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 also for its local Bakewell pudding. It lies on the River Wye, about 13 miles (21 km) south-west of Sheffield. In the 2011 census, ...

Derbyshire Derbyshire ( ) is a ceremonial county in the East Midlands, England. It includes much of the Peak District National Park, the southern end of the Pennine range of hills and part of the National Forest. It borders Greater Manchester to the nor ...

(). 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 (castle), bailey, surrounded by a protective Rampart (fortification ...

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

Edward the Elder Edward the Elder (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 cousin Æt ...

, who also established the main

burh A burh () or burg was an Old English 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 la, Merciorum regnum , conventional_long_name=Kingdom of Mercia , common_name=Mercia , status=Kingdom , status_text=Independent kingdom (527–879)Client state of Wessex () , life_span=527–918 , era=Heptarchy , event_start= , date_start= , ye ...

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 9th century, probably in Wessex, during the reign of Alf ...

'', 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) was King of England from 1189 until his death in 1199. He also ruled as Duke of Normandy, Aquitaine and Gascony, Lord of Cyprus, and Count of Poitiers, Anjou, Maine, and Nantes, and was overl ...

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 (1642–1651) was a series of civil wars and political machinations between Parliamentarians (" Roundheads") and Royalists led by Charles I ("Cavaliers"), mainly over the manner of England's governance and issues of re ...

. 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 and d ...

Notes

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