Perched on a rocky ridge above Castleton, in the Peak District, Peveril Castle dominates a grand landscape. But its history in the Renaissance is not one of glory: it is one of slow abandonment, the very example of a mountain fortress the Tudors let fall into ruin for want of use.
A castle of the Duchy of Lancaster
Peveril was a Norman castle belonging to the Duchy of Lancaster — that great Crown domain. Its perched position, once a defensive asset, made it an awkward place to maintain. Unlike other Duchy castles, repaired around 1480, Peveril received no more upkeep under the Tudors. A survey of 1561 already declares it 'in a state of decay'. It thus illustrates the fate of so many medieval mountain fortresses: deprived of military function in a pacified England, they were now only a burden the Crown left to abandonment.
From a local court to ruin
Peveril kept for a time an administrative function: it continued to house the local law courts until around 1600. But the building was inexorably decaying. A survey of 1609 is without appeal: the castle is 'very ruinous and serveth for no use'. At that time, its stone facing was torn off on three sides — no doubt reused elsewhere, the common fate of ruins. Peveril thus embodies, in the corpus of our atlas, the side of decline: not all castles became pleasure houses; many, like this one, simply sank into oblivion. To see: the Norman keep (c. 1176) perched on the ridge, the curtain walls, the gatehouse foundations, the remains of the great hall and chapel, the panorama over Cave Dale and the Peak District.
Did you know?
In 1609, an official of the Duchy of Lancaster summed up Peveril's fate in a cutting phrase: the castle was 'very ruinous and serveth for no use'. Rarely will the decline of a medieval fortress have been recorded with such administrative brutality: where the chroniclers once celebrated heroic sieges, a mere accounting survey noted the end of a world.
Notes
Peveril Castle lies at Castleton, Derbyshire (Peak District); a ruin run by English Heritage, reached by a steep path. Seasonal hours to check.
Quiz
- To which great domain did Peveril belong?
- The Duchy of Lancaster
- The Church of England
- The Virginia Company
- What does the 1609 survey record?
- The castle is 'very ruinous and serveth for no use'
- It is in perfect condition
- It has just been enlarged
- What does Peveril illustrate in our atlas?
- The decline/abandonment of mountain fortresses
- The rise of prodigy houses
- The peasants' revolt