Peveril Castle stands above Castleton and the Hope Valley in the Peak District. William Peverel, a Norman lord closely associated with William the Conqueror, established the stronghold by the time of Domesday Book in 1086. From this commanding site he administered estates and interests in the royal Forest of the Peak. Earthworks, timber buildings, and an early stone enclosure provided a base for officials who regulated hunting, grazing, lead mining, courts, rents, and the movement of people through a rugged upland district.

The Peverel family expanded its power during the first half of the twelfth century, but William Peverel the younger lost the estate after conflict with the Crown. Henry II took possession in 1155 and invested heavily in the castle. The surviving square keep was probably built during his reign, while a hall, chambers, chapel, workshops, and service buildings occupied the bailey. Henry used Peveril during visits connected with hunting and northern politics, making the fortress both an administrative center and a royal lodge.

Later kings granted the lordship to powerful nobles, including the earls of Chester and eventually the house of Lancaster. Constables and foresters continued to manage the Peak from the site, but royal visits became uncommon. The castle's steep position offered security at the cost of convenience. Water, fuel, food, building materials, and equipment had to be carried uphill, while changing government practices allowed officials to work from more accessible settlements. By the fourteenth century the residential buildings were deteriorating.

Surveys described roofs, halls, and chambers needing repair, and authorities increasingly treated the castle as a source of materials rather than a residence worth rebuilding. The keep and portions of the curtain wall survived because their massive masonry was difficult to remove, while lesser buildings collapsed to foundations. Castleton grew below, and the ruin became part of a landscape shaped by lead mining, farming, roads, caves, and tourism. Artists and antiquarians valued the dramatic relationship between the tower, valley, and surrounding limestone heights.

Peveril entered state care in the twentieth century. Excavation identified the plans of the hall and other vanished buildings, correcting the impression that the keep stood alone. Conservation stabilizes masonry exposed to severe upland weather and heavy visitor use. The castle illustrates the machinery of Norman and Plantagenet lordship in a royal forest, where control of minerals, animals, law, and land mattered as much as battlefield defense. Its decline likewise reflects practical administration: once officials no longer needed to live on the hill, the costly architecture of authority rapidly became a ruin.