BOLSOVER  , an

urban district in the north-eastern parliamentary division of Derbyshire, England, 52 M . E. of Chester-field, on branch lines of the Midland and the Great Central railways . Pop . (1901) 6844 . It lies at a considerable height on a sharp slope above a stream tributary to the river Rother . The castle round which the town grew up was founded According to the theory now generally adopted, the Etruscan Volsinii occupied the site of Orvieto, which was hence called Urbs vetus in late classical and medieval times, while the Roman Volsinii was transferred to Bolaena (see Vonsis I) . shortly after the Conquest by William Peveril, but the existing building, a fine castellated residence, was erected on its site in 1613 . The town itself was fortified, and traces of early works remain . The church of St Mary is of Norman and later date; it contains some interesting early stone-carving, and monuments to the family of Cavendish, who acquired the castle in the 16th century . Coal-mining and quarrying are carried on in the neighbourhood of Bolsover .