65 



®\x fyt J&anor $ousc of Sotttl) TOmffeltf. 



By Rev. J. Charles Cox, LL.D. 



[A paper read to the Royal Archreological Institute, when visiting the Manor 

 House, on July 30th, 1885.] 



HE early history of the Manor of South Winfield 

 and its connections with the important families of 

 Heriz, de la Rivere, Bellers, Swillington, Pierpoint, 

 and Cromwell, are of considerable interest, but as it is generally 

 supposed that the older manor-house was in quite a different part 

 of the parish, it will be foreign to our purpose to say anything 

 respecting the local history of this place prior to the time of 

 Ralph, Lord Cromwell, at whose charge the beautiful and ex- 

 tensive buildings, amid the ruins of which we are now standing, 

 were originally erected. 



An inquisition taken at Derby, October 25th, 1429, declared 

 that Ralph Lord Cromwell was heir, inter alia, of this manor, 

 through kinship with Margaret, sister and heiress of her brothers, 

 John and Robert de Swillington. But this finding was disputed 

 by Sir Henry Pierpoint, and a prolonged lawsuit followed. It 

 was not until the year 1440 that Lord Cromwell was able to take 

 possession of the manor, which was then secured to him by 

 compromise, the rest of the estates devolving to the Pierpoints. 



This Ralph, Lord Cromwell, seem^ to have been possessed of 

 great wealth. In 1443, Henry VI. appointed him to the lucrative 

 post of Treasurer of the Exchequer, and a year or two later the 

 same monarch made him Master of the Royal Hounds and 

 Falcons, an office to which very considerable perquisites pertained. 



