72 ON THE MANOR HOUSE OF SOUTH WINFIELD. 



of troops. The garrison proving very troublesome to the Parlia- 

 mentary forces both in Derbyshire and Nottinghamshire, by their 

 frequent sallies and expeditions, Sir John Gell towards the end of 

 May, 1644, brought the whole of his troops, horse and foot, except 

 two companies of foot left in Derby, to environ the Manor House. 

 Here he was presently joined by Colonel Hutchinson with 200 

 foot. After beleaguering the place for fifteen days, a diversion 

 was caused by the threatened approach of the royal troops from 

 Lichfield, Ashby-de-la-Zouch, Burton, and other towns, that 

 had remained true to the King. On the return of Gell's forces, 

 after scattering the royalists, to the continuance of the siege, it 

 was found that his ordnance was not powerful enough for the 

 purpose, but on his reporting this to Major-General Crawford, 

 and that the place could only be subdued by starvation, the 

 General sent him "four great pieces for battering," and so 

 effectual was the fire, that after three hours battery, the garrison, 

 who then numbered 220, yielded themselves up, on condition of 

 each man being allowed to march off to his own home. This 

 successful assault took place on July 20th, 1644.* Colonel Dalby, 

 the royalist governor of the Manor House, was killed during the 

 siege. The heavy artillery is said to have been placed on the 

 high ground of Pentrich Common, to the east of the Manor. In 

 1646, this fortified mansion, which had played so important a 

 part in the civil war in the midlands, was dismantled by order of 

 Parliament ; the order for the dismantling is dated June 23rd. 



Imanuel Halton, scion of an ancient Cumberland family, who 

 had come into this county as auditor to the Duke of Norfolk, 

 obtained several moieties of this manor by purchase. He took 

 up his residence in the Manor House in 1666. He was a dis- 

 tinguished mathematician, astronomer, and musician ; to him 

 are due the various sun dials that may still be noted on the walls. 

 In the Philosophical Transactions for 1676, is an account of an 

 eclipse of the sun, as observed by him from this house. Many 



* This is the first time that the actual and true dates of the two sieges of 

 Winfield Manor have been given. They are taken from an old MS. book of 

 Imanuel Halton, copied by Mr. Reynolds, of Plaistow. Wolley MSS., 

 Brit. Mus. 



