Page:VCH Derbyshire 1.djvu/472

 A HISTORY OF DERBYSHIRE has of late years become somewhat obliterated. Tradition has it that this was the site of Ashford Castle. 2. BAKE WELL CASTLE HILL (xxxiii. 11). Close to Bakewell Rail- way Station is a once lofty mound on a natural elevation, with remains of a base court or bailey, long known as Castle Hill. The base court ended at the fence line to the north-east, but beyond the ditch of this fence there is some trace of defensive work further to the north (which used within memory to be much more apparent) still remaining. The present deep road from the station was sunk about 1887; but there was an old sunk road here before the deeper one was cut, which probably followed the line of the outer fosse. On the hill side, across the rail- way, are some entrenchments, probably representing an outwork of the main fortification, but possibly of earlier date. They are not sufficiently preserved for a more definite opinion to be offered. According to the Anglo-Saxon Chronicle, under the year 924, King Edward, after being at Nottingham with his forces, ' went thence into Peakland, to Bakewell, and commanded a burh to be built nigh there- unto and manned.' The presumptive evidence that the earthwork of the Castle Hill is King Edward's burh is, in the opinion of Mr. I. Chalkley Gould and other competent archaeologists, exceedingly strong. At this time the Saxon king was gradually winning his way in his contest with the Danes, constructing many fortresses to maintain his power. At Bakewell, as at Nottingham, Stamford, and elsewhere, it seems to have been Edward's policy to construct the accommodation for his garrison and people on the side of the river opposite to that occupied by the older town. Mr. Gould, who carefully examined this site in 1899, writes* ' As we have here a mount and traces of two courts Bakewell Castle must be included among the strongholds of class E, but there is a marked difference between the features of this, and those of a typical example. In the latter the mount is the most important element of the works, and is usually from twenty to fifty or more feet in vertical height above a fosse which completely surrounds it ; here on the other hand the mount is only some 9 feet above the bailey, has no fosse, and was on, or formed part of, the rampart, being raised, I have little doubt, to defend the entrance to the fortress. A similar arrangement is manifest on a work at Tempsford (Beds), at Barking (Essex), probably at Newenden (Kent), and possibly at Hathersage in this county and elsewhere. Surrounding the summit of this mount, then possibly of somewhat larger dimensions, would be a stockade or wall of timber, a similar defence being placed along the top of the earthen ramparts of the baileys. The small upper court would accommodate the residences of the chief men and retainers as well as the stables, while the second or outer court would form a defensive enclosure for the homes of the king's people, who would be to some extent at enmity to the inhabitants of the town, many of whom probably were of Danish blood.' 3. BOLSOVER CASTLE (xxvi. 6). Bolsover Castle, with the town behind it to the east, stands forth boldly on a ridge or terrace of limestone 376