Bolsover

Contents & Site Map

About Pigots

BOLSOVER - Description from Pigot's 1835 Directory

BOLSOVER, once a market town, is in the parish of its name, in the hundred of Scarsdale; 145 miles from London, 54 S.E. from Manchester, 24 N.N. by E. from Derby, 12 N.E. from Matlock, and 6 E. from Chesterfield. This place, prior to the conquest, was called Belesoure, an soon after the Norman survey, was noted for its castle, the seat of the Peverils, the first of whom was natural son to the conqueror.

It afterwards became Royal property, and the office of governor was conferred on a series of distinguished individuals. During the reign of the Tudors, the Earl of Shrewsbury became proprietor of the castle and under the influence of his second wife, the note Bess of Hardwick, he alienated it from his own family, to one of her sons by a former husband, Sir Charles Cavendish. This gentleman rebuilt the castle as it at present stands, on the foundation of the Norman fortress of the Peverils; or, as tradition says, he finished the building which his mother commenced.

His son, the celebrated Duke of Newcastle, built the magnificent structure now in ruins adjoining the castle, in which he entertained Charles I. and his Queen. The heiress of the second duke carried the Bolsover estate into the Holles family, from whom it passed, by succession, through the Harleys, to the Dukes of Portland. The castle, though kept in excellent repair, has seldom been inhabited by the proprietors since the civil wars. The present occupant is the Rev. John Hamilton Gray, vicar of the parish. The town is situate on the summit of a very steep hill, is well built, and commands extensive views. The Duke of Portland is lord of the manor, and holds a court every three weeks, at which debts under forty shillings are recoverable. At Lady-day and Michaelmas are two great courts; a jury of freeholders and copyholders is there impanelled, and at one of these latter courts, constables and headboroughs are chosen.

This town was once noted for its manufacture of buckles of a particular sort; but that branch has long declined, agriculture being now the chief occupation of the labouring class.

The church is a vicarage, in the patronage of the Duke of Portland, and in the incumbency of the Rev. John Hamilton Gray. In the church is a noble monument in memory of the first Sir Charles Cavendish, erected by his widow and his two surviving sons; there is also a magnificent one to the memory of the second Duke of Newcastle. Here are a chapel for the Calvinists and one for the Wesleyan methodists; and a free-school, with a small endowment, for tit education of six poor boys. Bolsover is still possessed of a charter for holding a market, but it is not made available; a small fair still exists for pedlery, &c. which is held on the 24th of June

The number of inhabitants in the parish, in 1821, was 1,245, and in 1831 (including part of GLAPWELL township) 1,429.

[Description from Pigot and Co's Commercial Directory for Derbyshire, 1835
Transcribed by Rosemary Lockie ©1999]

© Copyright Rosemary Lockie, GENUKI and Contributors 1996-2006, &c.
GENUKI is a registered trade mark of the charitable trust GENUKI, see About GENUKI as an Organisation

Are you lost in the Genuki hierarchy or arrived here from a Search Engine?
If so, use the up-arrow(s) at the top of the page to go up the hierarchy.

URL of this page: http://www.genuki.org.uk/big/eng/DBY/Bolsover/History.html