Bolsover Town Defences (The Gatehouse Record)

In the civil parish of Old Bolsover.
In the historic county of Derbyshire.
Modern Authority of Derbyshire.
1974 county of Derbyshire.
Medieval County of Derbyshire.

OS Map Grid Reference: SK476703
Latitude 53.22587° Longitude -1.28818°

Bolsover Town Defences has been described as a probable Urban Defence.

There are earthwork remains.

This site is a scheduled monument protected by law.

Description

Linear bank and ditches of uncertain date or function surviving as earthworks. (PastScape)

Bolsover was a deliberately planned and fortified town and closely followed the establishment of Bolsover Castle in C11. A market charter was confirmed in 1225-6 and the grid of streets, lanes and tenement boundaries are still visible in the town plan although the former rectangular market place is now reduced to a triangular area. The subsequent phase of the town's development lies to the north of the original core taking the form of long burage plots possibly derived from original open-field strips. The 'early earthwork' on the line of Horncroft Road was visible prior to recent road widening as a V-shaped ditch of narrow profile with an earth rampart and ditch extending south east from Horncroft Road has been wrongly called 'Jacobean' by previous writers. William Senior's map of the 1630's confirms that these works were of some antiquity; by then they were being used only as land boundaries. (PastScape ref. Hart)

The medieval town defences of Bolsover are well preserved and retain significant archaeological deposits. Such deposits provide important information relating to the construction and use of the town defences and will add considerably to our knowledge and understanding of the social and economic structure of the medieval community. It will also provide information on the continuity and change in the use of the monument from the medieval period to the present day.
This monument, which falls into two areas, includes the earthwork and buried remains of the medieval town defences of Bolsover situated on the north and east of the historic town. The earthworks represent the bank and ditch of the rampart which is approximately 8m in width at the base and varying between 3m and 2m in height. The 'V' shaped ditch is visible as an earthwork and varies between 6m and 7m in width and 2m to 3m in depth. Documentary sources show that the historic town of Bolsover was in existence by 1086. It was a planned, fortified town and followed the establishment of the castle in the 11th century. A market charter of 1225 to 1226 confirmed the grid of streets, lanes and tenement boundaries. The town extended to the north from the original core. (Scheduling Report)

Comments

VCH has a plan (from Downman) and suggests the ditches are pre-Conquest, although Hart seems to be suggesting they are post-Conquest. Bolsover and Peveril castles were often in the same hands and it may be that the town defences of Castleton and Bolsover are of a similar date (Castleton is tentatively dated as 1196).

Sources of information, references and further reading

National Heritage List for England Scheduled Monument Number 1007053, Legacy Scheduled Monument Number dr95
Historic England (PastScape) Defra or Monument number(s) 316234.
County Historic Environment Record (or Sites and Monuments Record) number(s) 11205.

Books
- Salter, Mike, 2013, Medieval Walled Towns (Malvern: Folly Publications) p. 157 (mention)
  Riden, Philip and Fowkes, Dudley Vincent, 2008, Bolsover: Castle, Town and Colliery (Chichester: Phillimore)
  Creighton, O.H. and Higham, R.A., 2005, Medieval Town Walls (Stroud: Tempus) p. 24, 93, 267
  Bond, C.J., 1987, 'Anglo-Saxon and Medieval Defences' in Schofield, J. and Leech, R. (eds) Urban Archaeology in Britain (CBA Research Report 61) p. 92-116 online copy
  King, D.J.C., 1983, Castellarium Anglicanum (London: Kraus) Vol. 1 p. 112
  Hart, C.R., 1981, The North Derbyshire archaeological survey to AD1500 p. 139-140
  Cox, J.C., 1905, 'Ancient Earthworks' in Page, Wm (ed), VCH Derbyshire Vol. 1 p. 376-8 (plan) online copy
  Downman, A.E., 1895, History of Bolsover p. 17-20 online copy
  Pegge, S., 1785, Sketch of the history of Bolsover and Peak Castles in the county of Derby (London: J. Nichols for the Society of Antiquaries - Bibliotheca Topographica Britannica No. 32) p. 5
Periodical Articles
- Creighton, Oliver, 2006, ''Castles of Communities': Medieval Town Defences in England; Wales and Gascony' Château Gaillard Vol. 22 p. 75-86
Other sources: Theses; 'grey' literature; in-house reports; unpublished works; etc.
- Creighton, O.H., 1998, Castles and Landscapes: An Archaeological Survey of Yorkshire and the East Midlands (PhD Thesis University of Leicester) p. 218 online copy

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The bibliography owes much to various bibliographies produced by John Kenyon for the Council for British Archaeology, the Castle Studies Group and others.

Suggestions for finding online and/or hard copies of bibliographical sources can be seen at this link.
Minor archaeological investigations, such as watching brief reports, and some other 'grey' literature is most likely to be held by H.E.R.s but is often poorly referenced and is unlikely to be recorded here, or elsewhere, but some suggestions can be found here.

The possible site or monument is represented on maps as a point location. This is a guide only. It should be noted that OS grid references defines an area, not a point location. In practice this means the actual center of the site or monument may often, but not always, be to the North East of the point shown. Locations derived from OS grid references and from latitude longitiude may differ by a small distance.
Further information on mapping and location can be seen at this link.

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