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Wingfield Manor is a ruined manor house left deserted since the 1770s, near the village of
South Wingfield South Wingfield is a village and civil parish in Derbyshire, England, it is now part of the borough of Amber Valley and formerly in the Scarsdale hundred. The population of the civil parish at the 2011 census was 1,514. History and description ...
and some west of the town of
Alfreton Alfreton ( ) is a town and civil parish in the Amber Valley district of Derbyshire, England. The town was formerly a Norman Manor and later an Urban District. The population of the Alfreton parish was 7,971 at the 2011 Census. The villages of ...
in the English county of
Derbyshire Derbyshire ( ) is a ceremonial county in the East Midlands, England. It includes much of the Peak District National Park, the southern end of the Pennine range of hills and part of the National Forest. It borders Greater Manchester to the nor ...
. There is a working farm that forms part of the old manor. It is now in the care of
English Heritage English Heritage (officially the English Heritage Trust) is a charity that manages over 400 historic monuments, buildings and places. These include prehistoric sites, medieval castles, Roman forts and country houses. The charity states that i ...
, listed on
Historic England Historic England (officially the Historic Buildings and Monuments Commission for England) is an executive non-departmental public body of the British Government sponsored by the Department for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport. It is tasked w ...
's
Heritage at Risk Register An annual ''Heritage at Risk Register'' is published by Historic England. The survey is used by national and local government, a wide range of individuals and heritage groups to establish the extent of risk and to help assess priorities for acti ...
, and is not open currently to the public.


History

Construction of the manor began in 1441 for Treasurer to Henry VI, Sir Ralph Cromwell, though the building was not completed until after his death when John Talbot, the second Earl of Shrewsbury, bought the property. His family maintained the manor within the property for nearly two hundred years. After which, Parliament decreed that the manor be dismantled and allowed to fall into ruin, and parts were taken for building materials, leaving behind the present ruins. It is also considered to house the first flushing toilet, built in 1596.


Mary, Queen of Scots, at Wingfield

The sixth Earl of Shrewsbury was entrusted with the care of
Mary, Queen of Scots Mary, Queen of Scots (8 December 1542 – 8 February 1587), also known as Mary Stuart or Mary I of Scotland, was Queen of Scotland from 14 December 1542 until her forced abdication in 1567. The only surviving legitimate child of James V of S ...
, when she was detained from 1569 onward, in his various houses around Derbyshire, Wingfield among them. In August 1569 the Earl was anxious to move Mary from Wingfield. He wanted to take her to Sheffield because Wingfield needed cleaning. There were over 240 people in residence and the manor "waxed unsavoury." At Sheffield, the Earl had two houses,
Sheffield Castle Sheffield Castle was a castle in Sheffield, England, constructed at the confluence of the River Sheaf and the River Don, possibly on the site of a former Anglo-Saxon long house, and dominating the early town. A motte and bailey castle had been ...
and
Sheffield Manor Sheffield Manor Lodge, also known as Sheffield Manor or locally as Manor Castle, is a lodge built about 1516 in what then was a large deer park southeast of Sheffield, South Yorkshire, England, to provide a country retreat and further accommodat ...
and could easily move the queen between them when cleaning was necessary. Mary was still at Wingfield at the time of the Rebellion of the North in November 1569. The Earl of Shrewsbury heard of a plot to release Mary at that time. The
Earl of Northumberland The title of Earl of Northumberland has been created several times in the Peerage of England and of Great Britain, succeeding the title Earl of Northumbria. Its most famous holders are the House of Percy (''alias'' Perci), who were the most po ...
and his wife had come to stay nearby at
Wentworth House Wentworth may refer to: People * Wentworth (surname) * Judith Blunt-Lytton, 16th Baroness Wentworth (1873–1957), Lady Wentworth, notable Arabian horse breeder * S. Wentworth Horton (1885–1960), New York state senator * Wentworth Miller (bor ...
. The alleged escape plan involved the Countess of Northumberland pretending to be a nurse and coming to attend Christine Hogg, the pregnant wife of the embroiderer
Bastian Pagez Bastian Pagez was a French servant and musician at the court of Mary, Queen of Scots. He devised part of the entertainment at the baptism of Prince James at Stirling Castle in 1566. When Mary was exiled in England, Bastian and his family continue ...
. The Countess was "something like the queen in personage" and would take Mary's place while she escaped. Queen Elizabeth wrote to the Earl of Shrewsbury on 14 March 1570 giving permission for him to move Mary back to Wingfield because the water supply at
Tutbury Castle Tutbury Castle is a largely ruined medieval castle at Tutbury, Staffordshire, England, in the ownership of the Duchy of Lancaster and hence currently of King Charles III. It is a Scheduled Ancient Monument. People who have stayed in the castle ...
was inadequate. The Earl had hoped to take Mary to
Chatsworth House Chatsworth House is a stately home in the Derbyshire Dales, north-east of Bakewell and west of Chesterfield, England. The seat of the Duke of Devonshire, it has belonged to the Cavendish family since 1549. It stands on the east bank of the ...
and also made preparations there. Mary was back at Wingfield in 1584 and Ralph Sadler described in October how the "castle" was guarded by soldiers armed with pistols, muskets and halberds, and the difficult terrain nearby which would deter escape. He wrote about the unsatisfactory conditions in November, when she was to moved to
Tutbury Castle Tutbury Castle is a largely ruined medieval castle at Tutbury, Staffordshire, England, in the ownership of the Duchy of Lancaster and hence currently of King Charles III. It is a Scheduled Ancient Monument. People who have stayed in the castle ...
. Mary's bedchamber at Wingfield was too close to the kitchens and the "smoke and scent of meat" from below, despite being the best lodging in the house.Boyd, William, ed., ''Calendar State Papers Scotland'', vol. 7 (Edinburgh, 1913), pp. 359 no. 332, 435 no. 403. It may have been at Wingfield that Mary met
Anthony Babington Anthony Babington (24 October 156120 September 1586) was an English gentleman convicted of plotting the assassination of Elizabeth I of England and conspiring with the imprisoned Mary, Queen of Scots, for which he was hanged, drawn and quarte ...
, whose family lived at
Dethick Dethick, Lea and Holloway is a civil parish (and, since 1899, an ecclesiastical parish), in the Amber Valley borough of the English county of Derbyshire. The population of the civil parish taken at the 2011 census was 1,027. It is located in ...
nearby, who organised the abortive
Babington Plot The Babington Plot was a plan in 1586 to assassinate Queen Elizabeth I, a Protestant, and put Mary, Queen of Scots, her Catholic cousin, on the English throne. It led to Mary's execution, a result of a letter sent by Mary (who had been imp ...
, a
Recusant Recusancy (from la, recusare, translation=to refuse) was the state of those who remained loyal to the Catholic Church and refused to attend Church of England services after the English Reformation. The 1558 Recusancy Acts passed in the reign ...
Catholic The Catholic Church, also known as the Roman Catholic Church, is the largest Christian church, with 1.3 billion baptized Catholics worldwide . It is among the world's oldest and largest international institutions, and has played a ...
plot against
Elizabeth I Elizabeth I (7 September 153324 March 1603) was Queen of England and Ireland from 17 November 1558 until her death in 1603. Elizabeth was the last of the five House of Tudor monarchs and is sometimes referred to as the "Virgin Queen". Eli ...
. The walnut tree in the north courtyard is reputed to have grown from a seed left when
Anthony Babington Anthony Babington (24 October 156120 September 1586) was an English gentleman convicted of plotting the assassination of Elizabeth I of England and conspiring with the imprisoned Mary, Queen of Scots, for which he was hanged, drawn and quarte ...
smeared walnut juice over his face to disguise himself and enter the castle to see
Mary, Queen of Scots Mary, Queen of Scots (8 December 1542 – 8 February 1587), also known as Mary Stuart or Mary I of Scotland, was Queen of Scotland from 14 December 1542 until her forced abdication in 1567. The only surviving legitimate child of James V of S ...
. However, the tree is not old enough for this story to be true.


The Civil War

At the time of the
English Civil War The English Civil War (1642–1651) was a series of civil wars and political machinations between Parliamentarians (" Roundheads") and Royalists led by Charles I (" Cavaliers"), mainly over the manner of England's governance and issues of r ...
(1642–48), the manor was in the hands of
Philip Herbert, 4th Earl of Pembroke Philip Herbert, 4th Earl of Pembroke and 1st Earl of Montgomery, (10 October 158423 January 1650) was an English courtier, nobleman, and politician active during the reigns of James I and Charles I. Philip and his older brother William we ...
, a Parliament supporter. The manor was taken by the Royalists in 1643 and then, after a short
siege A siege is a military blockade of a city, or fortress, with the intent of conquering by attrition, or a well-prepared assault. This derives from la, sedere, lit=to sit. Siege warfare is a form of constant, low-intensity conflict characteriz ...
(albeit interrupted by the Battle of Marston Moor), retaken by Parliament in August 1644, after several large siege engines had destroyed part of the western curtain wall. Wingfield Manor located in what was then a strategic position near a main north-south artery of the country and also a key east-west link at the southern end of the Pennines. It was partially demolished at the end of the Civil War on instructions from Parliament in order that it could never be used again for defensive purposes - not that it was built as a castle in the first place. Along the curtain walls and on the towers can still be seen the damage caused by cannonballs. One in particular on the north wall, shows by its shape, the direction of fire, indicating the direction of the cannons used in the 1644 siege, four 32 pounders, borrowed for the occasion. Initially these cannon were positioned on the hill to the east, the site of an old Roman fort, but the distance was too great and the only damage incurred was to a half moon battery outside the main gate, which is overgrown but still visible. The guns were moved to the west, to manor top, and it was from here that the southern part of the west curtain wall was demolished, after which the Royalists surrendered. After the war the manor was deliberately ruined so it would never again be used for defence. The Great Hall of the manor was renovated some years later for Immanuel Halton, an
astronomer An astronomer is a scientist in the field of astronomy who focuses their studies on a specific question or field outside the scope of Earth. They observe astronomical objects such as stars, planets, moons, comets and galaxies – in either ...
. In the 18th Century it was abandoned (apart from the farmhouse in the centre) and then further damaged when stone was taken for building Wingfield Hall, in the valley below.


Current remains

The remains include a usable tower, part of a greater tower that included, before the English Civil War, one of the earliest flushing systems in England. A cistern of water, positioned at the top of the tower, was emptied through the toilet area into the moat. The remains of the great hall, once one of the largest in the country, contains an oriel window, where light would once have shone through coloured glass and illuminated the high table. The undercroft below the great hall was used for the storage of wine, beer and food, and had stairs on each corner going up to the great hall. The kitchens were connected to the great hall by a passageway. The remains of two bread ovens can be seen, along with two large fireplaces. There is also a great stone barn, notable for the internal timbering; and the gate above the entrance to the north court contains a carved representation of
moneybags A money bag (or money sack) is a bag normally used to hold and transport coins and banknotes, often closed with a drawstring.Grade I listed buildings in Derbyshire There are over 9000 Grade I listed buildings in England. This page is a list of these buildings in the county of Derbyshire, sub-divided by district. Amber Valley Bolsover Chesterfield City of Derby ...
*
Listed buildings in South Wingfield South Wingfield is a civil parish in the Amber Valley district of Derbyshire, England. The parish contains 40 Listed building#England and Wales, listed buildings that are recorded in the National Heritage List for England. Of these, one is list ...


References


External links


A brief history and numerous photographs

Page at English HeritageInformation for teachers: English Heritage


by J. Alfred Gotch * {{Derbyshire Places of interest Country houses in Derbyshire English Heritage sites in Derbyshire Grade I listed buildings in Derbyshire Scheduled monuments in Derbyshire Ruins in Derbyshire