Wingfield, situated four or five miles eastward of the centre of Derbyshire, has a manor which is one of the richest specimens of the highly ornamented embattled mansions of the time of Henry VII and Henry VIII. The present manor-house was built about 1440, by Ralph, Lord Cromwell, who was Treasurer of England.

In the thirty-third year of the reign of Henry VIII, it appears that Wingfield Manor was in the possession of the Earl of Shrewsbury, who, in the time of Queen Elizabeth, held in his custody here Mary Queen of Scots. Her suite of apartments were traditionally on the west side of the north court, which is remembered as the most beautiful part of the building.