In a field called Castle Field, a series of pronounched ridges and ditches can be seen, the only reminder of Bretby Castle, built in the 13th Century, a large fortified manor house surrounded by a moat. The Castle was demolished in the reign of James the 1st when permission was granted for a mansion to be built in a newly enclosed park of 600 acres. The ornamental gardens created there by the 2nd Earl of Chesterfield were reputed to have been second only to Versailles.

Only the Hall and lakes remain. One of the owners of the estate was Lord Carnarvon the Egyptologist, who sold the property to finace the famous expedition in search of the tomb of Tutankhamun, the boy king.

The present Bretby Hall was purchased in 1926 by the Derbyshire County Council for use as a hospital and remained an orthopaedic hospital till the 1990's, the hall and grounds then being sold to developers to provide private residential units.

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