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Renishaw is an industrial village set on the eastern borders of Derbyshire and between the M1 motorway and Sheffield.
On the hill above the village is Renishaw Hall, the historic home of the Sitwell family. The Hall, still lived in by the Sitwell family, is not normally open to the public, but the beautiful gardens are - and certainly should not be missed.
The present owner, Sir Reresby Sitwell, and his wife Penelope have made the gardens a beautiful oasis in an otherwise blighted landscape and also planted one of the most northerly vineyards in western Europe.
The wine, incidentally, comes in a bottle bearing a sketch of the Hall drawn by the acclaimed artist Whistler who stayed there in the 20s and 30s. It was Whistler who declared Renishaw to be 'the most exciting place he knew'.
At one time there was a guest bedroom at Renishaw Hall where guests were often alarmed to wake up having just received three ice-cold kisses in the night. When the staircase was altered, which involved reconstruction under the room, an empty coffin was found below the floor-boards. It was three hundred years old. The kissing stopped, but the question still remains to be answered - what happened to the skeleton, for still today it has never been recovered?
Renishaw's industry long pre-dates the Industrial Revolution, the Sitwell family having founded an ironworks in 1640, providing employment for generations of local men. At their peak the workers were making more iron nails than anyone else in the world and a tenth of the entire iron industry of England passed through their hands.
Renishaw Hall is a large Gothic house built by Joseph Badger during the period 1793 to 1808 and incorporates a gabled stone house built in 1625 by George Sitwell. The interior is fascinating and rich with spectacular chimney pieces. It has been the seat of the Sitwell family from the early 17th century and has many literary associations. It is only open to the public on certain dates during the year.
What is open though is the beautiful Italian-style gardens, complete with their terraces, statuesm yew hedges abd pyramids, the creation of Sir George Reresby Sitwell. The yew hedges and pyramids begin on either side of the lawn in front of the house, and are continued on the lower terrace and around the two formal ponds.
In the Gothic 'Temple' ...a ruined aviary... Sir George placed a Venetian wellhead; elsewhere he installed a pair of marble fountains and various statues...the best two Are Diana and Neptune by Caligari, a Neapolitan, friend and contemporary of Teipolo.
The classical stables with fine Tuscan portico were built by Joseph Badger in 1795...he also built the pretty little Dairy or 'Round House' about 1806, the Gothic Temple, part of Coldwell Cottage and part of Mill Farmhouse. The stables these days are a well laid out and informative museum.
The brainchild of Lady Penelope Sitwell, the museum has its main feature houses a group of busts of recent members of the Sitwell family, and on the second floor a display of documents, letters, photographs, china, glass and lace. Visitors will particularly note the impressive Bronze Tree in the centre of the courtyard, gift of the contemporary sculptress Fiore de Henriquez.
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