Bolsover Castle | English Heritage | Knights Tournament | 17th Century Hill Top Castle | England UK

Bolsover Castle knights tournament English heritage. 17th century Hill top castle. A GREAT VALUE FAMILY DAY OUT FOR JUST £33.50 Bolsover Castle was the fantasy hilltop pleasure palace of a horse-mad Cavalier playboy – and even today this Stuart mansion never fails to impress. Be transported to lost age of aristocratic extravagance as you discover lavishly decorated rooms, the astonishing riding school and the wonderfully recreated garden. Hear tales from the past from costumed storytellers, roam the ruined Terrace Range and take in the stunning countryside views from the restored wall walk. Families will love the interactive exhibition in the stables, and kids can let their imaginations run wild in the castle-themed play area next to the café. It's a unique fairytale castle. Don’t miss: Marvel at rare wall paintings, amazing carved fireplaces and replica tapestries in the Little Castle Experience spectacular views across the Derbyshire Countryside from the Wall Walk Take the multimedia tour to dive deeper into the castle’s history. Perched on a ridge high above the Vale of Scarsdale, on the site of a medieval fortress, Bolsover Castle is an extraordinary 17th-century aristocratic retreat. The exquisite ‘Little Castle’ has remarkable wall paintings and interiors, and the Riding House is the earliest such building in England to survive complete. THE CREATION OF THE LITTLE CASTLE The castle was founded in the late 11th century by William Peveril, one of William the Conqueror's knights, but it was neglected from the mid-14th century. Its ruins provided the setting for the Little Castle begun in 1612 by Sir Charles Cavendish as a retreat from his principal seat at Welbeck, a few miles away. The design of the Little Castle was intended to evoke a Norman great tower, which it clearly resembles viewed from a distance, rising sheer from the cliff. The interior continues the impression, with massive round Romanesque vaults in the basement and pointed Gothic ones on the entrance floor. The great windows of the upper floors were designed to give panoramic views across the landscape. WILLIAM CAVENDISH When Charles Cavendish died in 1617, most of the structure was finished. His son William – playboy, poet courtier and later 1st Duke of Newcastle – inherited the Little Castle and completed the interiors with the help of the architect John Smythson. What resulted was a kind of ‘toy keep’, housing tiers of luxurious state rooms. The exquisitely carved fireplaces and richly coloured murals and panelling of its exceptionally well-preserved and beautifully restored interiors still take the visitor on an allegorical journey from earthly concerns to heavenly delights. William also added the vast and stately Terrace Range overlooking the Vale of Scarsdale, now a dramatic roofless shell. To show off his achievement, in 1634 he hosted Charles I and Queen Henrietta Maria here, when the entertainment Love’s Welcome, a masque specially written for the occasion by Ben Jonson, was performed in the Fountain Garden. During the Civil War, William fought for the Royalists, but he was defeated at the Battle of Marston Moor in 1644 and went into exile. During his exile William met his wife, Margaret, who had travelled to Paris as a maid of honour to Queen Henrietta Maria, wife of Charles I. On the return of the Cavendishes to England in 1660, William and Margaret began to restore their estates. At Bolsover, they rebuilt the state apartment in the Terrace Range and built the cavernous Riding House Range with its magnificent roof and viewing galleries. The Riding House is one of the earliest in England to survive complete and a landmark in British equestrianism. Here William indulged his passion for training great horses in stately dressage. WALL PAINTINGS AT BOLSOVER Many of the rooms throughout the Little Castle at Bolsover are richly decorated with wall paintings – rare survivals from the early 17th century. While the original artists are unknown, all the painted schemes throughout the building were completed during Sir William’s time, and particularly beautiful examples exist in the Heaven and Elysium Closets. These small rooms opened off William Cavendish’s bedchamber and were extremely private spaces, into which only the most privileged would have been invited. The ceiling of the Heaven Closet features a painting of the Ascension, dated from 1619 and depicting angels surrounding the ascending figure of Christ, and Cherubium on the walls hold instruments of the Passion. The subject matter, with its Catholic associations despite William’s professed ambivalence in religious matters, could have been inspired by William’s travels on the continent. Due to the complex and varied nature of wall paintings such as those seen at Bolsover, many are at risk of serious deterioration due to factors such as climate, poor past restoration work, or the nature of the historic buildings on which they are fixed.