Early Residents
It is generally believed that the first owner of the house was Sir William Compton, Groom of the Stool to Henry VIII and one of the most prominent courtiers of the period, who acquired the manor of Tottenham in 1514. However, there is no recorded evidence of Compton's living in the house, and there is some evidence that the current building dates to a later period.
The earliest known reference to the building dates from 1516, when Henry VIII met his sister Margaret, Queen of Scots, at "Maister Compton's House beside Tottenham". The Comptons owned the building throughout the 16th century, but few records of the family or the building survive from the period.
In the early 17th century the house was owned by Richard Sackville, 3rd Earl of Dorset and Lady Anne Clifford. Sackville ran up high debts through gambling and extravagant spending; the house (then still called "The Lordship House") was leased to Thomas Peniston. Peniston's wife, Martha, daughter of Sir Thomas Temple was said to be the Earl of Dorset's mistress. The house was later sold to wealthy Norfolk landowner Hugh Hare.
Read more about this topic: Bruce Castle
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