Peveril Castle

Vorlage:Infobox military structure Peveril Castle (also Castleton Castle or Peak Castle) is a medieval building overlooking the village of Castleton in the English county of Derbyshire. Its site provides views across the Hope Valley and Cave Dale. The castle is named after its founder, William Peveril, who held lands in Nottinghamshire and Derbyshire on behalf of the king. It was first recorded in the Domesday Survey of 1086, and was built sometime between then and the Norman Conquest in 1066. Nearby Castleton benefited from the presence of the castle, which acted as the administrative centre of an independent lordship called Peak. The town became the economic centre of the lordship.

William Peveril the Younger inherited his father's estates, however they were confiscated by King Henry II in 1155. While in royal possession, Henry visited the castle in 1157, 1158, and 1164, the first time hosting King Malcolm IV of Scotland. During the Revolt of 1173–1174, the castle's garrison was increased from three to a force led by 20 knights shared with the castles of Bolsover and Nottingham. The Earls of Derby had a claim to the Peveril family's estates through marriage, and in 1199 William de Ferrers, the fourth earl, paid 2000 marks for the Peak lordship although the castle remained in royal control. The closest Peveril Castle came to seeing battle was in 1216 when King John gave the castle to William de Ferrers, but the castellan refused to relinquish control. Although they were both John's supporters, the king authorised the earl to use force to evict the castellan; eventually he capitulated although there is no evidence that the castle was assaulted.

In 1223 the castle returned to the Crown. In the 13th century there were periods of building work at the castle, and by 1300 Peveril's final form had been established. Towards the end of the 14th century, the lordship was granted to John of Gaunt. Having little use for the castle, he ordered some of its material to be stripped out for reuse, marking the beginning of its decline. Since the time of John of Gaunt, the castle has been administered by the Duchy of Lancaster. Peveril Castle became less important administratively and by 1609 it was "very ruinous and serveth for no use". In the 19th century, Sir Walter Scott's novel Peveril of the Peak sparked renewed interest in the castle. The site is cared for by English Heritage and situated in a national park. Peveril Castle is protected as a Scheduled Monument and a Grade I listed building.

History

Peveril Castle stands sentinel on a limestone outcrop over the west end of Hope Valley, in the midst of an ancient landscape; Mam Tor on the north side of the valley is a Bronze Age hill fort, and Vorlage:Convert to the east at Brough and Shatton is the Roman fort of Navio. The valley formed a natural line of communication and had added importance due to valuable mineral resources in the area, particularly lead. William Peveril was a follower of William the Conqueror and was rewarded for supporting him during the Norman Conquest. The first extant record of him in England records that in 1068 he was granted the new castle at Nottingham by William the Conqueror who was in the process of subduing the Midlands and northern England. There is a story that Peveril was William's illegitimate son but is unsubstantiated. By the Domesday Survey of 1086, Peveril had become a powerful landowner, with holdings in Nottinghamshire and Derbyshire. The small Hope Castle lay halfway along the valley and secured a line of communication through the area. The exact year he founded the castle is uncertain, although it must have been started by 1086 as it is recorded in the Domesday Book, one of 48 castles mentioned in the survey and the only one in Derbyshire. The castle was recorded as standing at Pechesers; this has been translated as both "Peak's Tail" or "Peak's Arse". The first stages of early Norman castles were usually built in timber, however Peveril Castle seems to have been designed in stone from the start.

Peveril Castle's keep dates from around the 12th century.

William Peveril had custody of royal lands such as the district of Hope and although he had his own estates, he relied on continued royal favour to maintain power in this way. In 1100 the new king, Henry I, granted William "his demense in the Peak". This meant the Peak became an independent lordship under William Peveril's control; the castle became an important centre of administration for the area, allowing the collection of taxes. Nearby Castleton benefited from the castle's new-found status and began to grow as the lordship's economic heart. William Peveril died in 1114 and was succeeded by his son William Peveril the Younger. In the civil war known as The Anarchy between King Stephen and Empress Matilda, Peveril backed the losing side. He was captured at the Battle of Lincoln (1141). Later Ranulf de Gernon, 4th Earl of Chester, became convinced that Peveril had tried to poison him; it is uncertain whether Peveril actually attempted to poison the earl, but the two became enemies. Peveril also fell out with the future King Henry II and in 1153 he accused him of "plundering and treachery" and threatened to confiscate Peveril's estates and hand them over to the Earl of Chester. Henry followed through on his threat in 1155, although by this time the earl was dead and so the king kept Peveril's property for himself.

William Peveril the Younger died in 1155, and as his only male heir predeceased him it was left to his daughter's husband, Robert de Ferrers, 2nd Earl of Derby, to assert the family's claim to the confiscated estates. Henry visited Peveril Castle on three occasions during his reign; during the first visit, in 1157, he hosted King Malcolm IV of Scotland. Henry visited again in 1158 and 1164. When a group of barons led by Henry's sons – Henry the Young King, Geoffrey Duke of Brittany, and Prince Richard, later Richard the Lionheart – revolted against the king's rule, Henry spent £116 on building at the castles of Peveril and Bolsover in Derbyshire. The garrison was also increased; previously Peveril had been held by two watchmen and a porter, but this was expanded to a force led by 20 knights and shared with Bolsover and Nottingham castles during the revolt. After the revolt ended in 1174, further steps were taken to improve Peveril Castle, and the Pipe Rolls – records of royal expenditure – between 1175 and 1177 £184 was spent at Peveril, including £49 specifically on the keep. Building in stone would have been an expensive undertaking, and even a very small keep such as Peveril's would have cost around £200. Moderate sized stone castles such as Orford, which was also built in the late 12th century, could cost thousands of pounds. The poor survivial of documentary sources means it is uncertain when parts of the castle were built, and archaeological investigations have been unsuccessful in dating the stonework. Henry died in 1189 and was succeeded by his son, Richard the Lionheart. Soon after his coronation, Richard granted the lordship of the Peak, including the castle, to his brother John. While Richard was on crusade, John rebelled; when Richard returned he confiscated the lordship of the Peak.

John ascended to the throne in 1199 after Richard's death. William de Ferrers maintained the claim of the Earls of Derby to the Peveril estates; he paid John 2000 marks for the lordship of the Peak, but the Crown retained possession of Peveril and Bolsover Castles. John finally gave Ferrers these castles in 1216 to secure his support in the face of country-wide rebellion. However, the castellan Brian de Lisle refused to hand them over; although Lisle and Ferrers were both John's supporters, John gave Ferrers to use force to take the castles. The situation was still chaotic when Henry III became king after his father's death in 1216. Although Bolsover fell to Ferrer's forces in 1217 after a siege, there's no indication that Peveril was assaulted and it is likely that Brian de Lisle negotiated his surrender. Ferrers only had possession of the lordship until Henry III came of age. When the time came he was reluctant to hand over the property, and after an initial deadlock the Crown took control in 1223. Although records of expenditure at Peveril survive from this period in the form of Pipe Rolls, they do not specify how the money was spent. As a result, it is unclear what constitutes maintenance and what marks substantial construction work; however, Richard Eales who wrote the 2006 English Heritage guidebook suggests that there were two periods of building as sums were larger than usual: 1204–1207 and 1210–1212 when £54 and £67 were spent respectively.

Map of the area

Although the castle did not see military action, it was used as a staging point for dispatching supplies as was the case in 1248 when materials were dispatched from Peveril to the new castles of Dyserth and Deganwy in Wales. The rest of the 13th century was relatively peaceful and records show that Peveril Castle was maintained by the Crown. In 1235, King Henry III visited and the north wall and bridge were repaired in preparation. After significant bouts of work in 1250–52, 1272–1275, and 1288–1290 (when sums of £60, £40, and £151 were spent respectively) it is likely that the castle buildings were complete by 1300. Henry III gave Prince Edward, later King Edward I, Peveril Castle along with Cheshire and the royal holdings in Wales and Ireland. Some of the lands, including Peveril, were made part of Eleanor of Castile's dower, to come into her possession should her husband, Prince Edward, die. At this time, the Peak lordship was worth around £300 a year. At the outbreak of the Second Barons' War in 1264, Peveril Castle was occupied by Robert de Ferrers, 6th Earl of Derby. Simon de Montfort pressured Henry III to give him Peveril, although it was recovered by the Crown after de Montfort's death in 1265. The castle was returned to Eleanor's dower; as she predeceased Edward I, the lordship remained in royal hands. Its income was used to fund members of the royal such as King Edward II's queen, Isabella of France, and the king's children, and royal favourites such as Piers Gaveston. In 1331, Edward III gave the lordship to his wife, Philippa of Hainault. It was given to John de Warenne, 8th Earl of Surrey, in 1345. After its return to the royal family, the estate was given to John of Gaunt, Edward III's third surviving son, partially in exchange for the earldom of Richmond.

John was the richest nobleman in England; with a host of castles at his disposal, Peveril was relatively unimportant. He decided not to maintain Peveril Castle and in 1374 gave orders to strip the lead from the buildings and reuse it at Pontefract Castle. His ownership marked the beginning of Peveril Castle's decline into decay. It was inherited by his son Henry Bolingbroke, later crowned Henry IV; since then it remained in royal control, administered by the Duchy of Lancaster. As the 15th century progressed, Peveril became less important as administrative duties were moved elsewhere. Although other castles administered by the Duchy of Lancaster were repaired in 1480, there is no indication this happened at Peveril. The castle hosted local courts until 1600. A survey in 1609 found that Peveril was "very ruinous and serveth for no use". At one point, the castle was used to house animals. With the advent of the railways in the 19th century, the area became a tourist attraction. The Duchy of Lancaster undertook maintenance in the 19th century to ensure the castle's condition did not deteriorate further, mostly clearing rubble and adding mortar. Sir Walter Scott's 1823 novel Peveril of the Peak sparked renewed interest in Peveril Castle.

In 1932 the Duchy gave custody of the castle to the Office of Works while retaining ownership. The site is today cared for by English Heritage, the successor to the Office of Works. The surrounding landscape has been protected as a national park since 1951. The castle is a Scheduled Monument, which means it is a "nationally important" historic building and archaeological site which has been given protection against unauthorised change. It is also a Grade I listed building, and recognised as an internationally important structure. Today, the castle is open to the public. It has been described as "perhaps the finest medieval landmark of the Peak District", and architectural historian Nikolaus Pevsner remarked that it is "By far the most important castles in the county – in fact the only one of importance".

Layout

A museum reconstruction of Peveril Castle

Peveril Castle is roughly triangular in shape, about Vorlage:Convert, sitting on top of a hill overlooking the Hope Valley. The land slopes steeply away from the castle's perimeter, almost forming a sheer face to the south east, and the winding aproach from the north marks the most practice approach to the castle. Not only was the site naturally defensible, but its prominence would have allowed the castle to be a highly visible symbol of the builder's power. The castle would have used the nearby town of Castleton to provide supplies. It commands views of Hope Valley below and Treak Cliff, Mam Tor, Black Tor, and Lose Hill. The castle was entered through the gatehouse to the east. Its design was simple, Vorlage:Convert with a gatepassage Vorlage:Convert wide. Little survives, although earlier drawings contain details of mouldings that suggest the structure was built in the 12th century, perhaps by King Henry II or John.

The curtain walls enclosing the castle bear testament to the multiple phases of construction at Peveril, with stonework from the Norman period – differentiated by herringbone tool marks – to modern repairs. The walls were surmounted by walkways, which next to the gatehouse would have stood about Vorlage:Convert above the ground level immediately outside the castle. In the 12th century, a tower projecting less than Vorlage:Convert was added to the north wall. In the opinion of Eales, it "would have been of limited military value, compared with the boldly projecting towers of later castles" which allowed defenders to delpoy flanking fire along the base of the walls. The land within the curtain walls slopes downwards from west to east. Water storage would have been a concern for the garrison of the castle, but how they procured water is uncertain.

The southern curtain wall is a modern replacement along the line of the medieval wall. There are the remains of two round or semi-circular towers projecting from the wall. One survives to such an extent that it is possible to discern the use of Roman tiles in the construction, probably from the fort of Navio Vorlage:Convert away. It is uncertain when these towers were built, although it is thought they may date from the 13th century. Foundations mark the position of buildings abutting the south wall; they were probably the old hall, rebuilt several times and exhibiting both 11th- and 12th-century stonework, and a chapel. A document from 1246 recorded a chapel at the castle; the remains of the easternmost building against the south wall are assumed to mark the site of the chapel as it is oriented roughly east–west. Foundations at the west end of the north wall mark where a large building would have stood; given its size it was probably a hall where the lord of the castle would have eaten and entertained high-status guests. It is unclear when the new hall was built, probably replacing the old hall in the south of the castle, although an "old hall" was mentioned in a document of 1251, implying there was also a new hall by that time. The kitchen and food stores would have stood at the east end of the hall. As is the case with the hall, little remains of these buildings. Buildings were also built against the west curtain wall, probably high-status apartments. Although the main approach to Peveril Castle was from the north, there was also a gate in the west. A bridge spanned the gorge, linking the castle with an enclosure on the other side. It has not been excavated and so the exact for the enclosure took, and whether it was an elaborate outer bailey for military defence or was used for storage or stabling is uncertain.

Finally, the keep occupies the southern corner of Peveril Castle. Construction probably began in 1176 by Henry II. Its plan is square, measuring less than Vorlage:Convert, and the parapet is Vorlage:Convert above the keep's base; as the ground is uneven, on the other side it rises Vorlage:Convert above ground level. It is small in comparison to contemporary royal keeps such as those found at Dover and Scarborough Castles. Today the exterior is course, but originally the facing would have been smooth; the south-east side, where the keep was protected from theft by the steep natural slope, gives an idea of how it once may have appeared. A projection in the south-east face of the keep housed a garderobe. As was usual with Norman keeps, Peveril's was entered through the first floor and was accessed by a staircase. This entrance level would have been a large public room. The basement was used for storage. A narrow staircase in the east corner allowed access to the basement and wall walk around the top of the keep. Vorlage:Wideimage

See also

• List of castles in Derbyshire

References

Notes

Bibliography

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Further reading

• Great Britain. Department of the Environment: Peveril Castle. HMSO, 1979, ISBN 0-11-671466-2. 

External links

Commons: Peveril Castle – Sammlung von Bildern, Videos und Audiodateien

• Peveril Castle on English Heritage website
• Bibliography of sources relating to Peveril Castle
• 1909 plan of Peveril Castle's keep