What was Derbyshire like during the Stuart era?

The Stuart era began and ended with heirless monarchs.

The death of the Virgin Queen, Elizabeth I, on March 24 1603, hastened in the Stuart dynasty with Mary Queen of Scots’ son, James VI, assuming the English throne as James I – therefore known as James VI/I.

Henry VIII’s elder sister Margaret married the Scottish king, James IV. James VI/I was their great-grandson. I’m interested in not just the royal comings and goings though, but also what transpired in Derbyshire during the years they held sway (1603-1714).

James I, the first Stuart monarch Photo: Getty James I only returned to Scotland once, preferring it down south, despite the famous attempt on his life in 1605 (the Gunpowder Plot).

He didn’t get on with Parliament, a problem that loomed large in the next reign. James’ reign was notable for its ‘Jacobean’ architecture (the Latin ‘Jacobus’ = James).

What you perhaps wouldn’t expect from this period is a new castle, but that’s what happened at Bolsover – an early 17th century faux fortress on the site where a Norman castle once stood.

Sir Charles Cavendish (1553-1617) was the man with the vision after he’d purchased the castle in 1613 from the Talbots.

In the same year, 1613, Mary Vernon began work on Sudbury Hall, around which a model village emerged, largely during the 17th century.

The hall, unfinished at Mary’s death, would be completed by George Vernon between 1670-95.

When James died in 1625, his son acceded as Charles. He took the Stuarts’ belief in their divine right to rule to its ruinous conclusion – raising his royal standard in August 1642 and precipitating the English Civil War, leading to his execution in January 1649.

Although there were pockets of support for the king, Derbyshire was generally in favour of Parliament with Sir John Gell (1593-1671) of Hopton Hall raising a regiment and fortifying Derby against the Royalists.

There was even a battle fought in Derbyshire, at Egginton Heath (1644), when the Royalists, tails up after a victory at Newark, were put to flight by Gell’s forces.

The battle at at Naseby was a defining event Photo: Getty Charles’ fortunes never recovered after defeat at Naseby (1645); it must have been a sobering occasion when he attended a service in St Oswald’s Church, Ashbourne, after that setback.

Bolsover’s William, Marquis of Newcastle (c.1593-1676), garrisoned the place for the king. He was also commander-in-chief of Royalist forces in the North and Midlands. However, Bolsover was taken by Major General Crawford in 1644, the Marquis fleeing abroad.

The castle was slighted by Parliament but partly rebuilt after the war. Mackworth was another Derbyshire castle most likely destroyed during the war, although what was left was still purchased by Sir John Curzon (1598-1686) of Kedleston Hall in 1655.

In 1646, the Parliamentarians destroyed the Elizabethan Eastwood Hall, a once-fortified manor; its ruins are near the village of Ashover.

Wingfield Manor House, ruined today, was the scene of much fighting during the Civil War, changing hands twice. In 1646 the Parliamentarians rendered it uninhabitable, their usual tactic to stop a place being fortified against them in the future.

A less violent development during Charles I’s reign was the beginning of the parish registers in the church at Edale in 1633, the same year Charles I stayed at Bolsover prior to Cavendish’s building being completed.

Entertaining the king, including a masque by dramatist Ben Jonson, cost a prodigious £15,000.

The Stuarts’ era coincided with a period of interregnum known as the ‘Commonwealth’ when we flirted with republicanism, Oliver Cromwell serving as Lord Protector.

Oliver Cromwell Photo: Getty Cromwell’s death (1658) and the failure of his son, Richard Cromwell, to fill his boots, led to the monarchy’s restoration and the accession of Charles II in May 1660.

Bolsover Castle was repaired by William Cavendish, Duke of Newcastle (1592-1676), after he returned to this country from exile.

Charles is still remembered in Castleton on May 29, where St Edmund’s is the end point for a procession to commemorate his restoration.

The church also has a rare ‘breeches Bible’ dating to the reign of James I. One of Ashford-in-the-Water’s bridges over the Wye dates to early in Charles’ reign.

Charles II became known as the ‘Merry Monarch’, although there was plenty of grim news including the Plague, Great Fire of London, and wars against the Dutch. That bubonic plague of 1665-66 reached Derbyshire of course and infamously Eyam.

The Plague hit Eyam hard during the Stuart period Photo: Gary Wallis There was an imbroglio brewing though as Charles II’s reign waned and it concerned his younger brother and heir, James, Duke of York, who’d been showing Catholic leanings from the late-1660s, marrying a second time to a Catholic princess, Mary of Modena, in 1673.

The following year the famous ‘Fishing Temple’ was erected in Beresford Dale by writer and translator Charles Cotton (1630-87); he and friend and fellow writer Izaak Walton (1593-1683) spent hours together fishing on the River Dove in both this dale and Dovedale.

When Charles II died in 1685 his brother succeeded as James II, causing Protestants to fret. Indeed, religion was on people’s minds and in 1688 James had a son, James Stuart, who would assuredly be raised a Catholic.

At Old Whittington, Chesterfield, conspirators met at the ‘Cock and Pynot (magpie) Inn’, today’s ‘Revolution House’.

It was here that William Cavendish, 4th Earl of Devonshire, and others schemed James’ downfall.

The Protestants acted decisively, inviting William (of Orange) and Mary to oust James and claim the throne.

Mary just happened to be James II’s daughter from his first marriage – nothing quite like deposing your own dad.

The so-called Glorious Revolution of 1688 saw James II toppled and William and Mary becoming joint monarchs, the Protestant succession seemingly secure.

It was in the late-17th century that the Rev. Thomas Eyre (d.1717) had seats carved in some of the rocks at Row Tor, Birchover, as well as building the Church of the Holy Name of Jesus.

Bolsover Castle had a key part to play during this period of history Photo: Getty William and Mary were gone by 1702 which ushered in the last of the Stuarts, Queen Anne, Mary’s sister, another daughter of James II.

Anne’s the other bookend of this story. With no heir, Britain had to look to Hanover (Germany) for the next stout Protestants, the first being George I.

As with the first Stuart, the first Hanoverian was also in the royal line. Charles I’s sister Elizabeth had married Frederick, Elector Palatine, who happened to be George I’s grandfather.

The year was 1714 and the Stuarts were done.