Memorials of old Derbyshire

by Unknown

Derbyshire possessed a fourth great fortress, which has generally been overlooked; it does not appear on the Pipe Rolls, as it was never held by the Crown. Duffield was a convenient centre for the great Derbyshire possessions of Henry de Ferrers. The castle at this place stood on an eminence commanding an important ford of the Derwent, at the entrance of the valley that led to Wirksworth with its lead mines, and hence forwards to the High Peak. Here was erected in early Norman days (as we know from the long-buried remains) a prodigiously strong and massive keep. William, Earl Ferrers, was a stalwart supporter of Henry III. until his death, but his grandson, Robert de Ferrers, soon after he came of age, in 1260, threw himself with ardour into the baronial war against the King. Eventually he was overcome when fighting with his allies at Chesterfield in 1266. Ferrers was taken prisoner, and his life spared; but all his lands, castles, and tenements were confiscated to the crown, and conveyed by Henry to his son Edmund, who was afterwards created Earl of Lancaster. It would be at this period that Duffield Castle was demolished.

The foundations of this castle were accidentally discovered in 1886. The lower part of the walls of a great rectangular keep, 95 feet by 93 feet, were brought to light, the walls averaging 16 feet in thickness. These measurements show that Duffield Castle far exceeded in magnitude any other Norman keep, with the single exception of the Tower of London.

Before taking the next step in this sketch of the political history of the county, it will be well to go back a little in the account of the great Derbyshire family of Ferrers, with special reference to their connection with the Peak Forest. William de Ferrers, the fourth Earl of Derby, was bailiff of the Honour of the Peak from 1216 to 1222. It was charged against him that during that time he had in conjunction with others taken upwards of 2,000 head of deer without warrant. At the Forest Pleas held in 1251, five years after the Earl’s death, formal presentments as to these offences were made, when Richard Curzon was fined the then great sum of £40 as one of the late Earl’s accomplices, and other county gentlemen in smaller amounts. But much more serious matters occurred in the wild region of the Peak later on in the reign of Henry III., when the transgressor was Robert de Ferrers, the grandson of the Earl just mentioned. The Pleas of the Forest were generally held at long and somewhat fitful intervals. It was not until September, 1285, that these pleas were again held at Derby, when all the offences committed during the thirty-four years that had passed since the last eyre were presented by the forest officials. By far the gravest charge at this eyre was that made against the last Earl of Derby (of the first creation), who died in 1278. It was charged against Robert de Ferrers that on three separate occasions, in July, August and September, 1264, he had hunted in the forest, with a great company of knights and others, and had on these occasions taken 130 head of red deer, and had driven a still greater number far away. These illicit hunting affrays were evidently made on a great scale, for thirty-eight persons are named in the presentment, and there were many others, besides the Earl himself, who were dead before the eyre was held. Others, too, were not summoned because they were mere servants of the Earl. Eight out of the thirty-eight were knights, and it is not a little remarkable that hardly any of those who joined in the forest affrays were of Derbyshire families; they came from such counties as Warwick, Leicestershire, Lancashire, Yorkshire, Cambridgeshire, etc. Reading between the lines, though it is not mentioned in the presentments—the originals of which can be studied at the Public Record Office—it becomes clear that these incursions into a royal forest must have been animated by something deeper than a love for wholesale poaching. In May, 1264, the battle of Lewes was fought, when the King’s forces were defeated by those of the barons. For two or three years from that date, as an old chronicler has it, “there was grievous perturbation in the centre of the realm,” in which Derbyshire must have pre-eminently shared, for the youthful Earl Robert was one of the hottest partisans of the barons. There can be no reasonable doubt that these three raids on the Peak Forest in the months immediately following the battle of Lewes, were undertaken by Robert de Ferrers and his allies, issuing probably from his great manor house at Hartington, much more to show contempt for the King’s forest and preserves, and to get booty and food for his men-at-arms, than for any purposes of sport.

It is interesting to note that in April, 1264, Henry III. came into Derbyshire, and lodged for a time at the castle of the Peak after the subjection of Nottingham.

Definite Parliamentary rule began in England under Edward I. No Derbyshire writs are extant for the Parliaments of 1283, 1290 or 1294. The first Parliamentary return extant for Derbyshire names Henry de Kniveton and Giles de Meynell as summoned to attend the Parliament at Westminster in November, 1295. The county representatives in 1297 were Robert Dethick and Thomas Foljambe; in 1298, Henry de Brailsford and Henry Fitzherbert, and in 1299 Jeffrey de Gresley and Robert de Frecheville. John de la Cornere and Ralph de Makeney represented the borough of Derby in 1295. The maintenance of the knights of the shire when attending Parliament, as well as their travelling expenses, were paid by the county. The scale of payment per day in the fourteenth century varied from 3s. 4d. to 5s., whilst the payment of the borough members varied from 20d. to 2s. a day.

Soon after the accession of Edward I., inquiries were made into the various abuses that had arisen during the latter part of the turbulent reign of his predecessor. A considerable number of official irregularities and illegalities were brought to light in this county, including both the imprisoning and undue releasing from prison at the Castle of the Peak.

Edward I. visited Derbyshire in 1275, tarrying both at Ashbourne and Tideswell, when on his way to North Wales. In the subjugation of Wales, various of the great landholders of Derbyshire, with their tenants, took a prominent part; among them were William de Ferrers, William de Bardolf, Henry de Grey, Edward Deincourt, John de Musard, and Nicholas de Segrave.

Between 1290 and 1293 the King was frequently in the county, coming on more than one occasion for sport amongst the fallow deer of Duffield Frith, at the forest lodge of Ravensdale. Derbyshire was closely concerned in the long dispute as to the succession to the Crown of Scotland, of which Edward I. was made arbitrator in 1291. His decision was in favour of John Balliol, who was most intimately connected with this county. Balliol held for a time the custody of the Peak, with the Honour of Peveril; he was lord of the manors of Hollington and Creswell; and he had served as joint sheriff of the counties of Derby and Nottingham from 1261 to 1264. All the leading men of Derbyshire were engaged from time to time in the prolonged wars with Scotland which resulted in the deposition of Balliol in 1296. This county had its share in the discreditable honours that Edward II. showered on his favourite, Piers Gaveston, for early in the reign he held the custody of the High Peak. In 1322 the Scotch forces entered into alliance with those of the rebel Earls of Lancaster and Hereford. After fierce fighting at the bridge of Burton-on-Trent, the royalists crossed the river by a ford and drove Lancaster’s forces before them into Yorkshire. During the retreat Derbyshire suffered severely. The King, with several of his ministers, tarried for a few days at Derby; from thence he visited Codnor Castle, which was held by one of his ardent supporters, Richard, Lord Grey. Edward II. also, on several different occasions, sojourned at the lodge of Ravensdale, amid the beautiful parks of Duffield Forest.

In the various wars of the reign of Edward III. Derbyshire was often called upon to supply forces for the hastily raised armies of the King. The number of men levied on several occasions in this county were considerably in excess of its due proportion when compared with neighbouring shires, either in acreage or population. This may, we suppose, be taken as a compliment to the valour of the county, and it is by no means improbable that the hardy lead miners of the north of the county would furnish better men, and perhaps more capable archers, than were to be found in purely agricultural districts. Early in 1333, when the Scots were making great preparations for invasion, John de Twyford and Nicholas de Longford were appointed Commissioners of Array for Derbyshire, to call out and have in readiness for the field all men between sixteen and sixty years of age. Soon afterwards they received a definite warrant to send to the front five hundred archers and two hundred light horsemen from within the county. Derbyshire archers to the number of six hundred set forth for Scotland in 1344, and there were frequent levies of them during this reign to proceed to France. Derbyshire, however, considering the fame of its archers and the fighting-men of the Peak, took but a small part in the French campaign of 1346–7, which resulted in the crowning triumph of Crecy and the fall of Calais. The reason for this was that only those counties that were citra Trent received summonses to take part in the French expedition; the forces of Derbyshire, Yorkshire, and other northern counties were kept at home for fear of aggression from Scotland. There were, however, a sprinkling of Derbyshire men in the ranks of the English at Crecy, including Sir John Curzon, Nicholas de Longford, and Anker de Frecheville.

The wide-spread revolt of the peasantry was the great feature of the reign of Richard II.; but Derbyshire, together with most of the west midlands, remained unaffected by these serious disturbances, in which the miners, at all events, had no inclination to take part.