The Castle at Bolsover was built by William Peverel in the C12. A stone keep was added in 1173 and domestic buildings in the C13. By the end of the C14 it was ruinous. It was owned by the Crown until 1553 when it was granted to George Talbot, sixth Earl of Shrewsbury and husband of ‘Bess of Hardwick’. Bess’ son by a previous marriage, Charles Cavendish, bought the Castle and manor from the seventh Earl and he and his heir William, created first Earl of Newcastle in 1628, destroyed most of the medieval work and erected buildings on the site from 1608 onwards. Following despoliation of the site during the Civil War various repairs and additions to the complex were made in the 1660s. In the early C18 the Castle became disused as a main residence and after periods of tenanted occupation in the C19 it was presented as a gift to the nation by the seventh Duke of Portland in 1945. The Castle is currently (1998) in the guardianship of English Heritage and a programme of repairs and restoration is in progress.
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