The header photo shows only the topmost portion of the path to the Castle of the High Peak. There were times as I hauled myself up there when I thought expiration – as in breathing my last gasp – was a likely outcome. I had to sit down on every available seat (and thankfully there were several). There were also places along the way that were rather too vertiginous for my liking. On top of this we had been warned by the girl on the reception desk that that castle keep was closed for restoration works – so, you might think, why on earth were we bothering?
Frankly, if the keep had been open to visitors, I don’t think I would have made it up the spiral staircase to the main door. I like to think I’m fairly fit too, but I don’t seem be fit on the vertical. Phew and double phew.
But then once you’re up there and can breathe again…
What views of Derbyshire’s Hope Valley:
The earliest fortification on the site, i.e. the extensive stone curtain wall, was already in existence in 1086 when it was recorded in the Domesday Book. It was one of the earliest Norman fortresses in England, and held by William Peveril, a follower and so a beneficiary of William the Conqueror when it came to receiving territorial rewards. The castle served as an important administrative centre for extracting taxes from the local Saxon Pecsaetan people of the Hope Valley. At this time Forest Law was also strictly enforced, meaning people were brought before the Forest Court at the castle and fined for deemed infractions of the king’s royal hunting forest that extended over much of the High Peak district. As time went on, and more and more forest was excised for settlement, farming and pasture, the fines for encroachment were seen more as rental payments than as penalties.
But back to the Peverils. Things did not go so well in the next generation. Son of Peveril was accused of plundering and treachery by the soon to be crowned Henry II. On ascending the thrown Henry confiscated the castle and kept it for the particular purpose of overseeing the Forest of the High Peak, his personal royal hunting grounds. This was in 1154. He visited the castle three times in the next ten years. When he was not there, the place was apparently manned by one porter and two watchmen.
This all changed during the 1173-4 uprising when Henry’s three sons, Henry Young King, Richard the Lionheart and John Lackland, along with their mother Eleanor of Aquitaine, rebelled against Henry’s rule – a family argument of epic proportions. Peveril then became a garrison housing 20 knights who roved between the High Peak and Bolsover Castle some miles away. After the uprising in 1176, Henry built the impressive keep at a cost of £184. You can see from the photos above it was originally handsomely finished with dressed stone, an attractive proposition for later stone robbers.
Further improvements were made during the 13th century to cater for royal visits. And a very nice model shows us how things would have looked back then: stables, chapel, workshops, kitchens, bakery, a great hall for entertaining, new high-status apartments – an upscale self-sufficient community in other words, the whole perched atop a beetling limestone eminence and visible for miles around.
The private chambers that backed onto the curtain wall came with their own garderobes or loos. The one in the photo coming up next would have had a wooden seat with a central hole, and waste would have dropped down into the Peak Cavern Gorge beyond the castle wall. The garderobe was also traditionally the place where noble personages kept their clothing, the whiffy draughts therein checking moth predation. Which also reminds me that Voltaire opined that the legendary bad temper of Edward 1, aka Longshanks and prolific builder of Welsh castles, was down to chronic constipation induced by the cold sea wind gusting up Caernarvon Castle’s royal garderobe. I always thought Voltaire might have a point.
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As time went on, the castle ceased to be of particular strategic importance. In 1374 King John ordered the lead stripped from the roofs for re-use at Pontefract Castle. And although local courts were still held there until 1600, by 1609 it was described as ruinous and serving no use. Thereafter its destiny lay in inspiring Sir Walter Scott’s novel Peveril of the Peak and providing a romantically rugged upland landmark for the first major flushes of tourists to Derbyshire in the 18th and 19th centuries. Oh yes, and for inducing near asphyxia in people not good at hill climbs.
Lens-Artists: Big can be beautiful too
copyright 2018 Tish Farrell
Tish Farrell 
Lovely photos Tish!
Thank you, June.
184 quid? Is that for real?
Lot of loot back in those olden days y’know 🙂
Hardly buy a basket of groceries – and a small basket at that.
Yep. That’s inflation for you.
whew and double whew is right!
love the history here and the bricks (with variety) is fascinating
also – I like how you have added details right inside the photos – I might do that too – it was so helpful
I use Open Live Writer, which is a free ap you can download, for writing my blog posts and for adding copyright and a bit of text in the photos.
oh cool – I will check it out – even tho I do have a few options for adding text – but the app you noted sounds interesting (thx)
Fabulous view from the top of the castle. The inside of the castle and history are fascinating.
Beautiful photos, Tish!
Thank you, Amy 🙂
Fascinating reading Tish you should be a history teacher, great images as well.
Fun post and great history Tish. Glad u didn’t succumb to the asphyxia!!
Thank you, Tina.
Reblogged this on Hutt's New World Order.
Cheers, Pete.
I love that Britain is full of places like this which don’t look like much from the outside but have wonderful histories. As always your storytelling skills make the history come alive. If your local tourist board isn’t already paying you to write guidebooks (or web copy), they really should!!
Thank you for all those v. kind words, Su.
I was serious. Most tourist information books/leaflets are dire. Even those that are competently enough written seldom make places seem all that worth visiting.
Thank you very much, Su.
I am always saddened by the fact these wonderful old estates aren’t any more.
I love castle ruins, and this one looks a beauty! Stunning stunning views!
It is an astonishing place. The view down the back of the castle wall was pretty hair-raising though – a sheer drop. I couldn’t find a way to take a decent photo without having the wobbles – me and the camera.
Amazing views and I love how you have caught the shaft of sunlight lighting up the valley. But what a climb to get there, worth it though…
I’m glad we went – the once! 🙂
Wow, what a climb…but as you said, once there, the views are worth it. Nice shots Tish.
Many thanks 🙂
You go to such lengths to bring us interesting history, thanks Tish!
I do, don’t I 🙂 🙂 🙂
That was very interesting Tish. The climd sounds exhausting though.
I’m definitely not my best on the vertical 🙂
Me neither ☺
Enjoyed reading the history. And the view is beautiful. But that’s a hard climb.
It was a hard climb. Should have done it more slowly, but I was trying not to look down. It was very hard to imagine now people lived up there. In the past there was also another access from the rear, up an alarming gorge with a bridge across just below the keep. I tried to conjure Henry II’s knights galloping in out there during the family uprising. It’s a very wild place in winter. Might have to see if I can find Sir Walter Scott on Kindle.
I’m glad you climbed for me, my inhaler might have heled me breathe but my knees would have been done for!
Ah yes, the knees. Not good territory for them either.
Beautiful images of such lovely part of the UK. Thank you so much – Janet 🙂 Cold snap coming……
Thanks, Janet, and yes a cold snap. We’ve already got a very chilly wind. Been watching the farmer sow the field behind us – flocks of seagulls winging by – very autumnal.
A wonderful gallery Tish. I would love to visit this place for such amazing views.
Thank you, Rupali.
Definitely beautiful, Tish. Thanks for inviting me along. 🙂
janet
I glimpsed a little bit of Autumn from up there, too 🙂 🙂
Yes, it’s coming bit by bit. Much cooler here now too.
I remember clambering up some very dubious steps in crumbling castles in Ireland, England, and Israel where the Crusaders built quite a few castles remarkably similar to this one. I was so agile then, I couldn’t make it up even one of those steps now, but oh how I loved mucking about in a deliciously dangerous half dug-out ruin. In Israel, back then, they didn’t even rope them off. Everybody’s hobby was digging for coins and pottery and bits of ancient arms. I found all kinds of stuff, often in my backyard, so they used to leave digs open when they weren’t working so you could just go in and see if you could find anything.
Technically, you had to give it to the government — but I doubt anyone did. Besides, no one I know found anything significant. Little things, often bits of money or pieces of very old broken pottery. But my goodness, that was such a lot of FUN.
Fun collecting, and so a real, if passing connection with the past. Of course now everything is ‘protected’ – which it needs to be (I suppose), but it does separate us off somehow.
The surround views are indeed majestic 🙂