About this image
Renishaw Hall is three-storied, grey and battlemented, dominating a deep valley to the north-east of Chesterfield in Derbyshire. In 1625 George Sitwell built a small H-shaped manor house to which his descendent Sitwell Sitwell, later first baronet, made vast additions in the Georgian period (around 1800).
It is still the family home of the Sitwells, and its present owner is Sir Reresby Sitwell, seventh baronet. Renishaw Hall has been the home of the Sitwell family for over 350 years. It is still filled with reminders of Sir George and Lady Ida Sitwell and their children, Edith, Osbert and Sacheverell. All three Sitwell children were poets and literary authors. There is the famous family group by Sargent, the paintings and drawings of John Piper and a host of other interesting things which have been accumulated over the centuries. The hall sits in beautiful gardens, filled with follies installed under Sitwell Sitwell. The beautiful Italianate garden, park and lake were the creation of the eccentric Sir George Sitwell, grandfather of the present owner. (Information taken from the Renishaw Hall website - www.sitwell.co.uk)
This image is one of a collection by the famous local antiquarian, Thomas Bateman, of Middleton by Youlgreave. (1821-1861). Bateman organized his collection by inserting them into a 4 volume copy of Lysons Magna Britannia, Derbyshire, creating a fascinating and unique illustrated record of the county. The purchase of the collection for Derbyshire Libraries was made possible by the generous bequest of Miss Frances Webb of Whaley Bridge, well known local historian, who died in December 2006.