E-text prepared by Jonathan Ingram, David Garcia,
and the Project Gutenberg Online Distributed Proofreading Team

[pg 161]

THE MIRROR
OF
LITERATURE, AMUSEMENT, AND INSTRUCTION.

BOLSOVER CASTLE.

BOLSOVER CASTLE

Bolsover is a populous village on the eastern verge of Derbyshire uponthe adjacent county of Nottingham; and but a short distance from thetown of Chesterfield. The Castle occupies the plain of a rocky hill thatrises abruptly from the meadows. The building is of great extent, and,from its elevated situation, it is a landmark for the surroundingcountry.

Bolsover has been the site of a castle from the Norman Conquest to thepresent time; but, of the first fabric of this description not a singlevestige now remains. At the Domesday survey it belonged to WilliamPeveril, lord of Derbyshire, in whose family it remained for threegenerations. King John, when Earl of Moreton, became the possessor ofBolsover; but, during his continuation with Longchamp, bishop of Ely, itbecame the property of that prelate. Subsequently it again reverted toJohn, who, in the eighteenth year of his reign, issued a mandate toBryan de L'Isle, the then governor of Bolsover, to fortify the castleand hold it against the rebellious barons; or, if he could not make ittenable, to demolish it. This no doubt was the period when thefortifications, which are yet visible about Bolsover, were established.

In the long and tumultuous reign of Henry III., this castle stillretained its consequence. William, Earl Ferrars, had the government ofit for six years: afterwards it had eleven different governors in twicethat term. It is not necessary to trace the place through all itspossessors. In the reign of Henry VIII. it was the property of ThomasHoward, the first Duke of Norfolk. On the attainder of his son, thecastle escheated to the crown. Shortly afterwards it was granted to SirJohn Byron for fifty years. In the reign of James I., Gilbert Talbot,Earl of Shrewsbury, was the owner of Bolsover. In the year 1613, he soldit to Sir Charles Cavendish, whose eldest son William, was the firstDuke of Newcastle, a personage of great eminence among the nobility ofhis time, and in high favour at court.¹ He was sincerely attached tohis[pg 162]royal master, Charles I., whom he entertained at Bolsover Castle,on three different occasions, in a style of princely magnificence.On the king's second visit here, where he was accompanied by his queen,upwards of 15,000l. were expended. The Duchess of Newcastle, in herLife of the Duke, her husband, says, "The Earl employed Ben Jonson infitting up such scenes and speeches as he could devise; and sent for allthe country to come and wait on their Majesties; and, in short, did allthat even he could imagine to render it great and worthy of their royalacceptance." It was this nobleman who erected the edifice which is nowin ruins. Mr. Bray, in his T