King using the original Norman manor house as part of the foundations. It remained in the King family until the late 19th century when it passed through the female line to Colonel William Vere Reeve King-Fane. Between the years 1814 and 1835 it was let to a Mrs Gardner as a girls' school. The hall was home to Colonel Edward King (c 1606 - 1681) Member of Parliament for Great Grimsby, as was his father-in-law Sir Edward Ayscough. Colonel King was a strong supporter of Oliver Cromwell, serving as a captain in the Parliamentary army and as Governor of Boston during the Commonwealth. Despite his strong republican and nonconformist beliefs, he is credited as being the first Member of Parliament to call for the restoration of Charles II. In 1841 the Hall and estate passed to John William King who was also the parson of Ashby. Now squire and parson he took over the stables and stud and set about breeding racehorses. In 1874 his filly Apology won the Triple Crown of the Thousand Guineas, the Oaks and the St Leger. His activities came to the notice of Bishop Wordsworth of Lincoln who demanded his resignation from his church positions. King resigned a year later and died on 9 May 1875. The Hall was sold in 1925 by Colonel William Vere Reeve King-Fane of Fulbeck to George Canning, Baron Garvagh who had sold his Irish estates in Garvagh near Londonderry and moved his family to Ashby Hall. Lord Garvagh rebuilt and modernised parts of the Hall, and during the Great Depression, to keep his staff employed, he built a large wooden indoor Badminton court which in later years became the present Village Hall; it has been relocated today in the centre of the village. Lord Garvagh moved to Keswick at the beginning of the Second World War, and by 1942 various fighter squadrons at RAF Digby had taken over Ashby Hall as their officer's mess. One of the most notable was 609 Squadron (White Rose). By the end of the war the house became derelict and stood empty until the estate were broken up in the late 1950s. The park was cleared of its oak trees, the walled garden and surrounding farms sold separately, leaving the Hall itself to become the Lake Rendezvous Club, featuring acts including Diana Dors, Bob Monkhouse and Ken Dodd. The Hall was purchased in 1960