Castleton

A Library "of upwards of 1,000 volumes" was maintained in the Church Vestry in the late 1800s. This library was first formed by the Rev. Frederick FARRAN and was predominantly religious texts.

Castleton village is served by the Mobile Library on route N, which makes a stop at the Market Place every fourth Thursday in the mid-afternoon.

The Chapel-en-le-Frith Library is an excellent resource with a Local History section and a Family History section.

• CLARKE, Dr Liam - Castleton - A History, A Tour, People, Buildings and Industries. Owl Publishing, 2009. ISBN 978-0-9562437-0-6.

The Castleton Burial Ground was opened in 1973 on Hollowford Road.

David DIXON has a photograph of the Castleton Burial Ground off Hollowford Road on Geo-graph, taken in May, 2014.

Alan HEARDMAN has a photograph of the Burial Ground gates on Geo-graph, taken in August, 2008.

The parish was in the Chapel en le Frith sub-district of the Chapel en le Frith Registration District.

The table below gives census piece numbers, where known:

• The Anglican parish church is dedicated to Saint Edmund.
   
• The church was constructed in the late 11th Century or early 12th Century.
   
• Kevin WATERHOUSE has a photograph of the Church of St Edmund on Geo-graph, taken in January, 2014.
   
• The church was partially restored circa 1837.
   
• In 1887 a chiming clock ws installed in the church tower to replace an older, silent clock.
   
• The church seats 250.
   
• Wally HAINES has a photograph of Castleton Church on Geo-graph, taken in March, 2008.
   
• John SALMON has a photograph of church interior on Geo-graph, taken in 1991.

• The Anglican parish registers date from 1633.
   
• Michael SPENCER has provided an extract of Castleton burials entries. Your additions and corrections are welcomed.
   
• The church was in the rural deanery of Eyam.
   
• A Primitive Methodist chapel was built here in 1809. It apparently closed in 1933.
   
• A Wesleyan Methodist Chapel was built here in 1898, replacing an older chapel.

• Civil Registration began in July, 1837.
   
• The parish was in the Chapel en le Frith sub-district of the Chapel en le Frith Registration District.

"CASTLETON is a parish and village, in the hundred of High Peak. 164 miles from London, 27 S.E. from Manchester, 10 N.E. from Buxton, and 7 E. from Chapel-en-le-Frith. It is situate at the bottom of the steep eminence, at whose feet the 'Peak Cavern' discloses itself, and the summit of which is occupied by an ancient castle that gives name to the place. This castle was erected by William Peveril, natural son of the Conqueror, and from its situation was called 'the Castle of the Peak', or 'Peak Castle.'"

[Description from Pigot and Co's Commercial Directory for Derbyshire, 1835]

David DISON has a photograph of the Castleton Bus Station on Geo-graph, taken in May, 2014.

Chris DOWNER has a good photograph of the village green on Geo-graph, taken in May, 2013.

Steve MORRIS has a photograph of the Castleton Visitor Centre on the Alamy website.

• Geograph
• Flickr

• Rosemary LOCKIE provides a transcription of the Castleton entry from Pigot & Co's Commercial Directory for Derbyshire, 1835.
   
• Ann ANDREWS provides a transcription of the Castleton entry from Kelly's Directory of the Counties of Derby, Notts, Leicester and Rutland (1891).

• Mel LOCKIE provides a transcription of the Castleton entry from Lewis's Topographical Dictionary of England, 1831.
   
• Colin HINSON provides the transcription of the section for Castleton from the National Gazetteer (1868).

• Ask for a calculation of the distance from Castleton to another place.

• The Romans developed the lead mines here and extracted vast amounts of lead for the empire.
   
• One of the most famous of the localities of the semi-precious mineral fluorite is Castleton. Fluorite is used in steel-making. It is known as Derbyshire Blue John.
   
• William PEVERIL's Castle of the Peak held this place in the 1086 domesday Book. Only the ruins of the castle remain.
   
• Most of the parish was given over to pasturage in the 1700s and 1800s.
   
• Graham HOGG has a photograph of Ye Olde Cheshire Cheese Inn in the heart of the village on Geo-graph, taken in November, 2010.

You can see maps centred on OS grid reference SK150829 (Lat/Lon: 53.342789, -1.776168), Castleton which are provided by:

• OpenStreetMap
• Google Maps
• StreetMap (Current Ordnance Survey maps)
• Bing (was Multimap)
• Old Maps Online
• National Library of Scotland (Old Ordnance Survey maps)
• Vision of Britain (Click "Historical units & statistics" for administrative areas.)
• English Jurisdictions in 1851 (Unfortunately the LDS have removed the facility to enable us to specify a starting location, you will need to search yourself on their map.)
• Magic (Geographic information) (Click + on map if it doesn't show)
• GeoHack (Links to on-line maps and location specific services.)

• All places within the same township/parish shown on an Openstreetmap map.
• Nearby townships/parishes shown on an Openstreetmap map.
• Nearby places shown on an Openstreetmap map.

• In 1912, Colonel Joseph Hall MOORE of the Derbyshire Regt. resided here at Nether house. He had been promoted to Major of the 2nd Regt. in 1881.
   
• The Castleton War Memorial Cross, made from carved Derbyshire gritstone is a grade II listed structure with British Heritage. It was unveiled and dedicated on 18 October 1919 by Major S. HILL-WOOD, M.P.
   
• And Ron GALLIERS has a photograph of the War Memorial on Geo-graph, taken in July, 2004. The top is obscured by the tree.
   
• Mick GARRATT also has a photograph of the War Memorial on Geo-graph, taken in November, 2011.

The following names appear on the War Memorial Cross plaques (supplied by the Imperiam War Museum):

1. Abbott, A.
2. Abbott, H.
3. Abbott, T.
4. Abbott, W.
5. Abbott, W. H.
6. Alldred, H.
7. Barber, H.
8. Barber, J.
9. Beverley, E.
10. Beverley, Joseph Samuel
11. Beverley, John Wilson
12. Beverley, M.
13. Beverley, S.
14. Beverley, T.
15. Boam, S.
16. Bowler, A. E.
17. Bowler, E. C.
18. Broadbent, John
19. Charles, C. E. D.
20. Charles, F. D.
21. Charles, P. D.
22. Dodds, John Herbert
23. Ellison, S. E.
24. Eyre, G. W.
25. Eyre, J.
26. Eyre, J.
27. Eyre, J. A.
28. Greaves, D. W.
29. Greaves, V. E. W.
30. Hall, F.
31. Hall, H.
32. Hall, J.
33. Hall, J.
34. Hall, J. C.
35. Hall, J. H.
36. Hall, L.
37. Hall, R.
38. Hall, R.
39. Hawkes, Leonard Bailey
40. How, E. V.
41. How, H.
42. How, S.
43. How, Victor E.
44. Hoyle, W. M.
45. Jackson, R.
46. Lancaster, L.
47. Littlewood, Charles
48. Littlewood, John
49. Littlewood, Mainad (spelling?)
50. Lockley, C.
51. Lockley, John M. W.
52. Lomas, C.
53. Lomas, S.
54. Marrison, H.
55. Marrison, W.
56. Minnitt, George Chapel
57. Nicholls, O. S.
58. Nichols, H.
59. Nicholson, R.
60. Nickolson, R. T.
61. Pashley, H.
62. Pashley, William Edward
63. Payne, Arthur Arnold
64. Potter, A.
65. Potter, F.
66. Potter, J.
67. Potter, J. T.
68. Robinson, S.
69. Rose, F.
70. Rose, V.
71. Sidebottom, J.
72. Sidebottom, W.
73. Snape, B.
74. Swales, W.
75. Tate, P. W.
76. Unsworth, R.
77. Waining, F. J.
78. Walker, J.
79. Weaving, T. J. J.
80. Wheat, J. W.
81. Wild, S.
82. Wray, Wilfred James
83. Younge, Henry George

St. Edmund's Church has a marble monument to John MAWE, born 1764, a native mineralogist of some celebrity, who is buried in London.

• This place was an ancient parish in county Derby and became a modern Civil Parish when those were established.
   
• Parish boundaries shrank by 7,000 acres between 1851 and 1881.
   
• This parish was in the ancient High Peak Hundred (or Wapentake).
   
• The citizens of this parish have elected to forgo a formal Parish Council. Instead, they hold periodic Parish Meetings of all the residents to discuss civic and political matters.
   
• District governance is provided by the High Peak Borough Council.

• BENNETT's Charity of 1720 provided £2 to be distributed among the parish poor each Christmas.
   
• Bastardy cases would be heard in the Chapel-en-le-Frith petty session hearings once each month.
   
• There is an index of Castleton Bastardy Papers held at the DRO on the Yesterdays Journey website. Select "Bastardy Papers" on the left side, then "Castleton" from the list of parishes displayed.
   
• As a result of the Poorlaw Amendment Act reforms of 1834, this parish became a member of the Chapel-en-le-Frith Poorlaw Union.

Year	Inhabitants
1801	1,240
1831	1,329
1841	1,500
1871	678
1881	650
1891	541
1901	547

A Public Elementary School (mixed) was built here in 1863 for 110 children.

• "Castleton should be given a wide berth on a Saturday or Sunday in the summer months. On those days it overflows with the tripper, for whom it lays itself out to provide, and the streets are apt to be uproarious until the last brakes have gone singing down the vale. Its main thoroughfares are commonplace, but the cottages on the higher level are picturesque and unspoilt. Castleton retains one interesting local custom, for May 29th, or Oakapple Day, is still honoured in a curious way. A great garland of wild flowers is made, shaped like a bell on a frame, and is carried round the town by a man on horseback, who wears it upon his head, covering his face. He plays Charles II; the part of the Queen who rides beside him is taken by a youth, dressed in a lady's riding habit and veil. Twenty girls dance the Morris dance before them as they ride through the town to the accompaniment of "plenty of brass bands". One can conceive the din! Then the garland is taken to the church and slung up by a pulley to the parapet of the tower, where it is left to wither. It is accounted a great honour to bear the garland, and the privilege has been exercised for the last twenty years."
  [Firth, J B - Highways and Byways in Derbyshire, 1905. Quoted in The Peak Advertiser, 19th May 2003; p.11]