The Medieval Estate
The earliest known reference to the West Dean Estate is found in the Domesday Book in 1086, where it was included in the manor of Singletonas, a forest and hunting park. The Earls of Arundel and the Dukes of Norfolk held these lands for almost 500 years until 1572, when the 4th Duke of Norfolk was accused of treason. He was stripped of his possessions by Elizabeth the 1st and then beheaded . She later restored the properties and title to the Duke's eldest son Phillip. It was Phillip who built the first manor house at West Dean, West Sussex in 1603, then known as Earl’s Court, later to be renamed Canon House due to its connections to Chichester Cathedral.
Read more about this topic: West Dean House
Famous quotes containing the word medieval:
“Our medieval historians who prefer to rely as much as possible on official documents because the chronicles are unreliable, fall thereby into an occasionally dangerous error. The documents tell us little about the difference in tone which separates us from those times; they let us forget the fervent pathos of medieval life.”
—Johan Huizinga (1872–1945)