Chatsworth: Archaeological Landscapes and Local Distinctiveness Through Time

Abstract

This paper reviews the results of an extensive field survey of estate land around Chatsworth House in the Peak District of Derbyshire, commissioned by English Heritage and the Trustees of the Chatsworth Settlement. Large numbers of archaeological and historical features were recorded for the first time in three contrasting Chatsworth landscapes, the parkland around the house and gardens, the surrounding enclosed farmland in the Derwent Valley, and the extensive moorlands high above to the east. There have already been archive reports produced for management and future interpretation purposes, together with the publication of two books that summarize results for a general audience. The paper below takes a different approach. This concentrates on giving an academic overview with particular emphasis on four topics where the survey has had an impact on regional archaeological interpretations:• the prehistoric farming landscape, with its many associated small ritual monuments on the moorlands;• the medieval landscape with its villages and large open fields, its hamlets with smaller fields, and the extensive commons beyond them;• changing farming practices and the creation of extensive enclosures in the Derwent Valley in the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries;• the presence of intensive past industry, including coal mining, stone quarrying and lead smelting, in what is now seen as a landscape of great beauty.