The house has been the family seat of the Guise Baronets for nearly 800 years, first granted by John of Burgh, who was part of the court of Henry III with the rent set at “One clove of Gillyflower” each year. The current house was built between 1564 and 1588 and altered in the 18th and 19th centuries.
The Guise Mausoleum, built in 1733, is in the churchyard of St John the Baptist, the local church.
The Guise family were non-resident from about 1685 to about 1845, when Sir John Wright Guise took up residence. The house was used as a school from 1778, originally under the Revd. Charles Bishop (died 1788), and later under the Carveth family to about 1830. Its most distinguished pupil was the future surgeon William Lawrence FRS.
