown under Henry II. William Peverel's son inherited in 1114, along with other lands and estates including Bolsolver, but he became involved in the civil war during King Stephen's reign and when Henry succeeded, he forfeited the castle at Peveril.

Henry visited Peveril, or the 'Castle of the Peak' as it was then known, on several occasions, notably in 1157, when he received the homage of Malcolm IV of Scotland. In 1183-4, repairs were made to the bridge across to the Keep on the north side and the Keep was garrisoned. Through the succeeding reigns of Richard I and John, the castle was maintained in good repair, and in 1216, it saw its only real action. The Constable at Peak, Brian de Lisle, held the castle in despite of the King, but was forced under arms by William de Ferrers, Earl of Derby, to give it up.

Henry III also visited the castle and further repairs were made during the thirteenth century. It is assumed that the New Hall was built during this period. The castle was granted to his son Edward, later the king, and then to Edward's wife, Eleanor of Castile, in 1272. Simon de Montfort briefly owned Peveril, but it passed back to the Crown after his rebellion and death. Edward II didn't want the castle either, and granted it to his lover Piers Gaveston in 1308 and then to John de Warenne. King Edward III granted Peveril to his son John of Gaunt, which brought it into the vast estates of the Duchy of Lancaster. By the early fifteenth century the castle had become too old fashioned for residence and obsolete in terms of defense, and was partly dismantled. Its decline continued and it is now cared for by English Heritage.

The present appearance of the Keep is greatly diminished by the stripping of the dressed stone from the walls. Its original appearance can be imagined from the remaining stone on the south west side, where it was difficult to get at. Inside, there was one main living room on the first floor, lit by windows only on the inside walls for security. It had no fireplace and must have been heated by braziers. There is a small room off towards the garderobe, built into the thickness of the wall. In the eastern corner is a spiral staircase leading down to the basement and up to the wall walks. The Norman stones set into the north east wall were inserted into the holes for the beams which supported the floor, probably in the nineteenth century. They may have come from the decorative arch at the entrance gate to the east.

Back to the Home Page of the UK Heritage collection.

This information has been researched and published here by: