BOLSOVER, once a market town, is in the parish of its name, in the hundred of Scarsdale; 145 miles from London, 54 S.E. from Manchester, 24 N.N. by E. from Derby, 12 N.E. from Matlock, and 6 E. from Chesterfield. This place, prior to the conquest, was called Belesoure, an soon after the Norman survey, was noted for its castle, the seat of the Peverils, the first of whom was natural son to the conqueror.

It afterwards became Royal property, and the office of governor was conferred on a series of distinguished individuals. During the reign of the Tudors, the Earl of Shrewsbury became proprietor of the castle and under the influence of his second wife, the note Bess of Hardwick, he alienated it from his own family, to one of her sons by a former husband, Sir Charles Cavendish. This gentleman rebuilt the castle as it at present stands, on the foundation of the Norman fortress of the Peverils; or, as tradition says, he finished the building which his mother commenced.

His son, the celebrated Duke of Newcastle, built the magnificent structure now in ruins adjoining the castle, in which he entertained Charles I. and his Queen. The heiress of the second duke carried the Bolsover estate into the Holles family, from whom it passed, by succession, through the Harleys, to the Dukes of Portland. The castle, though kept in excellent repair, has seldom been inhabited by the proprietors since the civil wars. The present occupant is the Rev. John Hamilton Gray, vicar of the parish. The town is situate on the summit of a very steep hill, is well built, and commands extensive views. The Duke of Portland is lord of the manor, and holds a court every three weeks, at which debts under forty shillings are recoverable. At Lady-day and Michaelmas are two great courts; a jury of freeholders and copyholders is there impanelled, and at one of these latter courts, constables and headboroughs are chosen.

This town was once noted for its manufacture of buckles of a particular sort; but that branch has long declined, agriculture being now the chief occupation of the labouring class.

The church is a vicarage, in the patronage of the Duke of Portland, and in the incumbency of the Rev. John Hamilton Gray. In the church is a noble monument in memory of the first Sir Charles Cavendish, erected by his widow and his two surviving sons; there is also a magnificent one to the memory of the second Duke of Newcastle. Here are a chapel for the Calvinists and one for the Wesleyan methodists; and a free-school, with a small endowment, for tit education of six poor boys. Bolsover is still possessed of a charter for holding a market, but it is not made available; a small fair still exists for pedlery, &c. which is held on the 24th of June

The number of inhabitants in the parish, in 1821, was 1,245, and in 1831 (including part of GLAPWELL township) 1,429.

ELMTON, a parish, in the same hundred as Bolsover is about 3 Miles N.E. from that town. This was the birth-place of Jedediah Buxton, the great arithmetic calculator. The church here, is dedicated to St. Peter: the living is a discharged vicarage, in the patronage of the Rev. C. H. R. Rodes. The parish contained in 1821, 352 inhabitants, and at the last census (1831) the number had decreased to 340.

PLEASELEY is a village, in the parish of its name, which is in the same hundred as Bolsover, about four miles S.S.E. from that town. It was at one period of much greater consequence than it now is, having been a market town.

A cotton spinning factory is the only trade establishment of any magnitude now existing here. The church, dedicated to St. Michael, is an ancient edifice of stone, of rather singular form, being remarkably long and narrow. There is a large chasm in the steeple, caused by the shock of an earth-quake, which was felt in some of the midland counties, on the 17th March, 1816. The living is a rectory, in the patronage of Bache Thornhill, Esq. The market has long fallen into disuse; but two annual fairs are still maintained, which take place on the 6th of May and 29th of October, for horses, cattle and sheep.

The parish contained, at the last census (1831), 611 inhabitants.

SCARCLIFFE is a parish and village, in the same hundred as Bolsover, about 2 miles S.S.E. from that town. The Earl of Bathurst is lord of the manor; and the patronage of the church living, which is a vicarage, is possessed by the Duke of Devonshire. The church is dedicated to St. Leonard, and contains an interesting monument, of the 11th century. Population of the parish, according to the census taken in 1831, 524.

POST:- Letters arrive from and are despatched (by foot-post) to CHESTERFIELD, every Tuesday, Thursday and Saturday.

Description(s) from Pigot and Co's Commercial Directory for Derbyshire, 1835.
Transcribed by Rosemary Lockie in May 1996.