Hunsdon House

It was originally constructed of brick in 1447 by Sir William Oldhall in the shape of a tower, but as Oldhall supported the House of York during the Wars of the Roses, he was stripped of the property by the Lancastrian Henry VI. Upon the Yorkist Edward IV's accession to the throne in 1471, the land was returned to the Oldhall family. John Oldhall then died in the Battle of Bosworth and with the Lancastrians back in power, the estate was taken over by Henry VII. Henry traded it to his mother Margaret Beaufort for Old Soar Manor in Kent in 1503. After the death of Margaret in 1509, her grandson Henry VIII gave it to Thomas Howard, 2nd Duke of Norfolk in 1514.