As can be seen from the picture above, Bolsterstone is a splendid site for a castle, on a small plateau overlooking Ewden valley to its south and the Litttle Don valley to its north, as well as the Don itself a little to the east. One can imagine that from the upper levels of such an edifice that the many paths crossing the watershed between the Don valley drainage basin and the Derwent valley in Derbyshire could also be observed. Local tradition speaks about a castle, the site of a castle is noted on maps, and various names in the village, including the village pub, also allude to a castle. Intriguingly, many of the buildings in the village and nearby include within their fabric reused masonry and decorative features that are clearly late medieval in character.
It was all this that led Wendy Goodhind, a resident of Bolsterstone, to begin research in the hope that more might be learned of the castle and its exact whereabouts. The limited documentary evidence exhausted, this eventually led to campaigns of archaeological fieldwork, beginning in 2005 to seek evidence for the castle that were funded by the Heritage Lottery Fund. Wendy had brought together a disparate group of volunteers, largely drawn from Bolsterstone and outlying farms, Deepcar, and Stocksbridge, but also from further affield. The work was directed initially by Lloyd Powell, but for the most part by Colin Merrony of the University of Sheffield and a small team of students from the department of Archaeology.
Several seasons of excavation revealed not a castle, but substantial structures probably to be associated with a high status building, such as a manor house. These were of a domestic nature, and included a substantial oven for baking bread or oatcakes. They also included an enigmatic circular structure of an as yet indeterminate function. These structures probably date to the late medieval period or early post medieval period.
As well as adding a new dimension to the history of a settlement that hitherto had appeared essentially 19th century in character, the excavations also created a community of like minded individuals, many of whom had never previously met, that were very reluctant for the party to end, so to speak, when the lottery funded excavations ended in 2008.
It was all this that led Wendy Goodhind, a resident of Bolsterstone, to begin research in the hope that more might be learned of the castle and its exact whereabouts. The limited documentary evidence exhausted, this eventually led to campaigns of archaeological fieldwork, beginning in 2005 to seek evidence for the castle that were funded by the Heritage Lottery Fund. Wendy had brought together a disparate group of volunteers, largely drawn from Bolsterstone and outlying farms, Deepcar, and Stocksbridge, but also from further affield. The work was directed initially by Lloyd Powell, but for the most part by Colin Merrony of the University of Sheffield and a small team of students from the department of Archaeology.
Several seasons of excavation revealed not a castle, but substantial structures probably to be associated with a high status building, such as a manor house. These were of a domestic nature, and included a substantial oven for baking bread or oatcakes. They also included an enigmatic circular structure of an as yet indeterminate function. These structures probably date to the late medieval period or early post medieval period.
As well as adding a new dimension to the history of a settlement that hitherto had appeared essentially 19th century in character, the excavations also created a community of like minded individuals, many of whom had never previously met, that were very reluctant for the party to end, so to speak, when the lottery funded excavations ended in 2008.