Norbury Manor
Grade I listed historic house museum in Derbyshire Dales, United Kingdom

Norbury Manor is a 17th-century manor house with an adjoining 14th-century stone-built medieval hall house, Norbury Hall, known as The Old Manor, in Norbury near Ashbourne, Derbyshire. It is a Grade I listed building.
The manor was owned by the FitzHerbert family from the 12th century, granted to William Fitz-Herbert in fee-farm by the Tutbury Priory in 1125. In 1444, Nicholas FitzHerbert and his son Ralph gave their land in Osmaston, along with other lands in Foston and Church Broughton, to the priory to purchase the manor.
Norbury Hall, built by William FitzHerbert in the mid-14th century and otherwise known as The Old Manor, is remarkably well preserved. It is a medieval hall house, and is noted for its historic architectural features including a rare king post, medieval fireplace, a Tudor door and some 17th-century Flemish glass. The adjoining Norbury Manor was rebuilt in about 1680, replacing an earlier Tudor house, and has nineteenth-century additions.
The accompanying gardens include a parterre herb garden.
The manor was badly damaged by Parliamentary forces during the English Civil War and after the death of Sir John FitzHerbert in 1649 was in a ruinous state and fell into disuse.
On the death of John FitzHerbert in 1649, the estate passed to his cousin William FitzHerbert of Swynnerton Hall, Staffordshire, who rebuilt the Tudor portion of the property in about 1680.
Begin with the source’s own compact description: “Norbury Manor” is grade I listed historic house museum in Derbyshire Dales, United Kingdom. The dossier treats that line as a proposition to test through Norbury, Manor and Grade, not as a finished interpretation.
Why this record matters
The phrase “grade I listed historic house museum in Derbyshire Dales, United Kingdom” supplies a clear boundary for inquiry. It also exposes the unanswered questions: who defined that boundary, when it became stable and which sources sit outside it.
Maps, plans, fabric surveys and administrative records can establish how the site’s name, extent and function changed over time. The source revision retrieved here is dated Jul 17, 2026. The linked authority identifier is Q7050456. Authority coordinates are 52.977, -1.819. 1 of 2 selected statements include explicit references; 0 carry qualifiers and 0 use preferred rank. The first chronological checks are 1125, 1444, 1680 and 1649.
A single description cannot reconcile every naming convention, rebuilding phase or administrative transfer associated with a place. The lead is largely declarative, so disagreement and counter-evidence require a deliberate search beyond the opening account. Authority statements aid reconciliation but still require their own references, qualifiers and ranks to be checked.
How to read it
Treat names, boundaries and functions as historically changeable. Maps, plans, inventories and administrative records can clarify what the place meant at different dates.
- Historic place names
- Jurisdictional context
- Routes into maps and plans
Contemporary maps, plans, listed-building records, estate papers and the responsible local or national archive.
Three-step research path
- Establish the record: confirm the title “Norbury Manor”, its source revision and the description used here.
- Expand the search: follow Norbury Manor primary sources, Norbury Manor archive and Norbury research across catalogues and specialist indexes.
- Test the account: compare the strongest cited source with the responsible institution’s current record and note any disagreement.
Questions for further research
- Which source most directly establishes the central claim about “Norbury Manor”?
- Which earlier names or jurisdictions may reveal additional records?
- Which authority defined the place, boundary or structure at the relevant date?
Search terms from this dossier
This entry incorporates text from “Norbury Manor” on English Wikipedia. Contributors are listed in the page history. Text is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 License. Selected authority identifiers and statements are retrieved from Wikidata under CC0; their references and qualifiers remain part of the verification path.