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Belonging to a busy countryside of coal and iron, North Wingfield has beauty at its doorstep and can turn its back on the smoking chimneys and see Englands green and pleasant land, for it looks towards the wooded park of Hardwick Hall.
The village is situated five miles south-east of Chesterfield on the Clay Cross to Heath Road, with the area around Church Hill being the oldest part of the village.
The interesting church has a prominent tower over 100 feet high and in excess of 500 years old, with one of its bells older still. Below the embattled parapet is a cornice with shields and on the west windows are heads of a bishop and one with a coronet, and a lofty arch opens to the nave.
The oldest thing the church has to offer is possibly a font which is not used these days. A relic of the past, it was found lying in the churchyard, a round block of stone well over three feet high, the massive stem hollowed out in deep flutings. It is believed to be either Saxon or early Norman.
The oldest masonry is a Norman archway opening into the chapel, with a lovely window above it which is probably from the end of the 12th century, the arch being slightly pointed and so marking the change from Norman to Early English. It may have been a doorway built here for preservation.
It is well over a century since Thomas Greatorex played his last organ voluntary, but his name is still with us. Born near North Wingfield in 1758 he came of a family of musicians. For 12 years he was organist of Westminster Abbey, and was famous for his mastery of the instrument.H e is buried in the cloisters at Westminster.
There are some old buildings in North Wingfield, especially around the church, including the Blue Bell Inn and the Elizabethan Manor House. There were at one time several collieries in the vicinity. The nearest would have been the Alma Colliery, situated at the north end of the village, and which once employed in excess of 600 miners...this was closed in 1932. The pits at Parkhouse, Williamthorpe and Clay Cross also provided employment for the local miners.
The 15th century Blue Bell Inn was once the Chantry House.
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