Castleton history - Peveril Castle Royal Forest Peak Cavern Lead mining Blue John

Castleton - a short history
Castleton is centred around a square in which the church lies - this is just off the main road and directly beneath Peveril Castle on the hill behind. The castle was built in 1080 on a promontory of rock overlooking Cave Dale by William Peveril (reputedly a bastard son of William the Conquerer). This was originally a wooden building and was rebuilt in stone by King Henry II around 1175. The surrounding area had been designated a Royal Forest - the Royal Forest of the Peak - and Henry came here frequently to practise this sport. In 1157 he met King Malcolm of Scotland here to receive his submission, and the records show that 72 shillings worth of wine were drunk, and no doubt a lot of hunting took place also!	Peveril Castle from across Cave Dale, with Mam Tor behind
St Edmund's church, Castleton	A settlement grew up beneath the castle and the village church was begun about the same time as the castle was rebuilt in stone, and probably shared the same architect. It has a fine Norman arch across the Nave, which was constructed from 1190 to 1250. The tower was added in 1450-1500 and more additions were made in the 19th century. Other signs of the Norman era still remain - across the main road by the Bull's Head Inn you can see a section of the Town Ditch, a defensive earthwork built around the village. This was once a feature of many of the villages of the region.
Although there is no clear evidence of Castleton being occupied earlier than Norman times, it was by no means the first settlement in the area. Only 2km from the village lies Mam Tor, which dominates this end of the Hope Valley and was the site of an Iron Age fortress. An Iron Age road, the Portway, can be traced from here southwards leading towards Derby. Even earlier settlement can be inferred from the fact that on the very summit of Mam Tor there is the remains of a Bronze Age burial mound.	Mam Tor summit - the trig point sits on a Bronze Age barrow
The crushing wheel at Odin Mine	On the south-east flank of Mam Tor there is the entrance to the Odin Mine, an abandoned lead mine which was reputedly worked by the Danes. It is impossible to verify if this is true, but the mine was cetainly active from the 17th century onwards, until it closed in 1846. The crushing plant below the mine can still be seen, but the workings are unsafe to enter. This is not the case with some of the other local lead mines, several of which have been opened as show caves. The most notable of these is Speedwell Cavern, which has an underground canal built to transport the lead ore.
Like many other local former lead mines, Speedwell is part natural cavern and part man-made. Though lead was mined locally throughout medieval times, the heyday of the local lead mining industry was from 1750 - 1850 and most of the mines had closed by 1900. Lead veins here are always accompanied by a mineral called fluorspar and another product of the local lead mines is a blue-coloured fluorspar called 'Blue John'. The origin of the name is obscure, but the stone is in great demand locally for jewellery and small ornaments and Castleton is the only European source.	Lead Ore (galena) in Calcite
The entrance to Peak Cavern	Blue John is still mined from Treak Cliff Cavern and Blue John Cavern, both former lead mines. Many fine items of Blue John can be seen at Chatsworth House and Kedleston Hall, but there is also a Blue John museum (the Ollerenshaw Collection) in the centre of the village. Another former local industry was rope making. This took place in the entrance to Peak Cavern until the mid 20th century and the rope walk can still be seen, stretching almost 100 metres into the cave. This industry dates back several centuries and at one time there were several small rope-maker's cottages inside the cavern entrance.

Castleton Chamber of Commerce

Castleton - a short history