Gayhurst House

The house was built in the early sixteenth-century on the site of a Roman villa and Norman manor. It was expanded in 1597 by William Moulsoe. The house was completed by his son-in-law, Sir Everard Digby, one of the conspirators involved in the Gunpowder Plot. In spite of the Digby family's disgrace and Everard's execution, his widow, Mary was able to retain the property. Both of their sons, John and Kenelm, were strong Royalists in the English Civil War, during which parliamentary troops were billeted at Gayhurst and an inscription in the porch showing an 'X' and the date 1649 is said to record the execution of Charles I. The estate was subsequently inherited by Sir Kenelm Digby, the…

William Moulsoe's house of 1597 was built to a traditional Elizabethan E-plan with projecting wings and a central porch with Doric columns on the south, entrance, front. The matching wings on the north front were infilled during the ownership of the younger George Wrighte, using a Palladian style. The house is of three storeys and seven bays and is built of coursed limestone. Burges planned a full scheme of reconstruction for the 2nd Lord Carrington, including a new tower and a long gallery. Not all of this was carried out, but much of his plans for internal redecoration were undertaken. The style chosen was Anglo/French Renaissance, which Burges considered in keeping with the date of…