Bolsover before the Norman Conquest

The southern part of the parish of Bolsover lies on the magnesian limestone plateau which forms the dominant element in the geology of the north-eastern corner of Derbyshire. This area was attractive to early settlers because it was flatter, drier, less densely wooded and easier to cultivate than the heavier and wetter clay of the coal measures immediately to the west.

Over the plateau as a whole there is a good deal of evidence for human settlement from the Ice Age onwards, notably at Creswell Crags. Within Bolsover itself slight evidence has been found for settlement from the Mesolithic period and later.

An early trackway, which runs roughly south-north across the limestone from Pleasley to Clowne and may have been in use in both the Prehistoric and Roman periods, crosses the parish of Bolsover to the east of the town.