Bolsover is a populous village on the eastern verge of Derbyshire upon
the adjacent county of Nottingham; and but a short distance from the
town of Chesterfield. The Castle occupies the plain of a rocky hill that
rises abruptly from the meadows. The building is of great extent, and,
from its elevated situation, it is a landmark for the surrounding
country.
Bolsover has been the site of a castle from the Norman Conquest to the
present time; but, of the first fabric of this description not a single
vestige now remains. At the Domesday survey it belonged to William
Peveril, lord of Derbyshire, in whose family it remained for three
generations. King John, when Earl of Moreton, became the possessor of
Bolsover; but, during his continuation with Longchamp, bishop of Ely, it
became the property of that prelate. Subsequently it again reverted to
John, who, in the eighteenth year of his reign, issued a mandate to
Bryan de L'Isle, the then governor of Bolsover, to fortify the castle
and hold it against the rebellious barons; or, if he could not make it
tenable, to demolish it. This no doubt was the period when the
fortifications, which are yet visible about Bolsover, were established.
In the long and tumultuous reign of Henry III., this castle still
retained its consequence. William, Earl Ferrars, had the government of
it for six years: afterwards it had eleven different governors in twice
that term. It is not necessary to trace the place through all its
possessors. In the reign of Henry VIII. it was the property of Thomas
Howard, the first Duke of Norfolk. On the attainder of his son, the
castle escheated to the crown. Shortly afterwards it was granted to Sir
John 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 sold
it to Sir Charles Cavendish, whose eldest son William, was the first
Duke of Newcastle, a personage of great eminence among the nobility of
his time, and in high favour at court.[1] He was sincerely attached to
his 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 15,000_l_. were expended. The Duchess of Newcastle, in her
Life of the Duke, her husband, says, "The Earl employed Ben Jonson in
fitting up such scenes and speeches as he could devise; and sent for all
the country to come and wait on their Majesties; and, in short, did all
that even he could imagine to render it great and worthy of their royal
acceptance." It was this nobleman who erected the edifice which is now
in ruins. Mr. Bray, in his _Tour in Derbyshire_, observes: "This
place was seized by the Parliament after the Duke went abroad, and was
sold and begun to be pulled down, but was then bought by Sir Charles,
the Duke's youngest brother, and so restored to the family."[2]
The present castle was built at different periods. The north-east end,
which was erected by Sir Charles Cavendish, about the year 1613, is the
oldest. The interior of this portion is uncomfortably arranged. The
rooms are small, and the walls are wainscoted, and fancifully inlaid and
painted. The ceilings of the best apartments are carved and gilt, and
nearly the whole of the floors are coated with plaster. There is a small
hall, the roof of which is supported by pillars; and a star-chamber,
richly carved and gilt. The only comfortable apartment, according
to Mr. Rhodes, is now called the drawing room, but was formerly the
_pillar-parlour_, from its having in the centre a stone column, from
which springs an arched ceiling, while round the lower part of the shaft
is a plain dinner-table, in the right chivalric fashion. From the roof
of this building, to which the ascent is by winding stairs, the view
extends "till all the stretching landscape into mist decays." The garden
beneath is surrounded with a wall about three yards thick, and contains
an old fountain of curious and expensive workmanship, which Dr. Pegge,
(who was a native of Chesterfield, and wrote a history of Beauchief
Abbey,) has laboured to prove very beautiful.
Hitherto we have spoken but of that part of Bolsover Castle which was
formerly denominated the Little House, to distinguish it from the more
magnificent structure adjoining. This immense fabric, whose walls are
now roofless and rent into fissures, was built by William, the first
Duke of Newcastle, in the course of the reign of Charles II., but is
said never to have been entirely finished. The interior walls are but
bare stones; the door and window cases, and the different apartments,
are of unusually large dimensions, the principal remaining apartment
being 220ft. by 28: the entire western part, including the _Little
House_ at the northern extremity, extends about 150 yards. The
designs for the whole castle are said to have been furnished by
Huntingdon Smithson, (an architect noticed by Walpole,) but he did not
live to witness its erection. He collected his materials from Italy,
where he was sent by the Duke of Newcastle for the purpose. Smithson
died at Bolsover, in 1648, and was buried in the chancel of the church,
where there is a poetical inscription to his memory, in which his skill
in architecture is commemorated.
The whole pile is now wearing away. Trees grow in some of the deserted
apartments, and ivy creeps along the walls; though the ruins have little
of the picturesqueness of decay. The best point of view, or north-west,
is represented in the Engraving; a short distance hence lies the village
of Bolsover.
[1] The duke was an important personage in the hostilities between
his soverign and the parliament. In 1642, he was appointed
general of all his majesty's forces, raised north of Trent,
with very full powers. He levied a considerable army at his own
expense, with which he for some time maintained the king's cause
in the north. He, however, possessed little of the skill of a
general, though he was a splendid soldier of fortune. He gained
a signal victory over Lord Fairfax, near Bradford, and some
others of less importance; but he was utterly defeated at
Marston Moor, after which he left the country in despair of the
royal cause. He resided for some time at Antwerp with his lady,
where they were frequently in much distress. On his return to
England, at the Restoration, he was received with the respect
due to his unshaken fidelity, and in 1664, was created Earl of
Ogle and Duke of Newcastle. He passed the remainder of his life
in retirement, devoting himself to literature, to which he was
much attached, and attending to the repair of his fortune.
He died in 1676, aged 84, and was buried with his duchess in
Westminster Abbey. His literary labours are now almost forgotten,
if we except his principal production, "A new method and
extraordinary invention to dress Horses," &c., which has obtained
much praise from judges in the art. Grainger quaintly remarks,
that "the Duke of Newcastle was so attached to the Muses, that
he could not leave them behind him, but carried them to the camp,
and made Davenant the poet-laureate, his lieutenant-general of
the ordnance." His second wife was Margaret, the imaginative
Duchess of Newcastle, who never revised what she had written,
lest it "should disturb her following conceptions," by which
means she composed plays, poems, letters, philosophical
discourses, orations, &c.; of these she left enough to fill
thirteen folio volumes, ten of which have actually been printed.
Lord Orford has drawn a curious picture of the literary
characters both of this lady and her husband. They were
panegyrised and flattered by learned contemporaries; for, in
those days flattery was well paid. It is, however, gratifying
to learn that the duchess derives infinitely more honour from
her fine character as a wife and mistress of a family, than
from either her literary productions or these panegyrics.
[2] Rhode's Excursions, Part iv.
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