An underground passage in the bottom of the cellar in the Peacock Inn is reported to lead to nearby South Wingfield Manor.

It was at Wingfield Manor where Mary Queen of Scots was imprisoned in 1569 then again in 1584 when her attempted rescue by Anthony Babington ended in disaster.

He had a beautiful daughter named Ann, who wore such fashionable wide hooped dresses that she had to enter the church doorway sideways.

The local church, which figures quite largely in the following tale, is called South Wingfield, although it is on the Oakerthorpe side of the River Amber.

Since that time, at churches within the district Psalm 109 is known as “Miss Kendall’s Psalm.” Shortly after the funeral, the man who had betrayed the maid was riding past South Wingfield church; suddenly the bells crashed out, the horse reared, and the rider was thrown to the ground, breaking his neck.

[5] It was an old custom in several Derbyshire churches to carry a special garland at the funeral procession of a young man or maiden.

Such a garland was carried at Ann Kendall’s funeral and was still hanging in South Wingfield in the 1870s, in spite of previous offers to purchase the curio.