Each edition grades its towns against each other only.
A town of 11,228 in Derbyshire, East Midlands.
Bolsover grades D overall against UK towns: better than 6% of UK towns. Its strongest subject is hazard risk (B+): 0% of homes at high or medium risk of flooding from rivers or the sea. Its weakest is jobs & income (D): mean household income £41,165; 3.2% of 16 to 64s claim unemployment benefits. The median home sold for £198,250 in the last three years, 4.6 times what households in the Bolsover council area earn in a year.
The 3 things Bolsover does most differently from other towns.
Each subject compared with the 2,160 UK towns with an overall grade (schools within England), ordered by how far Bolsover is from typical. American towns are graded separately.
How TownRatings grades towns →
Historic England lists 52 buildings inside Bolsover’s built-up area, 6 of them Grade II*, and 3 scheduled monuments.
23% of its homes were built before 1919, against 15% in the typical UK town.
The archive holds 3 old photos and postcards going back to 1831.
Data highlights are ordered by what stands out in Bolsover.
People aged 15 to 24 make up 9.4% of the town, below Derbyshire’s towns (11%) and England’s towns (12%) alike. The median resident of Bolsover is 45.3 years old. One measure of family life: 16% of residents are under 15.
51% women, 49% men
About 96 men for every 100 women. Across England, 51% of residents are women.
| Bolsover | Derbyshire | England | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Under 15 | 16% | 17% | 18% |
| 15–24 | 9.4% | 11% | 12% |
| 25–44 | 24% | 25% | 27% |
| 45–64 | 29% | 27% | 25% |
| 65+ | 22% | 20% | 18% |
| No qualifications | 24% | 19% | 18% |
| Apprenticeship | 6.8% | 6.5% | 5.3% |
| A levels or similar | 18% | 18% | 17% |
| Degree level | 22% | 29% | 34% |
ONS Census 2021 · Derbyshire and England: all residents of their built-up areas · OGL
Below are two of its 4 schools, each with why it was picked. Some 1,681 pupils attend Bolsover’s three primaries and one secondary. GCSE results at the one secondary school within 3 km: 45% of pupils get a strong pass (grade 5+) in English and maths, and the Attainment 8 average is 42.9.
| School | Level | Pupils | Letter |
|---|---|---|---|
| Bolsover Church of England Junior SchoolLargest primary schoolPrimary | Primary | 294 | C− |
| The Bolsover SchoolLargest secondary schoolSecondary | Secondary | 911 | C+ |
At the census, 8% of residents said their health was bad or very bad, above Derbyshire’s towns (6%) and England’s towns (5.2%) alike. Disability touches a quarter of Bolsover’s population. Women here live to 81.1 on average and men to 77.4 (2019–23). 3 GP practices serve the town; 86% of patients rate theirs good in the GP Patient Survey.
| Census 2021 | Bolsover | Derbyshire | England |
|---|---|---|---|
| Good or very good health | 75% | 80% | 82% |
| Bad or very bad health | 8% | 6% | 5.2% |
| Disabled (Equality Act) | 25% | 20% | 17% |
ONS Census 2021, general health and disability · OHID Fingertips, life expectancy 2019–23 · OGL · A young population flatters these answers, which are not age-adjusted; the Health Grade instead uses measures that allow for age, such as life expectancy and early deaths.
Violent crime comes to 42.8 per 1,000 residents a year. Over the year to August 2026, 942 offences were reported in Bolsover, along with 138 incidents of anti-social behaviour. Also worth knowing: for its size, Bolsover records more crime per resident than four fifths of the 645 UK towns of 10,000 to 50,000 people. There were 17.5 anti-social behaviour reports per 1,000 residents (not graded), above Derbyshire’s towns (8.5) and England’s towns (7.8) alike.
Not gradedAnti-social behaviour, shoplifting and other theft are shown but left out of the Safety Grade, which counts violence and crimes against homes and vehicles per resident.
data.police.uk street-level crime · points inside the ONS built-up-area boundary · OGL
The heritage lists give each building’s grade but not its age, so we don’t say which is oldest.
Bolsover counts 52 listed buildings on the national list (Historic England): 6 Grade II*. Homes from before 1919 make up 23% of the total, close to Derbyshire’s towns (23%) and above England’s towns (16%). 3 scheduled monuments lie in the town.
Historic England list, October 2026 · Valuation Office Agency, homes by build period · OGL
16% rent privately, close to Derbyshire’s towns (17%) and below England’s towns (21%). Private rents average £706 a month across the Bolsover council area. From September 2023 to August 2026, 730 homes sold inside the town’s built-up area at standard prices; the middle one went for £198,250.
| By type | Median | Sales |
|---|---|---|
| Detached | £295,000 | 307 |
| Semi-detached | £175,000 | 274 |
| Terraced | £125,000 | 145 |
HM Land Registry Price Paid · ONS private rents · MHCLG / Welsh Government council tax · ONS Census 2021 tenure · OGL
The Census was taken on 21 March 2021, in lockdown, so 19% of workers were mainly at home; shares here are of those who travelled.
13% of commuters walked, cycled or took the bus or train at the census, below both Derbyshire’s towns (17%) and England’s towns (27%). Driving is how 84% of commuters got to work at the census. There are 0.5 jobs in Bolsover for each resident in work.
ONS Census 2021, method of travel and distance to work · ONS small-area income · DWP claimant count · OGL
Museums, castles, gardens and days out in and near Bolsover. Best known first.
Castle · English HeritageBolsover Castle100 m outside town, to the west
Historic house · English HeritageSutton Scarsdale Hall2.1 km outside town, to the southwest
Museum · National TrustStainsby Mill4.3 km outside town, to the southMuseumMuseumLangwith Whaley Thorns Heritage Centre4.4 km outside town, to the eastPhotos: each place’s Wikidata image, from Wikimedia Commons under the licence below (our copy, resized).
52 listed buildings in Bolsover.
Bolsover Castle: eleventh century motte and bailey castle, twelfth century tower keep castle and seventeenth century country house.: Photo: Mickthebald · CC BY-SA 4.0 · Church of St Mary and St Lawrence: Photo: Immanuel Giel · CC BY-SA 3.0 · The Cundy House: Photo: Gordon Elliott · CC BY-SA 2.0 · Lime Kiln Fields Mill: Photo: Gordon Elliott · CC BY-SA 2.0
20 notable people were born in Bolsover.
Peter Fidler: SriMesh (Julia Adamson), CC BY-SA 3.0
The nearest built-up areas, from ONS’s 2022 boundaries. See them on the map →
| Town | People | Miles | Overall | Cost | Safety | Health |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Bolsover | 11,228 | — | D | B | D | D |
| Duckmanton | 1,775 | 2.2 | — | B | C− | D |
| Glapwell | 1,559 | 3 | — | C+ | B+ | D |
| Clowne | 7,759 | 3.2 | C | B+ | C− | C− |
| Langwith | 3,009 | 3.3 | D− | B+ | C− | D− |
| Shirebrook | 11,571 | 3.4 | D | B+ | D | D− |
| Creswell | 5,792 | 3.5 | C− | B+ | D | D− |
| New Houghton | 1,431 | 3.6 | — | A− | D | D− |
Duckmanton, Glapwell and New Houghton have fewer than 2,500 residents, so they get subject grades but no overall grade. People: Census 2021. Miles: centre to centre.
Police recorded 942 crimes inside Bolsover’s built-up area in the 12 months to August 2026, 49% of them violence and sexual offences, a police category that includes harassment and stalking.
Homes cost less than in most UK towns: the median sale over three years was £198,250, against £277,000 in the typical UK town. By type: terraced houses £125,000, semi-detached houses £175,000 and detached houses £295,000.
Town in Derbyshire, England
Bolsover is a built-up area of 11,228 people, in the Bolsover council area. TownRatings uses ONS’s 2022 built-up areas as towns: the physical town, as people mean the word, rather than a council district, so its figures cover the town itself.
Built from ONS geography and Census 2021
Sources: ONS Census 2021, output areas summed to the ONS 2022 built-up area · HM Land Registry Price Paid (standard sales, September 2023 to August 2026) · ONS Price Index of Private Rents (August 2026, by council) · MHCLG and Welsh Government council tax, Band D 2026–27 (with parish precepts in England) · data.police.uk street-level crime, 36 months to August 2026, points inside the built-up-area boundary · ONS small-area life expectancy and healthy life expectancy, 2019 to 2023 (England and Wales), OHID Fingertips small-area indicators (England) and Census 2021 health, adjusted for age · ONS small-area income estimates (financial year ending 2023) · DWP claimant count via Nomis (January to August 2026) · Historic England, National Heritage List for England (listed buildings, scheduled monuments, registered parks and gardens, battlefields, World Heritage Sites), October 2026, inside the ONS 2022 built-up-area boundary · Valuation Office Agency, Council Tax: stock of properties by build period (31 March 2025) · TownRatings grades: our own summary of the data, ranked against UK towns only. All under the Open Government Licence v3.0.
Contains public sector information licensed under the Open Government Licence v3.0. Contains HM Land Registry data © Crown copyright and database right 2026. Contains OS data © Crown copyright and database right 2026 (ONS boundaries). Northern Ireland: Source: NISRA; contains Land & Property Services data and Ordnance Survey of Northern Ireland information, © Crown copyright, licensed under the Open Government Licence v3.0. Scotland: contains National Records of Scotland data, Registers of Scotland data and SEPA data, © Crown copyright / © SEPA 2025, licensed under the Open Government Licence v3.0.