Bakewell Castle was in the town of

Bakewell Bakewell is a market town and civil parish in the Derbyshire Dales district of Derbyshire, England, known for Bakewell pudding. It lies on the River Wye, Derbyshire, River Wye, 15 miles (23 km) south-west of Sheffield. It is the largest se ...

Derbyshire Derbyshire ( ) is a ceremonial county in the East Midlands of England. It borders Greater Manchester, West Yorkshire, and South Yorkshire to the north, Nottinghamshire to the east, Leicestershire to the south-east, Staffordshire to the south a ...

(). It was a

motte and bailey A motte-and-bailey castle is a European fortification with a wooden or stone keep situated on a raised area of ground called a motte, accompanied by a walled courtyard, or bailey, surrounded by a protective ditch and palisade. Relatively easy ...

castle. According to some sources it was built in the year 924 by

Edward the Elder Edward the Elder (870s?17 July 924) was King of the Anglo-Saxons from 899 until his death in 924. He was the elder son of Alfred the Great and his wife Ealhswith. When Edward succeeded to the throne, he had to defeat a challenge from his cousi ...

, who also established the main

burh A burh () or burg was an Anglo-Saxon fortification or fortified settlement. In the 9th century, raids and invasions by Vikings prompted Alfred the Great to develop a network of burhs and roads to use against such attackers. Some were new constru ...

. The purpose of its erection appears to have been as a measure against the

Mercia Mercia (, was one of the principal kingdoms founded at the end of Sub-Roman Britain; the area was settled by Anglo-Saxons in an era called the Heptarchy. It was centred on the River Trent and its tributaries, in a region now known as the Midlan ...

n invasion. According to the ''

Anglo-Saxon Chronicle The ''Anglo-Saxon Chronicle'' is a collection of annals in Old English, chronicling the history of the Anglo-Saxons. The original manuscript of the ''Chronicle'' was created late in the ninth century, probably in Wessex, during the reign of ...

'', Edward marched into peakland after he had fortified Nottinghamshire, and from there onward he arrived at Bakewell, and commanded that a town with a garrison be established at this location. According to other sources the castle was built in the 12th century, most probably by Ralf Gernon. According to these sources, the building that existed before the 12th century at this location was not a fortification, but a simple manor, which was awarded to Gernon by

Richard I Richard I (8 September 1157 – 6 April 1199), known as Richard the Lionheart or Richard Cœur de Lion () because of his reputation as a great military leader and warrior, was King of England from 1189 until his death in 1199. He also ru ...

during the 12th century, and Gernon fortified the manor. This hypothesis is based on the views of M.J. Swanton, formed after their 1969 and 1971 excavations of the location which showed that the remains of pottery found in the south-eastern side of the bailey were most probably from the 12th or 13th century. Some recent sources have suggested that both theories could be correct: that the castle is a 12th-century motte built upon a Saxon burh. The castle was razed to the ground during the

English Civil War The English Civil War or Great Rebellion was a series of civil wars and political machinations between Cavaliers, Royalists and Roundhead, Parliamentarians in the Kingdom of England from 1642 to 1651. Part of the wider 1639 to 1653 Wars of th ...

. Today the only ruins that remain are certain earthworks, atop a mound that has been named as Castle Hill. The motte, which at one time may have been further fortified with a timber palisade, and its two baileys are visible, but none of the buildings remain except some foundation walls, which are now covered with vegetation; otherwise, only the earthworks remain. It is a

Scheduled Ancient Monument In the United Kingdom, a scheduled monument is a nationally important archaeological site or historic building, given protection against unauthorised change. The various pieces of legislation that legally protect heritage assets from damage, visu ...

Notes

{{coord, 53.21580, N, 1.67051, W, region:GB_source:enwiki-osgb36(SK221688), display=title Castles in Derbyshire Scheduled monuments in Derbyshire Bakewell