THE HISTORY OF SINAI PARK HOUSE

ITS previous owners, the de Scobenhal family, gave Shobnall its name.

The first mention of the name Sinai occurs in 1410, in a deed from the Bishop of Lichfield, giving the Abbot of Burton permission to celebrate divine service in the manor of Seyne within the park of Scobenhale.

There is some belief that “seyney” is a derivation of the French word “saignee” which means blood letting and so there is a natural origin for the name.

However, by 1622 some people believed it had a Biblical meaning, with William Burton writing: “The Abbot of Burton-upon-trent in the County of Stafford who having a vast rough hillie ground about a mile distant from the Abbey, called it Sinai for the likeness it had to that rough winderness Sinai, where in a mount God appeared unto Moses.”

During the dissolution of the monasteries during the 1530s, King

Henry VIII bestowed the house to the Paget family, who used Sinai as a hunting lodge, and later for farming land, until the early 1900s.

After the last member of the Paget family who owned the house died, it was sold, but later fell into ruin and ended up being used as a shelter for pigs, sheep and hens.

Half the building has been saved to provide a home for its new owner, Burtonian Kate Murphy.

The rest is still crumbling, but plans are in place to finally restore it to its former glory.

In 1994 the site was purchased by the present owner, and with assistance from English Heritage, the north wing was saved from dereliction and in 1999 was moved into as a private house.

However the remaining central and south wings continued their steady decline and in the early 21st century the roof timbers had to be removed and extensive propping take place to avoid total collapse of these remaining two wings.