Bolsover Castle - A Retrospective

The front elevation of the Little Castle

My day out to Bolsover proved to be very productive, with a walk around the town and a trip to Bolsover Parish Church adding to my knowledge of the geology of the region and its exploitation for building and decorative stones. 

A general view of Bolsover Castle from Station Road

Although I only took a few photographs of it from a distance, when entering and leaving the town, no trip to Bolsover is complete without a mention of Bolsover Castle, which is set on a spur of the Magnesian Limestone escarpment that overlooks the Hockley Valley and has commanding views across the valley of the River Doe Lea to the west. 

Sculpture on the Little Castle

I first visited the castle back in 1985, along with Hardwick Hall, when I moved to Sheffield after a year spent working for the District Valuer/Valuation Office in Lincoln – where I had first developed an interest in historic stone buildings – and I was particularly struck by the Little Castle and its magnificent fireplaces. 

Cavernous decay in sandstone from the Coal Measures

The next time that I visited Bolsover Castle was at the beginning of 1993 when I was commissioned to advise on a suitable building stone for the restoration of the Little Castle. Red Mansfield stone, which Sir Charles Cavendish had brought from his aborted project in Kirkby-in-Ashfield – 15 km to the south as the crow flies – is the principal building material, with local Carboniferous sandstone used for some dressings. 

A selection of large stone samples 

I arranged for large samples of various stones to be sent to site, along with technical information, with the English Heritage building surveyor choosing a suitable replacement from these, and I visited briefly in 1994 and 1995, when living in Bakewell, to see the completed restoration work.

A group photo at the Little Castle

The last time I visited Bolsover Castle was in September 2009, during an afternoon field trip with a large group of Spanish students from Vigo, which I had been teaching English to at Swinton Academy. Throughout the three weeks that I had been teaching them, I had lent them my camera on previous field trips – to take photos for an ongoing classroom project – and the entrance steps to the Little Castle made a good setting for our group photo. 

A fireplace in the Little Castle

Magnificent as Bolsover Castle is, and one of my favourite English Heritage properties, having seen it a few times without there being any added attractions, the very overpriced entrance fee has stopped me from going back; however, now that the wall walk has been opened and I have a good reason to have a close look at the fireplaces – for my pending talk at St. Peter’s church in Edensor - I will go and have another look.

An ornate fireplace in the Little Castle