Sinai goes back to Roman times, maybe even earlier. The hilltop site was always of great strategic importance, with its commanding views over the Trent Valley both north and south making it an ideal outpost halfway - and a day's march - between Derby and Lichfield.

The Saxons also used the location as a stronghold and, in Medieval times, the fortified manor of the de Schobenhale family held sway over the neighbourhood. This house preceded the timber-framed building on the site today and, although there may be some remaining evidence of its existence in the cellars of the present house, all that's really left of this period in Sinai's history is the 13^th century moat that still surrounds it.

From this site the de Schobenhales dispensed local justice, collected titles and generally ran the neighbourhood!

The de Schobenhales gave Sinai Park to the monks of Burton Abbey, built in 1004 and at the time one of the most significant monastic seats in England. In 1334, Abbot William Bromley of Burton Abbey "gave five days indulgence from the bloodletting... in that place surrounded by a dyke in the park of Shopenhale with increased allowance of bread and beer." The monks were responsible for bringing two timber houses to the site - now the two wings of the present building - to use for rest and recuperation after their bloodletting activities. This may account for the odd name - Sinai could be a derivation of saignée, the French word for bloodletting.

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