Its frontage displays the arms of Sir John Harpur and his wife Catherine Howard (granddaughter of the Earl of Suffolk), who had married in 1631 or 1632, so it may have been built in celebration of their marriage.

[4] Even the enclosure to the front of the pavilion is debated, with suggestions it may have been constructed in the 19th century when the Swarkestone estate was used for large-scale livestock breeding.

[4] The building stands in a large field known as "The Cuttle" which stretches from the Old Hall to the A514 road; to its front is a walled enclosed for the Bowling Green (some say bull baiting ring).

[4] The building is in a Jacobean style with a two-storey centre, castellated parapet, flanked by a pair of three-storey towers with leaded cupolas topped by balled finials.

Mark Girouard has suggested that, judging by its style, the building may have been designed by John Smythson, who had done work elsewhere in Derbyshire; however this seems unlikely, given that the pavilion gained its Smythson-like appearance through later additions, and the evidence pointing to Sheppard and Woodridge.