South Wingfield Manor
As Derbyshire emerged from the Dark Ages and towns with markets like Chesterfield began to attract a population of artisans and traders during the early Middle Ages, prosperous merchants and churchmen became attracted to the county. One of the most eminent of these was Thomas Cromwell, at one time the richest and most powerful man in England, who built South Wingfield Manor.
Wingfield Manor – Cromwell’s Palace
The evocative and hauntingly beautiful ruins of Wingfield Manor stand proudly atop a rocky hill above the village of South Wingfield, with the tall chimneys and gaunt towers rising resolutely to two hundred feet above the valley floor, and dominating the surrounding pastoral landscape.
This was the romantic setting for scenes from the films, `The Virgin & the Gypsy’ and Zefferelli’s adaption of `Jane Eyre’, also the ruins have been featured in the TV series, `Peak Practice’ – but most famously, Mary Queen of Scots was held prisoner here on three separate occassions during the sixteenth century.
Standing at the top of the battlemented High Tower and gazing out at the wide panorama of rich countryside whilst listening to the screeching call of the peacocks in the apple orchard far below, as Mary herself may have done almost five hundred years ago, gives one a sense of the immensity and splendour of this magnificent sprawling ruin, displayed in all its picturesque glory almost a hundred feet below. What you can now see is only the end result of a long history of building on the site, which began soon after the Norman Conquest, when a small castle enclosed by a courtyard wall was built here early in the twelfth century. Three hundred years later in 1429, following a lawsuit against Sir Henry Pierrepoint, the ownership of the site and surrounding land was granted to Ralph, Lord Cromwell of Tattershall Castle in Lincolnshire.
Cromwell was a man of great power and influence, who as a young man had accompanied King Henry V on his campaigns in France. He fought at Agincourt, and when the king later died, Cromwell was one of the knights chosen to accompany his body back to England.
The Ruler of England!
Henry V1 was only nine months old when he became king, and Cromwell became a member of the Regency council appointed to rule England. He was later appointed Lord Treasurer of the Exchequer, and Master of the Royal Hounds & Falcons under King Henry V1.
Cromwell, who was also Constable of Nottingham Castle and Steward of Sherwood Forest immediately demolished the earlier buildings, levelled the site, and built a structure befitting the richest and most powerful man in England at that time – not another castle, nor a manor or fortified house – but a palace.
At the time of its construction Cromwell’s palace at Wingfield was one of the largest and most lavish in the entire realm. It was a statement of power and wealth, designed and built to impress. The gatehouse alone was the size of a small castle – and larger than the homes of all but the richest in the land!
By 1439 he had built the Great Hall, kitchen, and a series of lodgings at the centre of the old enclosure, and whilst the War of the Roses was raging Cromwell spent huge sums adding a new hall and ranges of lodgings to the south and east, which, with a private garden to the north, enclosed a new double courtyard complex. His household consisted of over a hundred attendants and servants, and there were upwards of two hundred people residing within the walls. Cromwell modified as he built, and this often involved partial demilition of work which had only just been completed, thus he added the High Tower across the south-western corner of the new ranges, and by the time of its completion the immense structure was among the very largest courtyard palaces in England.
In considering the grandeur and magnificence of the undertaking it should be remembered that in the fifteenth century there were no architects. Cromwell simply explained what he wanted, and the detailed planning was done by master masons working under the supervision of a clerk of works. Stones were cut and shaped to exact specifications at ground level, then hoisted up in slings, baskets or giant pincers as the height increased, in some places to five storeys. They had to fit exactly, and it was all worked out with nothing more sophisticated than a plumb line, set square, and a pair of compasses. It is estimated that there were up to seventy five masons employed in the construction, which was almost completed by the time of Cromwells death in 1456.
The History of the Manor House
Cromwell died in residence, and John Talbot, the second Earl of Shrewsbury, who was staying there at the time, purchased the manor and it stayed in his family for several generations. It was one of his descendants, the sixth Earl, George Talbot, husband of the famous Bess of Hardwick, who had the charge of Mary Queen of Scots here, complete with her retinue of `ten maid-servants, fifty other persons, and ten horses’ on three separate occasions – in 1569/70, 1584 and 1585 – during her long imprisonment under the orders of Queen Elizabeth 1st.
According to guide books and local legend, it was to here that Anthony Babbington of nearby Dethick came, disguised as a gypsy, his face stained with wallnut juice, in a failed attempt to hatch a plot to assassinate Elizabeth and to put Mary on the throne of England. The ancient wallnut tree which stands in the inner courtyard is said to have grown from a kernel dropped by Babbington himself – prior of course, to his execution in 1586! However, in reality Babbington never visited the Scottish Queen whilst she was kept at Wingfield and was only involved in the `plot’ whilst Mary was imprisoned at Chartley, over the border in neighbouring Staffordshire, and following her departure from both Wingfield and Tutbury Castle.
According to Mary’s biographer, Lady Antonia Fraser, Antony Babbington and Mary Queen of Scots never actually met. This may well be true, but the possibility must be acknowledged when considering the fact that the young Antony Babbington was a page in the employ of the Earl of Shrewsbury, that they could possibly have been at Wingfield Manor at the same time. In his confession, Babbington denied ever meeting Mary in person, but is said to have confessed to `falling under her spell’. He suffered a savage end; he was hung, but cut down whilst still alive; his private parts were sliced off and placed in his mouth; he was then disembowelled, before being `quartered’, and his severed head was displayed on a spike. Mary herself was executed at Fotheringay Castle early the following year.
During the Civil War, Wingfield was held successively by the Earl of Pembroke on behalf of Parliament, and by the Earl of Newcastle for the King. In 1644 it came under tremendous bombardment from a large Pariliamentary force, who only broke the seige after calling in heavy artillery, and following its capture the building was `slighted’, meaning that it was rendered defenceless by its partial demolition.
After the Civil War Wingfield Manor was sold to the Haltons who repaired the main buildings around the Great Hall, inserting floors and windows, and occupying that area for the next hundred years, with the rest slowly collapsing into ruin around them. It was here, on 23rd June 1675 that the world witnessed the dawn of a new scientific age when renowned mathematician and astronomer Immanuel Halton made his famous observations on the eclipse of the sun. His findings were greeted with great acclaim and later published by the Royal Society.
In 1774 the Haltons built a new manor house half a mile away down the valley, using stone from Cromwells now crumbling palace. They stripped lead and timbers from the roof and floors, leaving virtually the ruins that we see today – except that part of the original south wing was left to the occupation of farmers.
The atmosphere inside the empty shell of the roofless Great Hall, with its double-tiered row of gothic arched windows, surrounded by soaring turrets and towering walls open to the sky, is redolent with the age of centuries and rich with the romance of legend and history. Beneath the Great Hall lies the Undercroft, still completely intact, with a vaulted ceiling of multiple arches supported on stone pillars, and probably the finest example of a medieval storehouse cellar still in existence.
The former grandeur of the State Rooms can now only be imagined by standing amidst their ruined splendour, and the spiral staircases with their stone steps worn down and bowed by the passage of feet for over half a millennium, which lead to open spaces where oak-beamed floors used to be, stand in mute testament to the former opulence and glory of Cromwells magnificent fifteenth century palace.
Today a farmer, Mr. Critchlow, still occupies a working farm at the centre of the complex, and though the ruins are in the care of English Heritage, who have done a wonderful job of conservation which has enabled Wingfield Manor to be opened up again to the public, this has only been possible with Mr. Critchlow’s permission and visitors are kindly requested to respect his privacy. Audio and guided tours are available, with concessions for children and coach parties, and a visit to this hauntingly beautiful romantic ruin makes a wonderfully historic day out.
*Wingfield Manor is open to the public from 10am – 5pm every day except Tuesday and Wednesday from April 1st to October 31st – and from 10am – 4pm on Saturdays and Sundays only between November 1st and March 31st.
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Derbyshire has many other notable country houses, including the sheer magnificence of perhaps the most splendid of all English Country Houses at Chatsworth, home of the Duke & Duchess of Devonshire, but it has no more splendid ruin that that of Wingfield Manor.
However, there is another architectural gem from a later age which stands in ruins near Chesterfield.
Sutton Hall – Sutton Scarsdale
In it’s heyday Sutton Hall at Sutton Scarsdale was one of Derbyshire’s, if not England’s finest classical country houses, rivalling Chatsworth in size and splendour after it was rebuilt by Nicholas Leke, Earl of Scarsdale in 1724.
Now devoid of warmth, roofless and open to the elements, the Hall retains an immense sense of the dignity and grandeur of it’s former opulence, and an aura of early Georgian splendour still haunts the expansive and romantically evocative ruins which stand stately and proud in modern-day dereliction at the heart of a once great, lavish country estate overlooking the Vale of Scarsdale.
The rows of empty windows beneath the Corinthian Order and Central Pediment, which bears the Earls of Scarsdale coat of arms, stare like sightless eyes eastward toward the rising sun – and directly across the valley to the white limestone eminence of Bolsover Castle on the hillside opposite.
During the Civil War the two houses were occupied by opposing forces, and Sutton Hall, then a Royalist stronghold, was beseiged by a force of five hundred Parliamentarians led by Colonel Thomas Gell of Hopton and was eventually taken by force. Today they face each other passively across the valley, both managed by English Heritage, and displaying themselves like architectural grande dames to the thousands who pass by every day on the M1 motorway – now, in an age of air pollution and acid rain, the common enemy of such stone-built relics from a bygone age.
Though the castle, which crouches like a lion atop the magnesian limestone spur across the valley at Bolsover may appear more resplendent, it’s smaller and less conspicuous neighbour, a couple of miles westward across the valley, has a longer and perhaps more interesting pedigree.
There has been a Hall here at Sutton Scarsdale for over a thousand years and the present ruin is perhaps the fourth or fifth house to be built in this magnificent setting.
The original Hall formed part of a Saxon estate owned by Wulfric Spott, who died in 1002 and left it in his will to the monks of Burton Abbey.
By the time of the Domesday Survey (1085) Sudtune is recorded as having a mill and a wood, and being in the possession of Roger de Poitou. It is later recorded that `The Lordship of Sutton-in-the-Dale was given to Peter de Hareston by Henry 3rd in 1255′.
In 1297 Lucia, heiress daughter of Robert Hareston married her cousin Richard de Grey of Sandiacre and the manor was held by the de Grey family for a hundred years until it was purchased by John Leke of Gotham in 1401.
The Church of St. Mary is built onto the south side of the original courtyard of the Hall, and was rebuilt during the late fourteenth and early fifteenth centuries and improved several times by Sir John Leke.
The Leke family were staunch royalists, and were well rewarded for their support of the crown; first John Leke was knighted by Henry 8th. in Lille, and then Sir Francis Leke was created Baronet by James 1st in 1611, made Lord Deincourt in 1624, and elevated to Earl Scarsdale by King Charles 1st in 1640. When Civil War broke out in 1642, Sir Francis fortified the original hall and defended it from repeated attacks by the Parliamentary army. Sir Francis, now Lord Deincourt, who lost two sons in battle during the Civil War, refused to surrender to Gell’s five-hundred-strong force, but the house was stormed, the defences removed and Sir Francis was taken prisoner.
His lands were seized by Cromwell and only restored upon forfeiture of the sum of £18,000, a fine levied by the Commonwealth for his support of the now defeated and imprisoned King Charles. It is recorded that after the execution of Charles 1st in 1649, Sir Francis was so disillusioned and in such despair that he had his grave dug, and each Friday evening, would clothe himself in sackcloth and lie in the grave to meditate and pray!
The Leke family held Sutton Hall for three hundred and thirty three years, through ten generations, until it was inherited by the fourth, and last Earl Scarsdale, Nicholas Leke, and it was he who had the present Hall built in 1724. The designer and builder was the noteable architect Francis Smith of Warwick, who used mostly materials from the old Hall and incorporated some of it’s structure into the heart of his lavish new design. A noteable feature was the fine decorative plasterwork by Italian artists Artari and Vassalli, traces of which can still be seen.
Sadly, Nicholas Leke died whilst heavily in debt due to his lavish rebuilding, and the Hall and it’s estates were purchased in 1740 by Godfrey Clarke of Somersall, whose son, also Godfrey, remained Lord of the Manor until 1786.
Sutton Hall and Estate was subsequently transferred by marriage to the Marquis of Ormonde, and following his death in 1824 it was purchased by Richard Arkwright Junior and remained in the family until it was sold at auction by William Arkwright in 1919.
Sadly it fell into desrepair and was sold during the 1920’s to a consortium of Chesterfield businessmen (Haslam Builders Ltd), to demolish it and use the material for building houses in Somersall and Brampton. Much of the interior, including the Adams fireplaces which were beautifully and elaborately inlaid with Blue John, and the ornate oak staircases, were purchased by a Philadelphia Museum and shipped to America. The roof was stripped of lead and the massive wooden joists removed, leaving only the shell of this once proud Georgian building.
By 1946 the building had deteriorated so much that demolition was scheduled, but an emergency rescue was successfully put into operation by local resident Harold Taylor, who pursuaded Sir Osbert Sitwell to buy the property and to preserve the shell for eternity. It was subsequently given to the Department of the Environment and work to secure the structure from further deterioration was undertaken. This was finally completed in 1992, and now in the care of English Heritage, it is possible for visitors to walk inside the shell of Sutton Hall and to enjoy the magnificent vista across the Vale of Scarsdale – a prospect which will forever bear testimony to the vision and architectural triumph of Nicholas Leke, the fourth and final Earl Scarsdale.
Estate Agents 1919 Sale Catalogue: Lot 37 – Sutton Hall & Grounds
"The Hall is well situate on high ground with fine views, and is a handsome classical building with fine elevations, built of stone with a lead and slate roof, with 594 acres of land attached to the Hall"?.
Top Floor:
Nine bedrooms, box room, clock room and a back staircase down to the Ground floor.
First Floor:
Approached by a wide oak staircase and a secondary staircase from the centre and inner hall.
Landing:
Ballroom with oak carved ornamentation and gold and white Décor with coved ceilings and columns. Six principal bedrooms, five Secondary bedrooms and eight smaller ones. Three dressing rooms, four Bathrooms, four toilets, housemaids cupboard and an iron spiral emergency staircase to the ground floor.
Ground Floor:
Entrance Hall and two inner halls. Two drawing rooms, dining room, Strong room, morning room,smoking room and library with toilet, billiard room with adjoining lavatory. Servants hall, housekeepers room, servants Sitting room, butlers pantry with silver closet, kitchen, scullery, three Larders, Laundry, four store rooms, drying room, boot room, gun room and lamp room
Courtyard & Outbuildings:
Bakehouse, washhouse, oil and fuel stores, lean- to greenhouse,Dairy, stone-built brew-house containing nine storage rooms.
Stables:
Built of stone and slate; Thirteen stalls, six loose boxes, two harness rooms, Three store rooms with seven rooms above. Large Coach House and Garage fitted with furnace, boiler and hot water pipings.Four estate office rooms and Stable-Yard.
Estate Workshops/Park Buildings:
Boat House, Deer Barn, Ice House, Park Kennels, Poultry. house, four loose boxes and paddock, three stores. Carpenters Shop, Paint shop, saw lodge and engine house, stable with two Stalls and loft above, two loose boxes and small yard. Cow lodge for twelve cows, fodder store, two implement and wagon sheds. Dutch barn, nine dog kennels, large yard and covered Stockyard.
Finely timbered deerpark with avenue and well stocked fish ponds and Plantation grounds. Terraced pleasure gardens, with archery, croquet lawn,tennis lawns, Octagon gardens, Cedar Garden, gold and silver borders and an Italian Yew Pergola.
Walled Kitchen Garden:
Fruit trees, six hot houses and cucumber pit frame heated from two furnaces.Five cold frames and Alpine house, brick-built Bothy, with three bedrooms, Kitchen, wash-house, earth closet, fruit store, mushroom house, potting shed, Tool shed. Adjoining the kitchen gardens are the kennels, brick-built on Arches and slate-roofed, with fourteen kennels, dog hospital, food store, fuel Store, and building store with water laid on.
This article has been brought to you by our resident peak district writerTom Bates