[2][3] Construction of the manor began in 1441 for Treasurer to Henry VI, Sir Ralph Cromwell, though the building was not completed until after his death when John Talbot, the second Earl of Shrewsbury, bought the property.

The alleged escape plan involved the Countess of Northumberland pretending to be a nurse and coming to attend Christine Hogg, the pregnant wife of the embroiderer Bastian Pagez.

[7] Queen Elizabeth wrote to the Earl of Shrewsbury on 14 March 1570 giving permission for him to move Mary back to Wingfield because the water supply at Tutbury Castle was inadequate.

[8] Mary was back at Wingfield in 1584 and Ralph Sadler described in October how the "castle" was guarded by soldiers armed with pistols, muskets and halberds, and the difficult terrain nearby which would deter escape.

Sometimes Mary was allowed to walk in the Great Chamber for exercise, and Sadler's assistant John Somers reported her conversations to Francis Walsingham.

Wingfield Manor located in what was then a strategic position near a main north-south artery of the country and also a key east-west link at the southern end of the Pennines.

Initially these cannon were positioned on the hill to the east, the site of an old Roman fort, but the distance was too great and the only damage incurred was to a half moon battery outside the main gate, which is overgrown but still visible.

The remains of the great hall, once one of the largest in the country, contains an oriel window, where light would once have shone through coloured glass and illuminated the high table.

There is also a great stone barn, notable for the internal timbering; and the gate above the entrance to the north court contains a carved representation of moneybags, the symbol of the exchequer, Lord Cromwell.