The ruins at Codnor's doorstep, set in billowy fields and woods, make it easy to forget the coal and iron which have made this part of Derbyshire famous.
Once, it was a great park of nearly 2,000 acres, and the ruins were a mighty castle, the feudal home of the Greys. Richard Grey was one of Henry III's loyal barons; another Richard was visited here by Edward II after fighting the rebels at Burton-on-Trent; another was sent by Henry V to bring Hotspur's son from Scotland; Henry, the last of them, busied himself in trying to change base metal into gold.
It is thought that the Greys built their castle on the site of one which had William Peveril for its Lord, making it a great and deeply moated place with two courts, four massive round towers,and a great gateway. It was when the Zouch family sold it 300 years ago that it began to decay.
Today, all that survives is a length of the great boundary wall of the upper court, portions of the dividing wall and of the defending towers, and here and there a doorway, a window, and a fireplace, all standing proudly high and looking over the Erewash Valley into Nottinghamshire.
Farmsteads have been built from the ruins, one the next-door neighbour of the castle since the 17th century. Near it stands a round stone dovecot, tall and slightly conical, and crowned by a square wood turret, now in decay. The lords of Codnor have said goodbye. The great park has changed, much of it taken up by the ironworks of the Butterley Company, who laid out some acres as a park on a hill above the ruins. But the park has changed hands yet again, the roads are private, and visitors are no longer welcome.
