Casterton
CASTERTON, a township and chapelry, in the
parish of Kirkby-Lonsdale, union of Kendal, Lonsdale ward, county of Westmorland, 1½ mile (N. E.)
from Kirkby-Lonsdale; containing 623 inhabitants.
This place, which is supposed to have received its name
from an ancient castle, of which every vestige has been
removed, is situated on the river Lune, and on the road
from Lancaster to Sedbergh. The surface is diversified
with mountain, hill, and dale; the soil is of light and
fertile quality, and in the valley is limestone rock, of
which, and of red conglomerate, there are quarries. The
line of the North-Western railway passes through. The
living is a perpetual curacy, in the patronage of Trustees:
there is a glebe-house. The chapel was erected in 1833,
and has a square tower, lancet windows, and a good
organ. The Clergy Daughters' school established here
in 1823, as a means of assisting clergy of limited incomes in the education of their daughters, is a prosperous and efficient institution, very liberally sustained by
donations of the nobility and gentry, and annual subscriptions. About 100 pupils are received from all
parts of the kingdom, and are lodged, clothed, boarded,
and educated, on the easy terms of £14 per annum; the
school is under the management of twelve trustees, the
instruction very comprehensive, and many accomplished
governesses, among others, have been educated here. A
preparatory school for extending the benefits of the
Clergy Daughters' school, and rendering the instruction
in the latter more effectual, by first training younger
pupils for it, was opened in 1837, and is wholly confined
to the children of clergymen with the smallest incomes;
about 35 children are at present in this school. There
are also here, a school for training girls as servants and
teachers, which was instituted in 1820, and receives 100
pupils; an infants' school; and a village school. A
chapel stood at Chapel-Head Close, near which is a
well, called St. Coume's, probably a contraction of St.
Columbe, the tutelar saint of the chapel.
Casterton, Great (St. Peter and St. Paul)
CASTERTON, GREAT (St. Peter and St. Paul),
a parish, in the union of Stamford, hundred of East,
county of Rutland, 2¼ miles (N. W. by W.) from Stamford; containing 376 inhabitants. This was a Roman
station, and several coins and the remains of an encampment have been discovered; it was demolished by
the Picts and Scots, who ravaged the island as far as
Stamford, whence they were driven back to their own
territories by the Saxons under Hengist. Its former
name was Brig-Casterton, from a bridge over the
Gwash, or Wash, here. The barony was held by various
lords, until it reverted to the crown in the reign of
Henry VIII., in consequence of its possessor, John,
Lord Hussey, being attainted of high treason, and beheaded at Lincoln, for joining a commotion raised in
Lincolnshire; it is now the property of the Marquess of
Exeter. The parish comprises by measurement 2258
acres, of which 2088 are arable and pasture, and 170
woodland. The road from London to Edinburgh passes
through the village; and great improvement has been
made by lowering a steep hill and constructing a viaduct, at an expense of £5000. The living is a rectory,
with that of Pickworth annexed, valued in the king's
books at £11. 2. 11.; net income, £686; patron, the
Marquess. The tithes were commuted for corn-rents,
under an act of inclosure, in the year 1795; and the
glebe consists of about 64 acres, with an excellent
glebe-house.
Casterton, Little (All Saints)
CASTERTON, LITTLE (All Saints), a parish, in
the union of Stamford, hundred of East, county of
Rutland, 2 miles (N. W. by N.) from Stamford; containing 132 inhabitants. This parish includes the ancient
hamlet of Tolethorpe, where was a college of priests or
a chantry, refounded, and endowed with ten marks per
annum, in the 36th of Edward III. by William de
Burton. The estate was purchased from his descendant, Thomas de Burton, about 1504, by Christopher
Brown, ancestor of the Countess Dowager of Pomfret,
after whose decease, the reversion of the property,
together with the advowson of the living, was purchased
by the Earl of Burlington. The parish comprises about
1287 acres, which, with the exception of about 279
acres subject to a corn-rent, are tithe-free. The great
north road runs about a mile from the village. Good
freestone is quarried. The living is a rectory, valued in
the king's books at £6. 15. 5.; net income, £254;
patron, the Hon. C. C. Cavendish. The tithes were
commuted for land and a corn-rent in 1796; the glebe
comprises about 53 acres. The church is a small edifice,
partly of later Norman architecture, and partly in the
early, decorated, and later English styles; the chancel
has been rebuilt. A parochial school is supported chiefly
by endowment. At the western extremity of the parish,
but now filled up by the formation of a new road, was a
deep fosse, part of the Roman camp at Great Casterton.
Not far from the manor-house at Tolethorpe, is a spring
of carbonated chalybeate water without any mixture of
sulphuric acid, similar to the water at Tonbridge-Wells,
but less powerful.
Casthorpe
CASTHORPE, a hamlet, in the parish of Barrowby,
union of Grantham, wapentake of Winnibriggs and
Threo, parts of Kesteven, county of Lincoln, 3 miles
(W.) from Grantham; containing 51 inhabitants. It
consists of three farms.
Castle-Acre (St. James)
CASTLE-ACRE (St. James), a parish, in the union
and hundred of Freebridge-Lynn, W. division of
Norfolk, 4 miles (N.) from Swaffham; containing
1495 inhabitants. This place, called Acre at the time
of the Domesday survey, is noted chiefly for the remains
of its ancient castle and priory, from the former of
which it takes the prefix to its name. It appears, from
the vestiges of a Roman road leading from Thetford to
Brancaster, the discovery of a tessellated pavement, and,
lately, of several coins (among which were some of
Vespasian and Constantine), to have been a Roman
station, on whose site the castle was probably erected.
This fortress was built by William Warren, first earl of
Surrey, to whom the manor, with 149 others, had been
given by the Conqueror, and who made it the head of all
his lordships; it was perhaps enlarged by his descendant, who, in 1297, entertained Edward I. here.
The parish comprises 3249 acres, of which 2639
are arable, 461 meadow and pasture, 13 wood, and 79
common; the land is in general rich, and boldly undulated. The village consists of two good streets, on the
north bank of the river Nar. Fairs for toys and pedlery
are held on St. James's day and August 5th; and pettysessions once a fortnight. The living is a discharged
vicarage, valued in the king's books at £5. 6. 8.; patron
and impropriator, the Earl of Leicester: the great
tithes have been commuted for £610, and the vicarial
for £168; the glebe comprises 3½ acres. The church,
situated on the crown of the acclivity above the
priory, is a spacious structure in the decorated and
later English styles, with a lofty embattled tower,
and exhibits, in many of its details, fine specimens
of ancient architecture; the font, which is said to
have been removed from the priory, is surmounted
by a beautiful piece of tabernacle work. There are
places of worship for congregations of Baptists, Primitive Methodists, and Wesleyan Methodists.
Sufficient remains exist to indicate the extent of the
castle, which, with its appendages, comprised an area of
more than eighteen acres, inclosed by an embattled
wall seven feet in thickness, strengthened by three
lofty buttresses built over the broad and deep moat by
which the castle was surrounded: the buildings were
of a circular form, and on the slope of a gentle eminence.
To the east of the castle are the ruins of the priory,
established by Earl Warren, in 1085, for monks of the
Cluniac order, dedicated to the Blessed Virgin, and subordinate to a similar establishment by the same founder,
at Lewes, in the county of Sussex. The revenues, which
had become very considerable by successive augmentations, were seized under pretence of its being an alien
priory, but were subsequently restored; and in the reign
of Edward II., it was secured against further molestation
by a royal order, as coming within the class of indigenous
establishments. Its income, at the Dissolution, was
£324. 17. 5., and, with the site, was granted to Thomas,
Duke of Norfolk; it is now the property of the Earl of
Leicester. The priory church was a spacious cruciform
structure, with two towers at the west end, and a massive
central tower; the greater portion of the west front is
still remaining, and, with the exception of a large window
of later insertion over the entrance, is an elegant specimen
of the most enriched style of Norman architecture. The
conventual buildings are at present a farmhouse and
offices: a large room, called the prior's dining-room,
and now a granary, has a fine oriel window. On making
excavations within the walls of the chapter-house, in
1841, were found some beautifully embossed tiles, with
heraldic devices, and some bulls of the Popes Honorius
and Innocent.
Castle-Ashby, county of Northampton.—See Ashby, Castle.
CASTLE-ASHBY, county of Northampton.—See
ASHBY, CASTLE.—And other places having a similar
distinguishing prefix will be found under the proper name.
Castle-Camps (All Saints)
CASTLE-CAMPS (All Saints), a parish, in the
union of Linton, hundred of Chilford, county of
Cambridge, 5¾ miles (S. E. by E.) from Linton; containing 854 inhabitants. This place was the seat of
the Veres, earls of Oxford, one of whom received
it by grant from Henry I., as lord high chamberlain of
England; the site of their magnificent castle is now
occupied by a farmhouse, but the moat and some
slight vestiges are still visible. The estate was subsequently purchased by Thomas Sutton, founder of the
Charter-house in London, who made it a portion of
the endowment of that institution. The parish is situated near the road from Cambridge to Colchester, and
comprises by computation 2800 acres. The living is a
rectory, valued in the king's books at £16. 4. 2., and in
the gift of the Governors of the Charter-house, the
tithes have been commuted for £630, and the glebe
comprises 71 acres. The church is a handsome structure,
in the later English style. There is a place of worship
for Baptists.
Castle-Carrock (St. Peter)
CASTLE-CARROCK (St. Peter), a parish, in the
union of Brampton, Eskdale ward, E. division of
Cumberland, 4½ miles (S. by E.) from Brampton;
containing 351 inhabitants. The parish comprises about
5500 acres, the soil of which on the west is dry, gravelly,
and very stony; and on the east, which is rugged and
mountainous, good for grazing, resting on extensive
beds of limestone and freestone. It is bounded on the
east and north by the small river Gelt, which rises in
the royal forest of Geltsdale, a hilly tract of moorland.
The living is a discharged rectory, valued in the king's
books at £5. 12. 11.; net income, £159; patrons, the
Dean and Chapter of Carlisle. The tithes were commuted for land in 1801. The church is a neat structure, built of freestone in 1828. The former edifice is
supposed to have been built out of the ruins of an
ancient castle that stood within an intrenchment
near the village, the lines of which are distinctly
visible: there is another intrenchment at a short distance. Upon the summit of a long and lofty fell,
forming the northern point of the range of mountains
extending from Cross Fell, near Alston, are two cairns,
one of which, called Hespeckraise, is of considerable
magnitude: on the removal of another cairn near Gelt
Bridge, about 1775, a human skeleton was discovered in
a species of coffin made of rude stones. Near the church
is a mineral spring, the water of which is of the same
quality as that of Gilsland spa.
Castle-Cary (All Saints)
CASTLE-CARY (All Saints), a market-town and
parish, in the union of Wincanton, hundred of Catsash, E. division of Somerset, 11 miles (E. N. E.) from
Somerton, and 113 (W. S. W.) from London; containing,
with the hamlets of Clanville, Cockhill, and Dimmer,
1942 inhabitants, of whom 50 are in Clanville, and 116
in Cockhill and Dimmer. Castle-Cary probably derived
its name from an ancient castle originally belonging to
a lord of the name of Carey, which was defended against
King Stephen by its owner, Lord Lovell, one of whose
descendants having embraced the cause of the deposed
monarch, Richard II., it became forfeited to the crown.
The site is still called the Camp, and weapons of iron
have been found in it occasionally: the only remains
are some slight traces of the intrenchments. Charles II.,
after the battle of Worcester, took refuge in the
manor-house. The town is pleasantly situated, and
consists of two parts, extending together nearly a mile:
the houses are neatly built, and amply supplied with
water; the air is salubrious, and the environs abound
with pleasing scenery. The market, which is on every
alternate Tuesday, is well attended, and supplied with
sheep and cattle of all kinds, from October till the
spring fairs, which are on the Tuesday before PalmSunday, May 1st, and Whit-Tuesday; a fair is also held
on the first Tuesday after the 19th of September, for
cattle, broad-cloth, and other merchandise. The parish
comprises by admeasurement 2572 acres. The living
is a discharged vicarage, valued in the king's books at
£11. 16. 3.; patron, the Bishop of Bath and Wells;
impropriator, Sir H. R. Hoare, Bart. The great tithes
have been commuted for £301. 10., and the vicarial for
£378; the impropriate glebe consists of 65 acres, and
the vicarial of 10 acres. The church is a handsome
structure, occupying an elevated situation; the archdeacon holds his visitations in it. There are places of
worship for Independents and Wesleyans.
Castle-Church (St. Lawrence)
CASTLE-CHURCH (St. Lawrence), a parish, in
the E. division of the hundred of Cuttlestone, union,
and S. division of the county, of Stafford, 1 mile
(S. W.) from Stafford; containing, with the townships
of Forebridge, and Rickerscote with Burton, 1484 inhabitants. The parish derives its name from the ancient
baronial castle of Stafford, to which its church was originally an appendage; and comprehends a portion of the
town of Stafford. It is a fertile district, on the south
side of the river Sow, and comprises nearly 4000 acres
of land. The Liverpool and Birmingham railway passes
through. The living is a perpetual curacy, with a net
income of £120; it is in the patronage of the Crown,
and Lord Stafford and others are impropriators. The
church, of which the nave and chancel were rebuilt in
1845, at a cost of £2000, is in the Norman style. At Forebridge is a separate incumbency; and near the town is
a Roman Catholic chapel, built in 1822, by the late
Edward Jerningham, Esq.
Castle-Combe (St. Andrew)
CASTLE-COMBE (St. Andrew), a parish, in the
union and hundred of Chippenham, Chippenham and
Calne, and N. divisions of Wilts, 6½ miles (N. W. by W.)
from Chippenham; containing 600 inhabitants. The
village, which is very considerable, was anciently celebrated for a castle, built in the early part of the
thirteenth century, by Walter de Dunstanville, son-in-law of Reginald, Earl of Cornwall, and which was dismantled before the close of the fourteenth; it stood on
a hill north of the village, where the remains of its intrenchments are still discernible. A market was obtained
by Bartholomew, Lord Badlesmere, which has been discontinued; but the market-cross remains in the centre
of the village. The living is a rectory, valued in the
king's books at £9; patron, William Scroop, Esq.
The church appears to be of very ancient date, and consists of a nave, north and south aisles, and a chancel,
with a tower at the west end, about eighty feet high,
supported by angular buttresses with pinnacles.
Castle-Dykings
CASTLE-DYKINGS, an extra-parochial place, extending into the parishes of St. Mary Magdalen and
St. Paul in the Bail, Lincoln, wapentake of Lawress, parts of Lindsey, county of Lincoln; containing
139 inhabitants.
Castle-Eaton (St. Mary)
CASTLE-EATON (St. Mary), a parish, in the union
of Highworth and Swindon, hundred of Highworth,
Cricklade, and Staple, Cricklade and N. divisions of
Wilts, 3½ miles (S. by E.) from Fairford; containing
312 inhabitants. The parish is bounded by the river
Isis. Some vestiges of the ancient castle from which it
takes its name, may still be traced; the chief being the
moat by which it was surrounded. The living is a
rectory, valued in the king's books at £19, and in the
patronage of the family of Goddard: the tithes have
been commuted for £667, and the glebe comprises 79½
acres, with a glebe-house.
Castle-Morton (St. Gregory)
CASTLE-MORTON (St. Gregory), a parish, in the
union of Upton-upon-Severn, Lower division of the
hundred of Pershore, Upton and W. divisions of the
county of Worcester, 5 miles (W. S. W.) from Upton;
containing 855 inhabitants. The parish comprises 3656
acres, of which 677 are common or waste. The living is
a discharged perpetual curacy, annexed to the vicarage
of Longdon, and valued in the king's books at £5. 8. 6½.
The great tithes are appropriate to the Dean and Chapter of Westminster, and have been commuted for £350,
and the small tithes for £155; the glebe consists of
3 acres. The church stands at the south end of the
village, and is a very ancient structure, with a fine
old steeple: opposite to it is an artificial mound fifty
feet high, surrounded by a moat, and supposed by some
to have been thrown up to protect the church during the
civil war in the reign of Charles I. There are charitable bequests for the poor, amounting to £30 per annum.
Castle-Northwich
CASTLE-NORTHWICH, a township, in the parish
of Great Budworth, union of Northwich, Second
division of the hundred of Eddisbury, S. division of
the county of Chester; containing 746 inhabitants.
This place, also called Castleton, comprises 120 acres;
it is divided from the township of Northwich by the river
Weaver, and forms part of the suburbs of the town.
Castle-Rising (St. Lawrence)
CASTLE-RISING (St.
Lawrence), a parish, and
formerly a borough and
market-town, in the union
and hundred of Freebridge-Lynn, W. division
of Norfolk, 4 miles (N. E.)
from Lynn, and 102 (N. by
E.) from London; containing 358 inhabitants. Prior
to the year 1176, a castle
was built by William
D'Albini, the first earl of
Sussex, on a hill to the south of the town, and, according to the author of the Munimenta Antiqua, on the
site of one of King Alfred's great castles, of which some
arches, included within the subsequent buildings, are
supposed to be remains. In this castle, Isabel of France,
queen of Edward II., after the death of Mortimer, was
detained in confinement, from the year 1330, until her
decease, in 1358. It passed from the family of Albini
to the barons of Montalt, the last of whom died without
issue, when his widow surrendered the lordship for
£400 per annum, to Queen Isabella, at that time regent,
who was visited here, in 1340, by her son, Edward III.,
and his queen. Edward III., on the death of his mother,
settled Castle-Rising on his son Edward; it afterwards
passed to the Howards, dukes of Norfolk, and subsequently to the Berkshire branch, who, in 1745, succeeded
to the title of Earl of Suffolk. The principal remains
are the shell of the keep, a square tower, the walls of
which are three yards in thickness, with some ornamented doorways and windows in the Norman style of
architecture, though greatly dilapidated; the site of the
great hall, and some vestiges of the state apartments, may
also be traced: the chief entrance is over a ruined bridge
of one circular arch, defended by a tower gateway.
Seal and Arms.
This was once a considerable sea-port, inferior in this
county only to Lynn and Yarmouth; but the harbour
becoming choked up with sand, its trade declined, and
from the consequent decrease of its population, the market, which was held twice a week, has been discontinued
for many years. The vicinity was formerly subject to
inundations of the sea, to prevent which an embankment
has been constructed. The government was originally
vested in a mayor, twelve aldermen, and an indefinite
number of burgesses, aided by a recorder, high steward,
&c.; but the corporation has gradually fallen into
decay. Of the rank which the place held as an ancient
borough, it still retains a memorial, in the precedence
given to the name of the mayor in the commission of
the peace for the county. The elective franchise was
conferred in the last year of the reign of Philip and
Mary, from which time the borough returned two members to parliament till disfranchised by the 2nd of William IV., cap. 45: the right of election was vested in the
free burgesses, the number of whom had been reduced to
two or three; and the mayor was returning officer. The
parish is situated on the road from Lynn to Wells, and
comprises 2096a. 2r. 21p., of which 1008 acres are
arable, 865 meadow and pasture, and 223 woodland;
the soil is of a sandy and clayey nature. A trout stream
runs through the parish, called the Rising river.
The living is a discharged rectory, with that of Roydon consolidated, valued in the king's books at £8, and
in the gift of the family of Howard. The tithes have
been commuted for £320, and the glebe comprises
23 acres, with a glebe-house. The church is an ancient
structure, with a tower rising from between the nave
and chancel; it exhibits fine specimens of the Norman style, and has an east window in the decorated
English style: the entrance is enriched with varied
mouldings, and on each side of the large window above
it are series of intersecting arches; the font is very
ancient, and highly ornamented. Near the church is an
hospital, containing thirteen apartments, a large hall,
and a chapel, built in 1613, by Henry Howard, Earl of
Northampton, who endowed it with a rent-charge of
£100 for twelve aged women and a governess. To the
west of the castle is a square mount, one acre in extent,
and to the east of it a circular mount surrounded by a
ditch; the former is by some supposed to have been a
Roman camp, though others think both were thrown up
by the people of Lynn, when they besieged the castle,
and compelled the Earl of Arundel to relinquish his
claim to one-third of the customs of their port. There
are some chalybeate springs in the parish.
Castle-Thorpe (St. Simon and St. Jude)
CASTLE-THORPE (St. Simon and St. Jude), a
parish, in the union of Newport-Pagnell, hundred of
Newport, county of Buckingham, 3 miles (N. N. E.)
from Stony-Stratford; containing 365 inhabitants. This
place derives its name from the ancient castle of the
barony of Hanslope, the site of which exhibits traces of
very extensive buildings: it was taken and demolished
in 1217, by Fulke de Brent, when it had been garrisoned
by its owner, William Manduit, one of the barons who
were in arms against Henry III. The London and Birmingham railway passes within a short distance. The
living is annexed to the vicarage of Hanslope. Thomas
Tyrell, one of the judges in the court of common pleas in
the reign of Charles II., resided here, and was interred
in the chancel of the church, where a handsome monument was erected by his widow.
Castle-Thorpe
CASTLE-THORPE, a township, in the parish of
Broughton, union of Glandford-Brigg, E. division of
the wapentake of Manley, parts of Lindsey, county of
Lincoln, 1½ mile (W.) from Glandford-Brigg; containing
346 inhabitants. The Roman road from Lincoln to Winteringham-on-the-Humber passes a short distance east of
the village.
Castleford (All Saints)
CASTLEFORD (All Saints), a parish, in the Upper
division of the wapentake of Osgoldcross, W. riding
of York; containing 1850 inhabitants, of whom 1414
are in the township of Castleford, 3 miles (N. W.) from
Pontefract. This place is by some writers supposed to
have been the site of the Roman station Legiolium, or
Lagetium, described in Antonine's Itinerary as being
situated on the river Aire, where it was crossed by a ford,
on the line of the Herman-street between Doncaster and
York: Roman antiquities have been frequently discovered, including a scarce denarius of Caracalla, with a
lion on the reverse. It is related, that the citizens of
York, being pursued by Ethelred's army, in 750, turned
at this place, and committed great slaughter on their
pursuers. After the Norman Conquest, the parish was
given to Ilbert de Laci, the heiress of whose family conveyed it by marriage, with the whole honour of Pontefract, to John of Gaunt, Duke of Lancaster.
The village is situated on the south bank of the river
Aire, at a short distance from its junction with the
Calder, the latter of which, in 1698, was made navigable
to Wakefield, and the Aire to Leeds. The united rivers
are crossed by a handsome stone bridge of three arches,
which was rebuilt in 1808, and connects Castleford with
the village of Allerton-Bywater on the north side of the
river. The parish comprises the townships of Castleford
and Glass-Houghton, and contains 1534a. 2r. 18p., of
which 517 acres are in Castleford; 300 of these are
arable, and 213 meadow and pasture. It has a station
of the York and North-Midland railway. There is a
dock-yard for building sloops, and a dry-dock for repairs: many owners of small craft reside here; and
among the manufactories and branches of trade are a
timber-yard, some oil and corn-mills, several granaries,
a pottery of black and stone ware, a whiting-mill, and
glass-bottle works. A court leet, baron, and view of
frankpledge, is held in May and October. The living
is a rectory, valued in the king's books at £20. 13. 1½.,
and in the patronage of the Duchy of Lancaster; net
income, £555: the tithes were commuted for cornrents, under an inclosure act, in 1816. The church is
thought to stand on part of the Roman camp above
mentioned; it is a cruciform structure, with a tower
rising at the intersection. There is a place of worship
for Wesleyans in each of the townships.
Castleton (St. Edmund)
CASTLETON (St. Edmund), a parish, in the union
of Chapel-En-Le-Frith, hundred of High Peak, N.
division of the county of Derby, 4½ miles (N.) from
Tideswell; containing 1500 inhabitants, of whom 941
are in the township of Castleton. This parish consists
of the townships of Castleton and Edale. The former
is said to have taken its name from a castle built by
William Peverell, natural son of the Conqueror, which,
from its situation upon a steep and high peak, was
called the Castle of the Peak, or Peak Castle; but from
various records it appears that a castle existed previously, supposed to have been erected by Edward the
Elder, or his heroic sister Ethelfleda, and which, in the
reign of Edward the Confessor, was the property of Earl
Gundeburne. The castle remained with the Peverells
until the attainder of the third William, when it was
granted by Henry II. to John, Earl of Montaigne, afterwards King John; and during the absence of the earl's
brother Richard I., Hugh Nonant, Bishop of Coventry,
held it. In 1204, King John appointed Hugh Neville
governor; but the disaffected barons seized it and kept
possession until the reign of Henry III., from which
period it had various occupiers, until settled by
Edward III. upon his son, the Earl of Richmond, commonly called John of Gaunt, who was created Duke of
Lancaster, in 1362, when the castle became part of the
duchy of Lancaster. The Duke of Devonshire now possesses it, as lessee under the crown. The extent of the
ruins evinces the former magnitude of the building; the
castle-yard, the walls of which are in some places twenty
feet high and nine feet thick, occupying nearly the whole
summit of the hill. The keep, consisting of two stories
almost entire, and standing at the south-western point
of this high and precipitous limestone rock, towering
above the mouth of the great cavern of the Peak, is fifty
feet in height.
The parish, exclusively of Edale, comprises about
2900 acres, exhibiting a very hilly surface, and several
varieties of soil: the township of Castleton occupies the
western extremity of the large and deep valley which
commences at Mam Tor, and runs eastward to join the
valley of the Derwent. The great limestone district of
Derbyshire has its northern termination at Castleton,
the hills to the north being upon gritstone, and those to
the south on limestone: the soil on the south side is
very superior. The village, which is situated at the foot
of the Castle hill, was fortified by a rampart, and the
ditch is still visible, extending from the ravines at the
base of the rock, to the outworks connected with the
castle. The inhabitants principally derive their support
from the mining district by which the village is surrounded. The living is a discharged vicarage, valued in
the king's books at £6. 7. 6.; net income, £186; patron
and appropriator, the Bishop of Chester. The great
tithes have been commuted for £100, and the vicarial
for £50; the appropriate glebe consists of 87½ acres,
and the vicarial of 22 acres. The church is a small
ancient edifice: the arch, with its mouldings entire,
separating the nave from the chancel, is a fine specimen
of early English architecture, and the pews are of oak
curiously carved; but the exterior has been greatly
modernised. At Edale is a separate incumbency. There
is a place of worship for Wesleyans; and a school is
endowed with about £23 per annum, arising from land.
The whole of the district abounds with greater natural curiosities than almost any other portion of the
empire. Immediately under the walls of the castle is
Peak Cavern, or the Devil's Cave, a succession of vast
and magnificent excavations, in the interior of a stupendous rock. The approach to it is by the side of a clear
stream, flowing from limestone rocks that here rise to
the height of 260 feet on each side and form the entrance to the Cave, which first presents a dark and
gloomy recess consisting of a tolerably well-formed arch,
46 feet high and 120 feet wide, and exhibiting a chequered diversity of coloured stones, from which a fluid
that soon petrifies is continually dropping. Immediately
beyond the arch is a cavern of nearly the same extent,
and in depth about 90 feet, where some twine-makers
have established a manufactory. Here the light disappears, and the rest of the Cavern must be explored by
the aid of a torch. The arch leading to the next chamber is narrow and low, until arriving at a spacious
opening called the Bell-house: at the end is a stream of
water, 42 feet broad, over which it is necessary that
visiters should be ferried. On landing, another vast
vault, 200 feet square and 140 feet high, presents itself;
at the end of which is another stream generally crossed
on foot: here the passage leads to what is termed Roger
Rain's House, a projecting pile of rocks on which water
is incessantly dropping. The next excavation is the
Chancel, which leads to what has been denominated
the Devil's Cellar, and then follow numerous other immense cavities, that have received various appellations;
such as Half-way House, Great Tom of Lincoln, &c.;
the whole extending 2300 feet from the entrance, and
supposed to be 645 feet in depth from the summit of
the mountain.
About a mile from this is the Speedwell mine, situated
at the foot of what is called "the Winnets," from the
gusts of wind that constantly prevail here, in consequence of the formation of this mountainous range: the
mine was formerly worked for lead. The descent is by
about 100 steps, beneath an arched vault, leading to the
sough, or level, where a boat conveys the explorer over a
very broad stream, bounded by an immense gulf, the
depth of which has never been accurately ascertained,
though sounded by a line of 350 feet; above, the roof of
the cavern is invisible, even with the aid of rockets and
Bengal lights. The rushing of the superfluous water
through an artificial gate into this profound chasm,
which has already swallowed more than 40,000 tons of
rubbish, arising from the blasting of the rocks, without
the least apparent diminution of its depth, produces an
appalling effect. A little further west is the Odin leadmine, said to have been worked by the Saxons, who
honoured it with the name of one of their deities, and
than which, although it has been in operation for so
many centuries, few mines in the county are more productive. At some distance beyond this, raising its
majestic head 1300 feet above the vale of Castleton, is
the Mam Tor, or Mother-hill, also named the Shivering
Mountain from the fragments of shale and gritstone
almost continually falling from its south side, and which
have formed an elevated mount in the valley, called
Little Mam Tor. On its summit are the remains of a
camp, supposed to be Saxon, with the greater part of the
rampart entire; and on the south-west side are two
barrows, in one of which, when opened some years
since, were found a brass celt and fragments of an unbaked urn. Near this mountain is the Water Hull Mine,
where is procured the beautiful and peculiar fluor-spar,
the most esteemed kinds of which are the violet-blue and
rose-coloured, which are worked into elegant vases, urns,
&c. Here is also found, between the schistus and limestone, a species of elastic bitumen, that burns with a
bright flame; another variety, less elastic, is formed of
filaments, and is called wood bitumen. About half a
mile midway in this mountainous ravine, which exhibits
in many places proofs of volcanic origin, is a place called
the Cove, where large masses of basaltic rocks are conspicuous, in which are imbedded quartz, crystals, &c.
Such an assemblage of natural curiosities renders the
neighbourhood of Castleton one of the most interesting
districts in the kingdom.
Castleton (St. Mary Magdalene)
CASTLETON (St. Mary Magdalene), a parish, in
the union and hundred of Sherborne, Sherborne
division of the county of Dorset, 1 mile (E. N. E.)
from Sherborne; containing 113 inhabitants. It comprises 50 acres, chiefly pasture, and lies contiguous to
the park and residence of Earl Digby, lord lieutenant of
the county. The living is a perpetual curacy; net income, £81; patron, Earl Digby.
Castleton
CASTLETON, a township, in the parish and union
of Rochdale, hundred of Salford, S. division of the
county of Lancaster; including part of the town of
Rochdale, and containing 14,279 inhabitants. This
place derives its name from a castle which arose here in
Saxon times, and which, it is highly probable, was one
of the numerous sacrifices in the conflicts between the
Saxons and the Danes; the site is still to be traced by a
lofty mound called the Castle-hill, the fosse appearing
around it in distinct lines. In Edward II.'s reign,
Henry de Lacy possessed the manor of Castleton. On
the dissolution of monasteries it was granted to the Radcliffs, of Langley, and subsequently passed by purchase
to the Holts, of Stubley, who about 1640 took up their
residence at Castleton Hall, and by whom the present
edifice was built soon after the Revolution. The Chethams, of Turton, succeeded by purchase to the estate in
1713, since which time it has been successively held by
the Winstanleys, Smiths (an opulent mercantile family),
and Burdetts. The river Roche, which divides the town
of Rochdale, bounds Castleton on the north; and the
road to Manchester, the Rochdale canal, and the Manchester and Leeds railway, pass through. A large number of the inhabitants are employed in the woollen and
cotton manufactures of the vicinity. The parish church
and glebe, on which latter the new part of Rochdale is
built, are within the township.
Castleton, York.—See Danby.
CASTLETON, York.—See Danby.
Castle-View
CASTLE-VIEW, an extra-parochial liberty, in the
union, and adjoining the borough, of Leicester, hundred of Guthlaxton, S. division of the county of Leicester; containing 120 inhabitants.
Castley
CASTLEY, a township, in the parish of Leathley,
Upper division of the wapentake of Claro, W. riding
of York, 4½ miles (E. by N.) from Otley; containing
110 inhabitants. It comprises by computation 480
acres; and is bounded on the south, and partly on the
east and west, by the river Wharfe.