WINGFIELD (SOUTH), a parish in the hundred of
SCARSDALE, county of DERBY, 2? miles (W.) from Alfreton,
containing 1051 inhabitants. The living is a discharged
vicarage, in the archdeaconry of Derby, and
diocese of Lichfield and Coventry, rated in the king's
books at £6. 13. 4., and in the patronage of the Duke
of Devonshire. The church is dedicated to All Saints.
There is a place of worship for Wesleyan Methodists.
The ancient Iknield-street passes through the parish, in
which coal is obtained. The village is large, and possesses
a considerable and increasing trade in the weaving of
stockings, for which there are about two hundred frames
in operation. Samuel Newton, in 1683, gave £200 for
charitable uses, with which sum certain lands were purchased,
now producing £33 per annum, £20 of which is
applied for teaching twenty children. The estate called
Strelley's charity, at Okerthorpe in this parish, is now
let for £55 a year, of which income £20 was directed
by the donor to be applied for apprenticing two poor
boys, and £10 for exhibitions for two poor scholars
at the University. The manor-house, now an extensive
and interesting ruin, was a splendid and spacious edifice,
erected by Ralph, Lord Cromwell, .Lord Treasurer
in the reign of Henry VI.: it was afterwards, for several
generations, one of the principal seats of the Earls of
Shrewsbury; and Mary, Queen of Scots, while in the
custody of George, the sixth earl, passed some months
here, in 1569; she was here also in November and December,
1584. At the commencement of the parliamentary
war, Wingfield manor-house was garrisoned for the
parliament; but being taken by the Earl of Newcastle,
towards the close of the year 1643, it was then made
a royal garrison; in 1644 it sustained a siege, but surrendered
to the parliament in August: in 1646, it was
dismantled by order of parliament. In 1774, a considerable
part of the mansion was pulled down, to build
a modern house near it with the materials.