Puttenham Priory.

1246    The house was first owned by Beutrix de Fay. When she died she left it to her two daughters and one of them gave her half to the Prior of Newark. This half was called Puttenham priory and the other half was Puttenham bury. It was never really know as the Priory until the eighteenth century.

1347    Became the home of the priory's steward and remain with the Newark priory until it was sold in 1545.

1545    It was brought by William Lussher. When Lady Lussher and three of her children died during the plague it was sold to Sir Oliph Leigh. At this time it was know as the manor.

1728    It was passed on by marriage  to Jasper Jones. About this time he took a mortgage on the property to raise funds to build the first Extension in 1730. This modest house would have been a typical early Georgian house, more elegant and with larger windows than before.

1744    The house was brought buy General Oglethorpe. He brought it as an investment and did not live there.

1761    General Olgethorpe sold it to Thomas Parker who added the second extension and re-named it Puttenham Priory. He added the Palladian front you can see today and rebuilt the interior in a modern style and with elegant taste.

1775    Puttenham Priory was sold to Captain Samuel Cornish.

1819    When he died a sundial was erected in the garden by his family. His widow sold the house to her uncle, Richard Sumner, who was not the most popular person to own the Priory. He persuaded the rector to demolish the rectory and move the road away from the house to where it is today. He also built the high wall to screen it from the road and new kitchen quarters were added to the east end of the house. He died in 1874.

1874    The house was passed on to his son Morton Cornish Sumner who demolished the kitchens that his father had built and built new ones in the basement at the east end. He also added a new south front. In 1878 Morton Cornish Sumner died and the estate was passed on to his sisters Emily and Georgina.

1890    The house was Let to Elizabeth Anne, Countess Guidobon Visconti.

1904    The last Sumner sister died. The priory was brought by Mark and his son Ferdinand Smallpeice. The countesses lease was renewed until she died in 1910. A chalice in the church is in her memory.

1931   Until now the house had several tenants until it was sold to Dame Ethel, Dowager Viscountess Harcourt.

1946    The house was sold to Edward Hutton.

1950    Acquired by the Ministry of Health and was used as a geriatric hospital until it closed in 1976.

1977    The priory was brought by Mr. Sanders who spent four years restoring it back to a typical Georgian style to be used again as a private house.

1982    Mr. sanders then put the priory up for sale and was brought by Mr. Dunning.

It is now currently owned by Cenargo International PLC.

Today there are very few traces of the original house. Underneath the Georgian roof there still some Jacobean beams that are properly the oldest still remaining in the house. 

The original entrance was most properly the old kitchen entrance on the north side. 

Below the house are extensive cellars which grew each time the house was extended, so that there are Jacobean, Georgian and Edwardian cellars.

This is a architects drawing I was given of the ground floor. The scale is about 8 feet to 1 inch. The drawing its self is 2ft square. It is believed to be dated between 1931 & 1946.
It was very kindly given to me by Cilla Holbeche who came across my web site and contacted me through my guestbook. Many thanks Cilla.

For more information on the Priory click HERE.

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