George Sitwell

George Sitwell JP (–1667), was a 17th-century landowner and ironmaster. He built Renishaw Hall in Derbyshire in 1626.

Early life Sitwell was born at Eckington in Derbyshire and baptized there on 15 March 1601. He was the eldest son of George Sitwell (1569–1607) and Mary ( Walker) Sitwell. When George was six, his father died, and later he attended Derby School. The Sitwells were freeholders who acquired land in and around Eckington and became gentry.

Career Sitwell became a Justice of the Peace, served as High Sheriff of Derbyshire in 1653 and was granted arms in 1660.

Sitwell exploited the mineral wealth beneath his estate, some coal but chiefly iron ore, and built a blast furnace in partnership with his mother's second husband, Henry Wigfall, at Plumbley a mile north west of Eckington in the 1630s. In 1652 Sitwell built a furnace at Foxbrooke close to Renishaw, which became the core of the largest ironworks in Derbyshire. Sitwell made saws at Pleasley and in 1656, installed a rolling and slitting mill at Renishaw to supply the rod iron used by numerous local nailmakers and scythe and sickle makers. Sitwell was closely involved in the operation of his works which produced pig and bar iron, castings, nails, saws and other goods for sale to tradesmen around Eckington and in London where he sent iron via the River Idle from Bawtry and by road. His works built a rolling mill for export to the West Indies.

Personal life

On 2 August 1667, Sitwell married Margaret Childers of Carr House, near Doncaster. Renishaw Hall was built for Sitwell in 1626 was the centre of his estate.