Castleton A History

CASTLETON today is a busy tourist village at the west end of the Hope Valley in the Peak District. It lies in the valley bottom below the dramatic Peveril Castle surrounded by green hills and the Iron Age hill fort Mam Tor. An early pre-Norman Saxon settlement probably clustered about the entrance to Peak Cavern where there was shelter and clean water. Many talked about the seven wonders of the area such as the Peak Cavern or the ‘Devils Arse’. The Norman castle from which the village takes its name is a defensive structure standing on a crag above the valley which overshadows the village. Castleton was an important town with a large market in Norman times but today, as a village, it has a population of only about 600.