North Lees Hall.
Foremark Hall (Garden Front).
Such is a brief glance at some of the more noteworthy houses of the county; others there are waiting for the explorer to discover, as he will do in almost any expedition he can make, whether it be among the pasture land of the south, or the more bleak and invigorating hills which culminate in the wild plateau of Kinder Scout.
WINGFIELD MANOR HOUSE
IN PEACE AND IN WAR
By G. le Blanc-Smith
Derbyshire, if unable to boast of that share of stirring episode with which war and the hate of man have impregnated other counties, if unable to show the numerous stately castles and religious houses of its neighbouring shires, can at least proudly name a house which, while being a gem of architecture, yet was so cunningly situated by its owner as to prove a menace to the surrounding country, and a fortress which required no mean ability to compass its surrender, at the same time being of a nature so secure that it was used as the prison-house of the greatest political prisoner in our island’s history.
Such is Wingfield Manor House; beautiful, stately, isolated, and—in ruins; mansion, fortress, and prison. In no way does this manor house resemble its more ambitious neighbour, Haddon Hall. Haddon is just as weak, strategically, as Wingfield is strong, for the latter is perched on a hill top, whose sides may be well described as precipitous, at least on two sides. Another side of the hill, while less steep, is useless for purposes of cavalry attack, whilst the fourth is more level in character.
