Image: sundial marking site of Collyweston manor (Photo: Copyright Alan Murray-Rust and licensed for reuse under this Creative Commons Licence).
Acquired: 1509 (by inheritance)
Collyweston had been the favorite manor home of Lady Margaret Beaufort, mother of Henry VII. She had made a number of improvements on its house and grounds. Henry VIII bestowed it after her death on his illegitimate son, Henry, Duke of Richmond, who died there in 1536.
Among the works expanded by Lady Margaret were the chapel, the library, the great tower, the queen’s chamber, the great parlour, the jewel house, the counting house, the kitchen and a new chamber over the gate. The house was judged fit to receive the king, with only a minor expenditure for small repairs, during a visit in 1541. However, the house was in ruins by 1720 and its materials pulled down and dispersed later in the century.