Portal:Derbyshire/Selected article/2



Duffield is a village, situated next to the River Derwent in Derbyshire at the lower end of the Pennines around five miles north of Derby, England. There have been humans in the area, probably, from the Iron Age. While it has been suggested that, once farming began, they would have inhabited the plains of the Derwent and Ecclesbourne, they would most likely have retreated to higher ground during the winter floods.

A few remains have been found of Anglo-Saxon occupation by a person, or persons, of some substance. The Domesday Survey records "Duvelle"" as being within the wapentake or hundred of Morleystone. In Norman times, Duffield Castle was built to protect the hunting grounds of Duffield Frith, awarded to Henry de Ferrers by William I.  (More on Duffield...)