Property News Gayton Manor, in Northampton, was built in 1540 and still bears the inscription of its first owners on the wall Gayton Manor, a Grade I-listed house in the Northamptonshire countryside, is the stuff of Tudor dreams. And, for £2.95 million, it could be yours.
Approached through a walled, gravelled forecourt — originally a stable yard — with clipped yew hedges, Gayton is a limestone building constructed in the shape of a cross. It has arched, stone mullioned windows, original arched doors and stands in over four acres of grounds. The property was built in 1540 by a local, Sir Francis Tanfield, who lived there with his wife, Bridget, and 18 children.
Tanfield was one of the signatories of Queen Elizabeth I’s Act of Uniformity, which set the groundwork for the Elizabethan church, and is buried with his family at Gayton church. He and Bridget left their mark on the house, carving “F and B” into the arched door surround to the dining room, which remains today. In 1607, Gayton Manor was sold by Tanfield’s grandson to Sir William Samwell, who also had a royal connection.
Samwell worked closely with Elizabeth I as auditor of the exchequer and was knighted at the coronation of King James I in 1603. Between 1755 and the 1970s, the manor remained in the ownership of the same family. Its current owner, investment banker and racing car driver Crispian Besley, bought it in 1994.
“I was captivated by its beauty and charm the first time I saw it,” says Besley. �.