Snitterton Hall

Anciently an independent manor within the parish of Darley near Matlock, Snitterton Hall was held by a family of the same name whose emblem was a snipe (snite). It came to John Sacheverel of Morley upon his marriage to the de Snitterton heiress in the 14th century and a descendant was slain at the Battle of Bosworth Field in 1485. The estate was sold in 1596 by Henry Sacheverel, passing through the Shore and Smith families in the next 30 years before the house and half the original lands were acquired in 1631 by John Milward (then younger son of John Milward of Broadlowash) who became High Sheriff of Derbyshire in 1635 and who served as a colonel in the army of Charles I during the English…

The present house represents a refronting and extension of the earlier manor house. The recessed centre with a castellated parapet is flanked by single-bayed gabled cross wings. The windows are mullioned and transomed and the off centre entrance porch has Ionic columns beneath a unique frieze of four plants copied from woodcut illustrations in The Great Herball. Within the walled garden stands a single two-storey pyramid-roofed garden pavilion originally taller with castellation and one of a pair which flanked the surviving arched and castellated entrance gate into the enclosed front garden. To the north and east are gardens, and orchards which descend in terraces; a seating alcove within…