It was in 1529 that Henry VIII commanded that the religious order of the previous thousand years was dissolved. The monasteries and Roman Catholicism were abolished.

The backlash from this change was still present in 1642 to create the conditions for the English Civil War which lasted until 1651, with order only returning in 1660 with the Restoration of a reformed Monarchy (Charles II).

This disorder affected Derbyshire and much of the action in the area centred on the control of the Royalist military strongholds in and close to the County of Derbyshire.

In Derbyshire, these were Bolsover Castle, and Wingfield Manor and beyond the county, Tutbury Castle, Newark and Ashby and Nottingham Castle.

Many of the gentry in Derbyshire remained loyal to the King and the old order and it was one Sir John Gell of Hopton Hall who controlled the Parliamentary forces in the area and helped ensure the victory of Oliver Cromwell.

Hopton Hall is in private ownership but Newark Castle, Nottingham Castle, Wingfield Manor, Bolsover Castle and Tutbury Castle, are all positioned with commanding views over the countryside. They are worth a visit, to understand the history that surrounds them and the social change they represent. Those changes are still with us and have become part of the modern fabric of the modern Parliamentary Democracy and Monarchy.

Incident:

In July 1644, Sir John Gell and his forces were besieging Wingfield Manor, which is close to the village of Wingfield and perched high on a hilltop. It is still surrounded by open fields and for the enthusiast, it is still possible to stand in the position of John Gell's guns and see the Manor they fired on.

On the 21st July 1664, the Royalist Commander, one Colonel Roger Molyneux of Hasland Hall reported the guns of Gell were ineffective. On the 14th August, from the gates of Wingfield Park they blasted a way through the wall. The forces were allowed to leave the fortress.

The longest and most telling siege of the English Civil War had ended

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