Prior to 1066 (the Norman Conquest) Babworth (Babvrde) is known to have belonged substantially to Earl Tosti and was part of the king's manor of Bodmeschell.

Later it became the property of the Earl of Shrewsbury and Lord Cavendish, and in the 18th century it was purchased by Sir Gervas Elwes, and lastly by John Simpson.

Babworth Hall itself stands in the southern half of the park and is a three-storey building of red brick and ashlar construction that dates from the mid eighteenth century,[4] with later alterations by Humphry Repton (1752-1818) one of the last great English landscape designers.

John Bridgeman Simpson (brother to the late Earl of Bradford) is pleasantly situated on an eminence, a short distance from the Retford and Worksop road, about a mile and a quarter from the former place.

Its vicinity contains some of the finest scenery in this part of the county, for which, it is, in a great measure, indebted to its present possessor, who, has lately increased the beauty and interest of the place by a fine piece of water, a swiss cottage, &c. Near the church, is the charming little sequestered residence of the Rev.

Archdeacon Eyre, the rector, in which, comfort and elegance are blended; and to whose worthy possessor, added to the kind patronage of the Simpson’s family, the parish is much indebted for its internal prosperity.

"Leonard Jacks enthuses about the scene from Babworth Hall: "From one point, close to the house, the eye travels over a bit of open landscape, with a foreground of thriving trees, and further away the crown of gently swelling hills.

Looking across the bright and gracefully designed gardens, either from the terrace or from the windows inside, one catches the shimmer of water—of a large and pellucid lake, on the other side of which rises a picturesque bank of sandstone, completely covered with rich foliage, save in one or two places where the red of the sandstone peeps out from the thick mass of leaves and branches, acquiring a still ruddier tint in the light of the summer sun.

An article by the Garden History Society describes an afternoon spent in Babworth Hall in the 1960s when the members were informed that the lake had dried up.

"The afternoon was spent at Babworth Hall near Retford where, by kind permission of Sir James and Lady Whittaker members were able to see an early example of the work of Humphrey Repton.

It consists of tower steeple, with three bells, and clock, a nave and chancel uniform in their windows, height, and battlements, with a side aisle and vestry, and a handsome porch.

The little burial plot which surrounds it, is considerably elevated, being connected with, or rather enclosed within the elegant pleasure grounds of the adjacent buildings; while the fine trees, aged and bowery, enhance materially the charming effect of the ivy-mantled tower."