Bolsover

Bolsover is a town in Derbyshire, England, near Chesterfield. It is 145 miles (233 km) from London, 18 miles (29 km) from Sheffield and 54 miles (87 km) from Manchester. It is the main town in the Bolsover district.

The civil parish for the town is called Old Bolsover. It includes the town (and the New Bolsover model village, along with Carr Vale, Shuttlewood, Stanfree, Oxcroft and Whaley.

History

Bolsover is mentioned in Domesday Book, where it is described as the property of William Peverel (or "Peveril"). The description refers to the villans, the ploughs, eight acres of meadow, and woodland pasture, which is given as two leagues by a league.

William was possibly the illegitimate son of William the Conqueror. Bolsover became the seat of the Peverel family, and in the twelfth century a castle was built. The present castle was erected in 1613.

The district of Bolsover is notable for three sites of historical importance: Bolsover Castle, Creswell Crags (home to Britain's only known Palaeolithic cave art) and Creswell Model Village (an example of early twentieth century design from the Model village movement.

Economy

The major industry of the area used to be coal mining, but this has declined throughout all of England. Markham Colliery, just outside the town, closed in 1993. The Bolsover Colliery Company was one of the original companies in the original FT 30 list of companies. In August 2006, Bolsover was announced to have the seventh worst obesity rate in the UK.

Politics

The MP for Bolsover is Dennis Skinner (Labour) who is nicknamed – sometimes affectionately – as the 'Beast of Bolsover'.

Sport

The main sport competed in Bolsover is football with Bolsover Town and greatly supported Bolsover Old Boys playing there games at the 'Field of dreams' on Mooracre Lane. With Bolsover being in close proximity to both the towns of Mansfield and Chesterfield the fan base is mixed, however most of the town support Chesterfield FC and are known as Spireites although there always has been and is a growing minority of Mansfield Town FC supporters in the town which creates a great rivalry between the Stags and the Spireites. The Mansfield Town fans are often referred to as 'Scabs' which dates back to the miners strike.

Television

In 2007 Bolsover was chosen as the location to film the movie 'Summer' starring Robert Carlyle and Rachael Blake, it features two vibrant kids, wasted by their experience of education. Many scenes from the move were filmed on the 'Castle Estate' which is affectionately known by the Bolsover residents as the 'Wimps' and lies just underneath Bolsover Castle. Other parts of the film have also been filmed in Whitwell which is just a few miles from Bolsover. Summer is to be released on the 5th December 2008.