Peveril Castle (Castleton)
Peveril Castle is now a ruin, but it still looms over the picturesque little town of Castleton in Derbyshire.
Standing as it does in an impregnable position on a crag above the spectacular Peak Cavern, with Mam Tor as a backdrop, it is sometimes known as Peak Castle.
William Peverel was given vast amounts of land in the Peak District, as well as in Nottinghamshire and Northamptonshire, by William the Conqueror, whose illegitimate son he was. He built Bolsover Castle as well as this one.
His son, also William Peverel, forfeited his estates in 1155, having been implicated in the murder of the Earl of Chester. Henry II thereupon appointed a caretaker, and built the little keep in 1176.
Later owners included Simon de Montfort, the Earl of Leicester who was virtually King of England for a short while, John de Warenne and John of Gaunt.
Sir Walter Scott's 1823 novel "Peveril of the Peak" is set in and around the castle.
Peveril Castle is now in the care of English Heritage.