 The small Hope Castle lay halfway along the valley . The castle 's founder , William Peveril , was a follower of William the Conqueror and was rewarded for supporting him during the Norman Conquest . The first mention of him in England records that in 1068 he was granted the new castle at Nottingham by William the Conqueror , who was in the process of subduing the Midlands and northern England . An unsubstantiated legend states that Peveril was William 's illegitimate son . By the Domesday Book of 1086 , Peveril had become a powerful landowner , with holdings in Nottinghamshire and Derbyshire . The exact year he founded the castle is uncertain , although it must have been started by 1086 as it is recorded in the Domesday Book , one of 48 castles mentioned in the survey and the only one in Derbyshire . The castle was recorded as standing at <unk> which has been translated as both " Peak 's Tail " and " Peak 's Arse " . Although the earliest Norman castles were usually built in timber , Peveril Castle seems to have been designed from outset to be built in stone . 
