Site record MDR14189 - Wingfield Park (site of), South Wingfield

The well-known ruin of Wingfield Manor House [SMR 26201] stands on a bluff above the River Amber, to the south of which is Wingfield Park. Many place names show evidence of the park, although most of it is now farmland [2009]. Looking carefully at the 1610 map by John Speed two parks are depicted in this area, one of which straddles the river. Whether originally there had been two parks is difficult to ascertain. By the beginning of the 17th century there was certainly a Little Park and this continued to be the case for a couple of hundred years. There are good park boundaries following the same line as those of the parish on the west and a metre high bank still stands at the top of Shaw Wood on the east. Whether the River Amber formed the southern boundary is debatable. The parish boundary follows the river all the way but the park possibly stopped short of it by a few fields on this southern section. North of Weir Mill Farm on the east, the parish boundary is in the exact position one field away from the river to suggest the line of the pale. The division between the Great and Little Parks is marked on an 18th century survey and runs east-west just south of Catchills Farm to cross the river where there used to be a ford and an access track. (1) In the 11th century the Heriz family were given liberty by King John to hunt the woods and lands of South Wingfield. However, the Heriz family had to obtain agreements from the Abbot of Darley, as holders of the church in South Wingfield, to enclose a park. These agreements were made between 1248-61, when it was decided that they may enclose a park, so long as the canons still received tithes of hay and corn from the land within the park. (1)