George Sitwell (ironmaster)

Sitwell became a Justice of the Peace, served as High Sheriff of Derbyshire in 1653 and was granted arms in 1660.

[4] Sitwell exploited the mineral wealth beneath his estate, some coal but chiefly iron ore, and built a blast furnace in partnership with his mother's second husband, Henry Wigfall, at Plumbley a mile north west of Eckington in the 1630s.

In 1652 Sitwell built a furnace at Foxbrooke close to Renishaw, which became the core of the largest ironworks in Derbyshire.

Sitwell made saws at Pleasley and in 1656, installed a rolling and slitting mill at Renishaw to supply the rod iron used by numerous local nailmakers and scythe and sickle makers.

In the 1690s the works were leased and though the Sitwells retained management of their collieries until the mid-18th century they accumulated wealth as landowners from the industrial enterprises on the estate.