Bolsover has been mentioned out of its strict chronological order because of its early foundation and the peculiar manner in which it preserves the outline of the original castle. It has a notable predecessor in date at South Wingfield, where, about the middle of the fifteenth century, Ralph, Lord Cromwell, treasurer to King Henry VI., built a lordly house, which vied with Haddon in importance. Much of it has gone to hopeless ruin, but there still remain long stretches of wall and decayed buildings forming two large courts. The outer gatehouse is left, flanked by an ancient barn. Through the middle of the range which divides the courtyard is pierced a second gateway, over which are carved the purses of the Lord Treasurer. On the opposite side of the second court is the porch of the house itself, leading on one side to the great hall, with its vaulted undercroft, and on the other to the kitchen department. Midway along one of the far-stretching fronts rises a lofty tower, from the summit of which may be studied the domestic economy of a colony of rooks as they sway below in their nests among the topmost branches of the trees. On the death of its builder, Wingfield passed by purchase to the Earls of Shrewsbury, and in the fulness of time it passed to Gilbert, seventh earl. On his death it went to his eldest daughter, who had married the Earl of Pembroke. Then came the troublous times of Charles I., and Wingfield, being held by the then Earl for the Parliament, who should be sent to attack it but his kinsman, William Cavendish, of Bolsover, Duke of Newcastle, and author of the treatise on horsemanship. The attack was successful, but fickle fortune soon restored it to the Parliament, and by order of that assembly the place was “slighted.” From that drastic operation it has never recovered, although part of it was for a time patched up and made into a residence. Of work dating from the time of Henry VIII. the county can show hardly any examples. Some panelling at Haddon is the most noteworthy, but this lacks that peculiar mixture of Gothic and French renaissance which makes the work of that time particularly interesting. Yet, even in this panelling, put up by Sir George Vernon, the “King of the Peak,” as he was called, although it is free from the actual renaissance touch, there seem to be indications which point that way, and it forms one of the links which connect the old style with the new, and goes to show that in the development of architectural style no change came quite abruptly. [Illustration: [_J. Buckler, 1812._ Haddon Hall (North View). (_From a Water-colour Drawing in possession of Hon. F. Strutt, showing 16th Century Brewhouse, now removed._)]